Friday 20 Feb 2009 @ 12:26
SOCITM (Society of Information Technology Management)
SOCITM (Society of Information Technology Management)
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Impact of ‘cloud computing’ on public sector ICT may be ‘more revolutionary than advent of the PC’ says new Socitm briefing
The impact of cloud computing - the use of web resources to provide facilities and services hosted elsewhere on the internet – could have an even more revolutionary impact on public sector ICT than the advent of the PC in the 1980s.
This prediction comes in Cloud computing on the horizon, the latest of a monthly series of briefings on topical issues written and published by the Society of IT Management (Socitm) for ICT managers.
The briefing sets out the potential benefits of ‘the cloud’ for public services, including flexibility and lower costs, particularly as the burden of acquiring and maintaining server infrastructure and data centres can be shifted outside the organisation.
However, the briefing warns that the agility cloud computing offers for exploiting information brings with it security and business continuity risks that public sector ICT managers may find difficult to live with. But a ‘fortress’ approach is untenable, it says. Just as in the PC revolution, managers will buy their own kit if corporate ICT denies it to them, and this time around many managers already have the infrastructure at their disposal, and will use it to get what they want.
‘The ever-widening gap between service demand and resource availability dictates that we take the cloud seriously and fully exploit the possibilities’ says briefing author Chris Head. ‘Cloud computing offers low cost and very easily reconfigurable services and its use by the private sector will create expectations of responsiveness among those using public services’.
The briefing urges local authority IT managers, if they have not already done so, to prepare strategies now to embrace cloud computing and associated developments like Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and service-oriented architecture (SOA)
Further information
Vicky Sargent or Rob Adams, Socitm Press Office
Tel: 0121 214 1531
Mobile: 07726 601139
email: Vicky.sargent@socitm.gov.uk or rob.adams@socitm.gov.uk
Martin Greenwood, Programme Manager, Socitm Insight
Tel: 01926 498703 or 07967 383755
e-mail: martin.greenwood@socitm.gov.uk
Notes for Editors:
From 2009, Socitm Consulting and Socitm Insight are joining forces to publish monthly briefings on issues of topical interest. The theme of the first six issues in 2009 will be ‘achieving more with less’, offering advice to Socitm members on how to deal with the impact of the global financial crisis on the public sector. Briefings are available to Socitm Insight subscribers and clients of Socitm Consulting only
This prediction comes in Cloud computing on the horizon, the latest of a monthly series of briefings on topical issues written and published by the Society of IT Management (Socitm) for ICT managers.
The briefing sets out the potential benefits of ‘the cloud’ for public services, including flexibility and lower costs, particularly as the burden of acquiring and maintaining server infrastructure and data centres can be shifted outside the organisation.
However, the briefing warns that the agility cloud computing offers for exploiting information brings with it security and business continuity risks that public sector ICT managers may find difficult to live with. But a ‘fortress’ approach is untenable, it says. Just as in the PC revolution, managers will buy their own kit if corporate ICT denies it to them, and this time around many managers already have the infrastructure at their disposal, and will use it to get what they want.
‘The ever-widening gap between service demand and resource availability dictates that we take the cloud seriously and fully exploit the possibilities’ says briefing author Chris Head. ‘Cloud computing offers low cost and very easily reconfigurable services and its use by the private sector will create expectations of responsiveness among those using public services’.
The briefing urges local authority IT managers, if they have not already done so, to prepare strategies now to embrace cloud computing and associated developments like Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and service-oriented architecture (SOA)
Further information
Vicky Sargent or Rob Adams, Socitm Press Office
Tel: 0121 214 1531
Mobile: 07726 601139
email: Vicky.sargent@socitm.gov.uk or rob.adams@socitm.gov.uk
Martin Greenwood, Programme Manager, Socitm Insight
Tel: 01926 498703 or 07967 383755
e-mail: martin.greenwood@socitm.gov.uk
Notes for Editors:
From 2009, Socitm Consulting and Socitm Insight are joining forces to publish monthly briefings on issues of topical interest. The theme of the first six issues in 2009 will be ‘achieving more with less’, offering advice to Socitm members on how to deal with the impact of the global financial crisis on the public sector. Briefings are available to Socitm Insight subscribers and clients of Socitm Consulting only
