Federal, state and local governments have come a long way since the Office of Management and Budget introduced its “Cloud First” strategy in 2011. Although cloud adoption got off to a slow start, the public sector soon realized the potential of cutting-edge cloud computing.
According to Deloitte, federal cloud spending has increased at a rate of 14% between 2016 and 2021 and is estimated to have reached over $8.1 billion in that time. Other estimates expect that federal cloud spending will surpass $11 billion by the end of 2022.
The steady growth of spending is indicative of the fact that cloud-based technologies aren’t going anywhere. And when you consider the vast advantages they have to offer, there’s almost no excuse why government agencies shouldn’t fully embrace the cloud.
Let’s take a closer look at the strengths of cloud computing and why the public sector has yet to truly maximize its possibilities.
Why migrate to the cloud?
The cloud is chock full of benefits that government agencies of all shapes and sizes can use to their advantage. Here are five of the most important:
- Scalability: With access to critical applications over the internet, there’s no need to rely on cumbersome on-premise systems. This not only means cloud apps are easier to maintain, but also that workloads can be scaled automatically in real-time to respond to sudden surges in traffic or organizational growth. Most importantly, governments can scale up or down without any impact on system performance or connectivity.
- Cost-efficiency: Traditional IT solutions require you to buy capacity in anticipation of bursts in traffic. This capacity sits unused until that day comes, even though you’ve already paid for it. Cloud computing requires you to pay only for the capacity you need. And with many service providers opting for subscription-based models, you can simplify the ongoing expense of housing, managing, and maintaining infrastructure on your own.
- Continuous improvement: Because most cloud solutions are provided as a service, infrastructures, and features update automatically and often with the latest cutting-edge computing tools.
- Time to market: Cloud services can be deployed within minutes, whereas on-prem solutions can take weeks or months to install. That’s time that could be spent innovating and operating those technologies to your advantage.
- Work-from-anywhere productivity: Especially pertinent in the face of COVID-19, cloud solutions are inherently mobile. This means that government employees can access mission-critical cloud applications when and where they need to, empowering them to continue their valuable work.
Unlocking the power of cloud computing
Despite these benefits, some government organizations are still slow to adopt cloud technologies. The reasons for this trepidation may be numerous, but one factor will always play a role: cloud security.
With the public sector racing toward the cloud, threat actors are chasing them in lockstep — eager to access sensitive government data. In response, governments are holding themselves and cloud providers to a higher standard of cloud security.
Compliance frameworks including FedRAMP, StateRAMP, and DoD IL 5 are increasingly important prerequisites to working with federal, state and local governments. Meeting the basic requirements of each standard and proving compliance is easier said than done.
Fortunately, Project Hosts has a simpler path forward. By leveraging compliance-as-a-service through Project Hosts, you can ease the burden of compliance and start realizing the benefits of working in the cloud.
For more information, contact our team today.
