cloud uk - outsourcery uk white paper sixteen cloud adoption trends in the uk public sector 16 white...

one© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015

Cloud UK White Paper sixteen

Cloud adoption trends in the UK public sector

16

White Paper No. 16 - November 2015

© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015 two

White Paper sixteen Cloud adoption trends in the UK public sector

With its ability to drive efficiencies, improve flexibility

and scalability, and reduce costs, Cloud

computing has a great deal to offer

the UK’s increasingly pressurised public

sector

IntroductionFive years ago, the terms ‘Cloud First’ and ‘Digital by Default’ didn’t even exist in UK Government circles. IT services were typically provided by a small number of large IT contractors based on long-term contracts. That is, however, fast changing, and as the public sector looks to cut its costs – without affecting front-line services – considerable effort is being made to streamline IT and take advantage of the benefits Cloud computing can bring.

With its ability to drive efficiencies, improve flexibility and scalability, and reduce costs, Cloud computing has a great deal to offer the UK’s increasingly pressurised public sector. But while adoption rates have increased year-on-year, they have not quite kept pace with their private sector counterparts. Progress is, however, progress and, as this report demonstrates, a significant and growing proportion of the public sector is using Cloud, and Cloud Services to help transform the way that their organisations operate, communicate and collaborate.

Around four in five (78%) public sector organisations have formally adopted at least one Cloud service, up from 74% a year ago, and from 38% in 2010. Arguably more interesting is the fact that the penetration of Cloud Services within these organisations has shown a big shift over the last 12 months; 82% of Cloud-using public sector organisations use two or more services, a 55% increase on the same figure from 2014. This increase owes much to the fact that Cloud Services are proving a sound investment and helping these organisations meet their desired objectives, be they driving down costs, improving citizen services, increasing flexibility or reducing pressure on internal IT departments.

However, it is clear that the public sector is continuing to operate a Hybrid IT platform. While this also holds true for the private sector, the data protection and regulatory constraints placed on public bodies make the retention of Hybrid IT estates more prevalent in the public sector – at least for the time being. Although a growing proportion of those surveyed hope to move to the Cloud as soon as is practical, over half intend to keep certain applications in house, owing primarily to data protection concerns, but also to investments already made in on-premises technology and the protection of Intellectual Property.

Public sector organisations harbour many of the same concerns as the corporate world, but it is clear from this and previous research projects that they need a greater level of assurance around the reliability and trustworthiness of Cloud suppliers, SLAs and contractual frameworks. Security, data privacy and data sovereignty hang heavy over procurement decisions, and Cloud Providers face a higher barrier of entry with respect to these issues before they can deliver services to public sector organisations.

Costs and, more specifically, the promise of cost savings, are key drivers in the decision to migrate to Cloud Services, and cost was a recurring theme throughout this research project. However, encouragingly, the flexibility of the delivery model and the need to facilitate innovation are delivering benefits that are more likely to drive initial and subsequent adoptions. This points to a shift in mind set away from seeing the IT department solely as a cost centre to deliver applications and devices, to something that can enable agility and business transformation.

Looking to the year ahead, the public sector’s engagement with Cloud Services looks set to increase significantly; 74% of those organisations using Cloud Services expect to migrate more of their estates over the next 12 months and 9% of non-Cloud users expect to make their first moves to the delivery model. This growth will be helped in no small part by the end of support for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Small Business Server 2003 in July of this year; at the time the research was conducted, 60% of public sector respondents were still running the operating systems and now that the support deadline has passed, many will take the opportunity to move to Cloud-based alternatives.

This White Paper sets out to explore the reality of adoption of Cloud Services across the UK public sector and looks into the levels of adoption, the drivers, satisfaction levels with the services being accessed and the concerns that can impede adoption.

© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015


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Cloud defined:There have been many definitions of Cloud computing since the phrase was first coined in the 1990s. To an extent, it has become a catch-all term for hosted IT services of any type, including, but not limited to, multi-tenanted services accessed via the internet. However, for the purposes of this report, we have used the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) definition of Cloud:

“Cloud computing is a term that relates to the IT infrastructure and environment

required to develop/host/run IT services and applications on demand, with consumption-based pricing, as a resilient service. Communicating over the internet and

requiring little or no client end components, it provides resources and services to store data and run applications, from

many devices, anytime, anywhere, as-a-service. The services can, in turn, be scaled up and down as needed to meet

a customer’s variable operational needs, ensuring maximum cost efficiency.”

© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015 four

Cloud adoption trends in the public sectorIn mid-2015 Vanson Bourne conducted the fifth annual body of research on behalf of the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) to determine the level of Cloud adoption among participants and to gain insights into attitudes, experiences and trends across the UK public sector. Of the public sector organisations surveyed, 36% came from central government, 32% from local government, with the remainder distributed between the education, health and not-for-profit sectors.

The overall Cloud adoption rate in the public sector is increasing rapidly, albeit still slightly behind that of the private sector. Today, 78% of public sector organisations formally use Cloud Services, compared to 84% in the world of business. It has, however, shown a notable increase since the Cloud Industry Forum first began its research programme in 2010, having more than doubled since that time, and is set to increase further still over the year ahead, with a further 9% expecting to make the move to Cloud.

Similarly, penetration of Cloud Services within the public sector has shown healthy progression, and, indeed, is moving at a faster rate than the Cloud Industry Forum had anticipated. 82% of Cloud users in the public sector use two or more services, up from just 53% in 2014, and three quarters (74%) of Cloud users expect their use of Cloud Services to increase in 2016.

Does your company have any hosted or Cloud-based services in use today? (Public Sector)

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

YES NO

38%62% 49%51% 62% 22%69%38% 74%31% 78%26%

How many different Cloud-based services does your company use today? (Public Sector)

1 Cloud Service

2 Cloud Services

3 Cloud Services

4 Cloud Services

5+ Cloud Services

2014 2015

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Cloud Services within the public sector

has shown healthy progression, and,

indeed, is moving at a faster rate than the

Cloud Industry Forum had anticipated


© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015 five

Do you expect your adoption of Cloud Services to increase over the next 12 months?

YES NO

74%

26%

Plainly, Cloud is moving up in the public sector IT agenda but it must be said that the delivery model still constitutes a relatively small part of the overall IT estate. Half (50%) of the public sector report their primary approach to IT as being on-premises, 14% in the Cloud, with the remainder stating that their approach to IT was a hybrid.

Would you describe your primary approach to IT as being:

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Publicsector

Private sector

ON-PREMISES HYBRID IN THE CLOUD

The proportion of public sector organisations intent on moving their entire IT estates to the Cloud has increased significantly over the past year; 18% expect to move everything to the Cloud as soon as is practical, up from just 7% in 2014 and a higher proportion than in the private sector. However, the majority expect to maintain Hybrid IT estates for the foreseeable future, and 56% of public sector organisations state they will keep specific applications and services on-premises.

Do you foresee that you will ever move your entire IT estate to remotely hosted Cloud Services?

YES: as soon as practicalYES: based on operational refresh of servers & applicationsYES: although the Cloud isn’t ready for us to make this move yetNO: we intend to keep specific applications & services on-premises

18%

18%

8%

56%

While we have seen widespread adoption of services such as video conferencing (63%), collaboration (56%), VOIP (56%) and email (51%), migration of more sensitive applications, such as finance and security have been less forthcoming (see table on the next page).

74% of Cloud users expect their use of Cloud Services to

increase in 2016


© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015 six

Do you use hosted or Cloud-based services for the following applications?

Accounting & finance applications

Active directory/credentials

Advertising & online marketing services

Collaboration services

CRM

Customer contact centre

Data backup/disaster recovery services

Data storage services

Database/business intelligence

Document management

Email services

eShop services

File & print management

Infrastructure

IT asset management services

IT operations management

IT security services

Managed IT services

Niche vertical applications

Office automation/productivity

Partner relationship management

Personnel and payroll

Portal services

Sales management

Service management/help desk services

Unified communications

Video conferencing

VOIP

Webhosting

Workflow systems

4%

5%

4%

6%

3%

0%

4%

4%

3%

5%

10%

0%

3%

6%

3%

3%

2%

7%

16%

3%

9%

8%

10%

5%

10%

9%

9%

3%

16%

4%

4%

15%

22%

18%

11%

19%

16%

12%

20%

10%

10%

21%

8%

13%

10%

5%

17%

15%

4%

14%

1%

17%

13%

11%

5%

9%

13%

9%

16%

11%

27%

7%

33%

32%

19%

13%

27%

27%

18%

17%

31%

32%

15%

26%

15%

23%

9%

27%

20%

19%

30%

13%

26%

26%

24%

24%

41%

44%

21%

29%

12%

22%

26%

20%

24%

24%

14%

16%

4%

18%

9%

42%

15%

26%

28%

18%

18%

12%

20%

32%

43%

9%

22%

32%

20%

16%

9%

6%

26%

17%

Began using more than

3 years ago

Began using within the last

3 years

Began using within the last

12 months

Plan to use in the futureAPPLICATIONS

Will we ever see very high levels of penetration in the public sector? In short, yes. The perceived barriers of data regulation and security (detailed later in the report) will likely fall by the wayside as comfort with, and confidence in, Cloud continues to develop, and as budget restrictions and initiatives such as the Government’s ‘Cloud First’ scheme start to take hold.

However, understanding the organisational environment is critical to deepening our understanding of how and why public sector bodies are using Cloud, and what may stand in the way of further adoptions. Existing investments in legacy technology will impact the economic viability of moving to the Cloud in the immediate term and, by necessity, slow the pace of adoption.

The widespread use of large-scale Systems Integrators (SI) in the public sector also poses a significant barrier to adoption. Over the years many government departments and agencies have outsourced their ICT services to SIs, in some instances believing they had also outsourced the risk by doing so. However, outsourcing everything to SIs has been proven not to work on many levels, and has resulted in an inability to take advantage of new technologies, such as Cloud. Encouragingly, the Government has taken steps to disaggregate public sector IT estates and open the door to the innovation and agility provided by SME IT providers and Cloud Services.

The perceived barriers of data regulation

and security will likely fall by the wayside

as comfort with, and confidence in, Cloud continues to develop


© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015 seven

Current public sector IT landscape:O Eight in ten (80%) public sector organisations that use Cloud, or expect to, include

consideration of Cloud Services within their wider IT strategies;

O 70% of public sector organisations make new deployment decisions based around infrastructure refresh. With this being the case, it is the Cloud Industry Forum’s belief that the recent end of support for Windows Server 2003, which formally concluded in July 2015, will have prompted a wave of new Cloud migrations in the latter half of the year;

O The percentage of public sector organisations that operate on-site servers or data centres is declining gradually. This figure has dropped from 92% in 2013 to 80% today;

Does your company include consideration for Cloud Services within its wider IT strategy?

YES NO

80%

20%

Does your company operate on-site servers?

YES NO

80%

20%

Do you consider infrastructure refresh a reason to adopt other deployment models like Cloud IaaS/SaaS or third party hosting?

YES NO

70%

30%

It is the Cloud Industry Forum’s

belief that the recent end of support for

Windows Server 2003, will have

prompted a wave of new Cloud migrations


© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015

Government initiatives such as Digital by Default and Cloud

First are making themselves felt in the

public sector

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Drivers of Cloud adoptionPublic sector organisations report a wide range of reasons for initially adopting Cloud-based services; the number one primary reason is operational cost savings (26%), though overall it would seem that it is the flexibility of the delivery model that factored most highly, cited as a reason by 87% of respondents. This is highly encouraging. For the increasingly squeezed public sector, the potential cost savings that Cloud can offer will always be a draw, but the data suggests that public sector organisations are alive to the transformational effects that the flexibility of the delivery model can bring.

Interestingly, policy decisions were cited as the primary reason in 10% of cases, up from 4% in 2014, indicating that Government initiatives such as Digital by Default and Cloud First are making themselves felt in the public sector. Over the coming year, we expect these figures to increase further still.

Which of these were reasons for initially adopting hosted or Cloud-based services?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Flexibility of delivery

Operational cost savings

Scalability

Limited internal resource priorities

24/7 service dependence

Low cost of adoption

Policy decision

Return on Investment vs on-premises

Avoiding additional capex

New service – no experience

Lack of in house skills

Temporary project

Time to market deadline

THIS WAS A REASON THIS WAS THE PRIMARY REASON

Respondents report a wide range of reasons for their continued investments in Cloud, though enabling innovation and the lower cost of ownership of the delivery model rank most highly (cited by 36% respectively). These were followed closely by the need to replace legacy IT (33%) and reduce capex (33%).


© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015 nine

Which of the following business objectives have or are driving investment initiatives in Cloud within your organisation?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Lower total cost of ownership

Enabling innovation

Replacing legacy IT technologies

Capex savings

Enhancing business continuity

Improving customer support/service

Development of new product or services

Flexibility reacting changing market conditions

Speed of deployment

Improved return on investment

Enhanced data analytics

Gaining competitive advantage

New revenue generation opportunities

Business case justification and Cloud migrationThe decision-making process to move to the Cloud involves a wide range of stakeholders, and it is increasingly a Board-level decision. Directors and public sector finance heads are heavily involved, though the final decision-maker is the Head of IT in the majority of cases (67%).

Who was involved, and to what extent, in the decision-making process to move to the Cloud?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Director

Head of IT

Head of finance

Head of the user department

Head of security/DP

INVOLVED FINAL DECISION MAKER

However, once the decision to move to a Cloud service has been made, migrating to it has proven challenging for the majority of Cloud users in the public sector. Just one in ten (10%) reported complete satisfaction with their chosen method of migration, with the remainder stating it could have been improved in some way.

Respondents report a wide range of

reasons for their continued investments

in Cloud, though enabling innovation and the lower cost

of ownership of the delivery model rank

most highly


© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015 ten

How satisfactory has your chosen method for migrating to the Cloud been?

1: Completely unsatisfactory2: Somewhat unsatisfactory3: Neutral4: Somewhat satisfactory5: Completely satisfactory

5%

56%

28%

10%

0%

In terms of the areas that fell short of end users’ expectations, 46% expected their Cloud migration to have been cheaper, 38% wanted their Cloud provider to have offered more support, and 28% stated their Cloud provider could have offered a more customised service.

From a technical and practical point of view, migrating to the Cloud poses its own issues. Complexity of migration was difficult for 44% of respondents, followed closely by data sovereignty (41%).

How could your chosen method of migration have been improved?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Cheaper

Easier

Cloud provider could have offered more/better support

Cloud provider could have offered more/better tools

Quicker

Cloud provider could have offered a more customised service

46% wished their Cloud migration had

been cheaper, 38% wanted their Cloud

provider to have offered more support,

and 28% stated their Cloud provider could have offered a more customised service


© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015 eleven

Which, if any, of the following difficulties did you experience migrating to a Cloud solution?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Complexity of migration

Data sovereignty concerns

Dependency on internet access

Contractual issues such as liability

Vendor lock in

It took longer than we had originally allocated time for, or been quoted

The actual cost was more than we had originally envisaged, or been quoted

Confidence in the clarity of charges (i.e. will they be cheaper on-premises)

Lack of confidence in vendor

These difficulties are not without consequence; around half (49%) of public sector Cloud users reported a delay in product/service development, 35% a loss in employee productivity, and 22% a loss in employee or citizen loyalty/confidence.

What was the business impact of these difficulties?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Delay in product/service development

Loss of employee productivity

Loss of customer confidence/loyalty

Loss of revenue

Loss of customers

Delay in getting products/services to market

Loss of repeat business

Loss of new business

These difficulties had no impact

The root causes of these difficulties/challenges are not easy to identify. There may be a case that Cloud Providers should do more to set expectations with end user organisations to remove any uncertainty about migration prior to embarking on a project. But, equally, it’s incumbent on end users to ensure that they are fully prepared for the challenges that migration can bring.

49% of public sector Cloud users

reported a delay in product/service development, 35% a loss in employee

productivity, and 22% a loss in citizen

loyalty/confidence


© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015 twelve

Impact on the IT departmentHistorically, many IT departments have shown a reluctance to move to Cloud-based computing out for fear for their job security. However, the idea that Cloud is a threat to the existence of the IT department is unfounded – indeed, in the majority of cases, the opposite is often true.

The data suggests that Cloud computing is leading to the emergence of a more strategically important IT department. Free of the burden of infrastructure and application maintenance, roughly a third (31%) of respondents now have more time to spend on strategy, 15% spend more on value-added activities and 10% spend more time talking to vendors.

What impact has Cloud migration had on the structure of the IT department in your organisation?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Team has been maintained but focused on new priorities

Team has remained unchanged but workload for maintenance reduced

It has encouraged self-service purchasing of IT by people/departments outside of the IT department

Team has been reduced in size

New practices implemented to monitor and manage IT end to end in a distributed environment

Cloud migration has not had an impact on the structure of our IT department

Has your role changed with the adoption of Cloud-based solutions in your organisation?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

I spend less time on general server management

I spend more time planning strategy/activity

I spend less time troubleshooting application issues

I spend more time on value-added activities

I spend less time troubleshooting server issues

I spend more time talking to vendors

My role has not changed with the adoption of Cloud-based solutions

The data suggests that Cloud computing

is leading to the emergence of a more

strategically important IT department


© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015 thirteen

The economics and benefits of CloudMuch has been said, and promised, by the Cloud industry about the potential Cloud holds for cutting the cost of IT. In this regard, public sector Cloud projects have been highly successful. Public sector organisations that use Cloud are currently saving, on average, 13% on their IT expenditure, though respondents expect this to climb to around a fifth (21%) within the next five years.

What cost savings are you experiencing from your organisation’s use of Cloud Services?

Currently

In next 12 months

In next 2 years

In next 5 years

17%

12%

15%

15%

41%

34%

22%

17%

20%

27%

27%

24%

7%

12%

22%

22%

15%

5%

10%

17%

0%

10%

5%

2%

0%

0%

0%

2%

13.23%

16.77%

18.11%

21.16%

Nothing -10% 10%-20% 20%-35% 35%-50% 50%-75% 75%+Average savingsSAVINGS

However, although cost savings do often materialise, the real value of Cloud sits elsewhere. The vast majority (87%) of public sector Cloud users report being satisfied with their use of Cloud Services, owing in no small part to the fact that Cloud Services are, by and large, helping to meet their business objectives; nine in ten (90%) have successfully reduced capital expenditure, 85% have seen improvements to the reliability of their IT, and 79% have improved their cash flows, albeit sometimes with difficulty. This is, in turn, translating to tangible and intangible benefits, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations.

Which of the following business objectives were achieved when migrating to the Cloud?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Reducing capital expenditure

Improving cash flow

Increasing speed of access to technology

Increasing flexibility of access to technology (i.e. ability to increase or decrease use)

Reducing the risk of lost data

Reducing the requirement for number of skilled personnel in-house

Reducing the pressure on IT staff within the company

Improving uptime/reliability of IT

Improving service levels of IT

OBJECTIVE NOT ACHIEVEDOBJECTIVE WAS ACHIEVED WITH DIFFICULTYOBJECTIVE WAS ACHIEVED EASILY

Public sector organisations that use

Cloud are currently saving, on average,

13% on their IT expenditure


© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015 fourteen

The vast majority have experienced tangible benefits as a direct result of their Cloud service deployments, these include more flexible access to technology, and reduced pressure on IT staff within the organisation. Perhaps more interesting are the intangible benefits; roughly a third (32%) state they’ve seen improvements to their customer/citizen services, 27% report better collaboration between departments, while one in four have seen their ability to communicate improve.

Which of the following tangible benefits of Cloud Services deployment has your organisation achieved?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

More flexible access to technology (i.e. ability to increase or decrease use)

Faster access to technology

Improved cash flow

Reduces the pressure on IT staff within the company

Reduction in capital expenditure

An on-demand/predictable cost

A reduced risk of loss of data or service by hosting externally

Cost savings over on-premises solutions

Higher availability through fault tolerant solutions

Reduces requirement for number of skilled personnel in-house

Enhanced productivity

My organisation has not achieved any tangible benefits of Cloud Services deployment

Which of the following intangible benefits of Cloud Services deployment has your organisation experienced?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Improved customer service

Improved collaboration between departments

Improved customer engagement

Doing more development through an agile methodology

Improved communication between departments

Lowering barriers to IT

Improved communication within the IT department

Improved employee satisfaction

Improved collaboration within the IT department

Improved business resilience

Preventing vendor lock-in

My organisation has not experienced any intangible benefits of Cloud Services deployment

32% state they’ve seen improvements

to their customer/citizen services,

27% report better collaboration between

departments, while one in four have

seen their ability to communicate improve


© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015 fifteen

Barriers to adoptionIn spite of mounting levels of adoption, concerns about data security, privacy and regulatory constraints show no sign of going away and are, in some cases, increasing. Although they are important issues, particularly for public bodies, with the correct control mechanisms and frameworks in place, they are surmountable. Given the imperative for public sector bodies to drive efficiencies and cope with budget restrictions, more widespread and deeper adoption of Cloud Services is inevitable and it is critical that public sector organisations can find ways to overcome these perceived barriers.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the public sector appears to be more sensitive to data security and data protection than the private sector; 75% of respondents from public sector cited data protection concerns as a reason for not wishing to move certain applications to the Cloud, compared with just 56% of those from the private sector. Similarly, four in five (79%) expressed concerns about security.

What are the primary reasons for not wishing to move specific applications to Cloud Services?

Security concerns

Data protection concerns

Investments already made in on-premises

Legacy technology restrictions

Efficiency

Protection of intellectual property

Retention of key skills

Proprietary technology

79%75%39%

43%

36%

18%

18%

18%

74%

56%

46%

41%

41%

33%

25%

20%

Public sector Private sectorREASONS 75% of the public sector cited data

protection concerns as a reason for not

wishing to move certain applications

to the Cloud and 79% expressed concerns

about security


sixteen© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015

Beyond these issues, confidence in vendors and contractual frameworks also factor highly amongst public sector concerns about Cloud. Indeed, public sector organisations are significantly more likely to express concerns around these issues than their private sector counterparts; two-fifths (38%) expressed concerns about the reliability of vendors during decision-making process to migrate to the Cloud, 41% were worried about contract lock-in, and 28% were unsure about the clarity of charges.

What concerns were expressed during the decision-making process to migrate to the Cloud?

Data security

Data privacy

Contract lock-in

Confidence in the reliability of the vendors

Cost of change/migration

Fear of loss of control/manageability

Data sovereignty/jurisdiction

Regulatory constraints

Confidence in clarity of charges (cheaper than on-premises?)

Contractual liability for services if SLAs are missed

Dependency on internet access (availability & bandwidth)

No clarity of impact of Cloud Services on business processes

Confidence in knowing who to choose to supply service

Confidence in the vendors business capability

No clarity in most appropriate Cloud deployment model

No confidence in the business case to need Cloud Services

No clarity in most effective service delivery model

No advice from within the company to adopt

74%

59%

41%38%36%

33%

31%

31%28%23%

21%

21%

21%18%

10%

10%

10%

10%

69%

61%

22%26%27%

41%

30%

22%12%19%

28%

18%

12%16%

8%

8%

6%

5%

Public sector Private sectorCONCERNS

This lack of confidence in vendors and contractual frameworks is significant, and, indeed, significantly higher than the levels reported by respondents from the private sector. Migrating to Cloud Services, and managing them when they are up and running, requires a different skill set to traditional, proprietary IT, something which many IT departments, particularly those in the public sector, may not be fully prepared for. Years of austerity and a reliance on large SIs have seen many IT departments in public sector bodies stripped back, now lacking the necessary skills and staff to confidently move to the Cloud.

Prior to embarking on any Cloud project, end users must educate themselves about what constitutes a credible Cloud Service Provider (CSP), engage with suppliers to understand their market offering and capabilities, and make their selection accordingly. Here government procurement frameworks, such as the Crown Commercial Service’s Network Services Agreement and G-Cloud, can help.

Knowing which questions to ask a prospective Cloud supplier is critical to ensuring that the contracts provide sufficient protection and service levels, the data is looked after when hosted and, ultimately, that the Cloud provider is trustworthy, reliable and transparent in the way that it operates.

38% expressed concerns about the

reliability of vendors during decision-

making process to migrate to the Cloud,

41% were worried about contract lock-

in, and 28% were unsure about the clarity of charges


seventeen© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015

The CIF Code of PracticeAccreditation and certification schemes, such as the Cloud Industry Forum’s Code of Practice, have a major role to play in the CSP selection process, and, indeed, are in high demand; some 70% of respondents stated that they would prefer to work with a provider that has publicly committed to an industry code of practice over one that has no public accountability.

Today, CIF continues to operate the only certified Code of Practice for Cloud Service Providers, and this has now been formally recognised by the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA). The CIF Code of Practice exists as an independent benchmark of best practice and key credentials that credible CSPs should be able to measure up to and be able to provide sufficient assurance about their transparency, capability and accountability of their offering to the market.

Do you see value in working with Cloud Service Providers who have publicly signed up to an industry code of practice that is independently audited over those that have no public accountability?

YES NO

70%

30%

CIF continues to operate the only certified Code of

Practice for Cloud Service Providers, and

this has now been formally recognised

by the European Union Agency

for Network and Information Security

(ENISA)


eighteen© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015

ConclusionDriven by a need to limit expenditure on IT, increase flexibility in the IT estate and improve the services for citizens, the UK’s public sector is fast turning to Cloud. Slowly but surely, government departments are chipping away at the dominance of large IT suppliers that have come to characterise public sector IT. Switching to more agile suppliers whose Cloud-based alternatives can ultimately offer better value for taxpayers’ money and radically change the way that public sector organisations operate.

O We have seen that Cloud services are having a profound impact on the capabilities of public bodies, driving both tangible and intangible benefits. Free of the burden of the day-to-day management of IT, public sector IT departments have been able to cultivate more strategic roles within their respective organisations and focus on adding value. Moreover, Cloud users routinely report improvements in collaboration, flexibility, efficiency and, importantly, reductions in overall IT spend.

O Cloud is fostering innovation in the sector by allowing organisations to cost effectively and quickly explore the potential of new, IT-enabled enhancements that can grow with unprecedented scale – without incurring the risks associated with traditional IT projects. Rather than investing in IT infrastructure that may or, as is often the case, may not be sufficient to meet the needs of the organisation, Cloud offers the opportunity for public sector organisations to right-size their IT. Being able to scale up when additional services are needed (for example, around the tax return deadline) and scale down when possible avoids extended periods of under-utilised IT capacity and goes a long way reducing overall IT spend.

O We have, however, seen a number of residual concerns and challenges confronting public sector leaders when moving to Cloud services, which must and can be overcome. The research clearly demonstrates that organisations should take the time to pre-engage with suppliers prior to procuring their services to get a full understanding of their capabilities, security mechanisms, test their assumptions and firm up their requirements. Equally, public sector organisations should take the time to understand the potential impact of Cloud on their wider IT estates and ensure that they are aware of the challenges posed by migration to Cloud services, be they cultural or technical.

O To move forward, IT departments in the public sector must begin to look differently at how the delivery of Cloud can help drive innovation for the benefit of their respective organisations and, in turn, for citizens. As the first step, strong leadership is required from IT managers to take their organisations to new levels of performance and efficiency through IT, while also focusing on improving service, reducing costs and managing growing risks in an ever-connected world.

IT leaders in the public sector must

begin to look differently at how the delivery of Cloud can help drive innovation


one© Cloud Forum IP Ltd 2015This document is based on research and is intended to be representative and educational but the advice contained is opinion and cannot be considered a complete assessment. Readers should not rely on this document in its own right but should take appropriate independent and informed advice. OUT/OTH000001/WP21102015

The Cloud Industry Forumc/o Federation at York House, 18 York Road, Maidenhead SL6 1SF

t 0844 583 2521 e [email protected]

www.cloudindustryforum.org

The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) was established in direct response to the evolving supply models for the delivery of software and IT services. Our aim is to provide much needed clarity for end users when assessing and selecting Cloud Service Providers based upon the clear, consistent and relevant provision of key information about the organisation/s, their capabilities and operational commitments.

We achieve this through a process of self-certification of vendors to a Cloud Service Provider Code of Practice requiring executive commitment and operational actions to ensure the provision of critical information through the contracting process. This Code of Practice, and the use of the related Certification Mark on participant’s websites, is intended to provide comfort and promote trust to businesses and individuals wishing to leverage the commercial, financial and agile operations capabilities that the Cloud-based and hosted solutions can cover.

Outsourcery is a world-leading UK-based Cloud Services Provider (CSP), offering one of the broadest offerings of Cloud-based services built on Microsoft’s technology and best-of-breed Dell and HP hardware, for businesses of all sizes. The company aims to remove the need for organisations to own and manage on-premises IT, Unified Communications and conferencing applications and infrastructure.

End customers range from start-ups to FTSE-100 businesses and Outsourcery serves an extensive partner base of over 500 IT and telco providers, which include Virgin Media Business and Vodafone. Outsourcery’s service portfolio is also available to the public sector and listed on the Digital Marketplace as part of the government’s G-Cloud initiative. Outsourcery’s O-Cloud platform is certified to run government classified information at OFFICIAL and OFFICIAL SENSITIVE over the internet, giving the business CESG Pan Government Accreditation (PGA) (formerly IL2) to meet data sovereignty and security specifications for the public sector. The second phase of this offering become available in early 2015 with the deployment of a high security platform, accredited to carry OFFICIAL and OFFICIAL SENSITIVE classified documentation, with PGA and Public Services Network (PSN) Protect (formerly IL3) connectivity.

Outsourcery is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner with a total of eight competencies of which three are gold and five are silver. As well as being the first company outside of the US to be named Microsoft’s worldwide ‘Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year’, Outsourcery is a Microsoft CityNext Partner and a Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Partner. Outsourcery is also an HP Cloud Agile Partner and was the winner of HP’s Most Innovative Service Award in 2013. As well as being a founding member of the Cloud Industry Forum, Outsourcery was awarded the UK Cloud Award Collaboration Partner of the Year in 2014. The company is a corporate member of MSDUK, a member of TechUK and holds ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards.

Outsourceryt 0843 366 6666 e [email protected]

www.outsourcery.co.uk

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