Digital Britain Confirms Cloud Computing is the way forward for Government
In the recently published Digital Britain report the government has been advised to move many of their current and future IT applications to a cloud computing model.
In chapter eight of the report it says that cloud computing in which a third party takes responsibility for the technical management of IT functions can work as a shared service for public bodies providing an 'on demand' service and giving organisations flexibility in their use of and spending on IT.
Procurement Changes
The report has highlighted the current need to make public sector IT procurement more competitive and to create a level playing field. This is because incumbent bidders tend to have a stronger advantage. The public sector needs to make it easier for new suppliers to bid for IT contracts.
Recommended changes to procurement procedures state that the CIO Council should provide a simplified, fast track process consistent with EU rules. This should open the tender process up to new innovative companies as main contractors rather than sub-contractors and allow them to compete fairly with incumbent bidders.
Procurement changes are likely to start by focusing on a small number of tender areas. Further recommendations included the government chief information officer being given more powers to approve, rather than just advise on, procurement decisions. The aim of this would be to provide a "double lock" of accountability and sign-off, which will help to ensure government-wide standards and systems.
G Cloud
The report also proposes the creation of a 'G Cloud' for government business applications that will run alongside the Public Service Network. It says ‘G Cloud’ could be used for functions such as server and storage virtualisation, plus systems-management automation.
After creating a route map for the creation of the G Cloud for public-sector data centres the government Chief Information Officers Council and IT industry association Intellect are now developing a business case to justify the investment.
In the meantime, the report advises, government bodies to try to procure IT services on a scalable, cloud basis so that other public bodies can make use of them.
Kevin Ingram, Managing Director of DCS was delighted with the news commenting:
“DCS have been providing and operating cloud computing solutions for Central Government for over 2 years now and they have been a tremendous success for organisations such as Natural England who utilise a SaaS type model for over 1400 users across the UK.
We welcome this ‘stamp of approval’ by Digital Britain and we are pleased that DCS are at the leading edge of this.”
DCS are global providers of enterprise information management solutions including both installed and hosted SaaS solutions to many of the World´s largest companies allowing them to improve operational efficiency while making significant business savings. Find how DCS can help your organisation today.
