Agilisys, a leading cloud and digital transformation specialist to the
public sector, has released new findings from a recent survey examining the
state of cloud adoption in the UK.
The Harnessing the Cloud report, which surveyed more than 200 govtech leaders
responsible for cloud services and technology transformation, suggests 2019
will be a watershed year for the public sector as 80% of organizations plan to
migrate core IT infrastructure to the cloud in the next 18 months. But with
only 28% currently using cloud for core IT infrastructure, a significant task
lies ahead.
The report suggests that in order to meet these cloud ambitions, organizations
are already gearing up with four-fifths (81%) having invested in additional
training to develop specific cloud capabilities and skills among their
workforce. Nevertheless, capacity and capability shortfalls remain, with
two-thirds (63%) regarding third-party assistance as essential during cloud
implementation and optimization.
Drawing comparisons with a similar survey conducted in 2016, the results paint
an overall positive picture of rapidly accelerating cloud adoption, amid
growing confidence and awareness of the enormous opportunities the cloud
presents.
While the challenges to cloud adoption remain the same as 2016, they’re now
seen as much more surmountable. Despite the gap in internal capabilities, cloud
confidence is growing and fears surrounding migration, management and security
have all fallen.
Cloud is also seen as opening up new opportunities, with respondents pointing
to both health (76%) and social care (77%) as the areas where service quality
is poised to be most transformed by cloud capabilities. This move is likely to
be influenced by the recent “tech vision” set out for the NHS, which will see
all records move to public cloud platforms, and the Home Office’s stated desire
to migrate all national-level police IT onto AWS.
Commenting on the findings, Sean Grimes, Managing Director of Cloud & IT at
Agilisys, said: “The report shows that cloud adoption rates across the public
sector have risen dramatically since 2016, indicating that any previous fears
and uncertainties have been dispelled. Organizations now understand adoption is
critical to driving service transformation and they’re moving faster than ever
to capitalize on new cloud capabilities.
“Our research also shows that organizations believe cloud is key to unlocking
innovation across the public sector, with many respondents seeing it an essential
platform to leverage emerging technologies such as IoT, data & analytics,
AI and robotics, which will revolutionize services for the future. And while
cost reduction is an increasingly important driver, it’s the cloud’s ability to
improve capabilities (88%) that’s now the deciding factor, which is really
encouraging.
“Of course, the right skills and experience are crucial to making cloud
transformation a success. With demand accelerating, we’ll likely see more organizations leaning on private sector partnerships to support their cloud
ambitions, or to transfer essential skills. Indeed, growing awareness that
there are proven paths for success and third-party experts ready to help may
explain today’s confidence in cloud.”
Click here to download ‘Harnessing the cloud 2018, 2020 Cloud
Vision: The end of fear, uncertainty and doubt?’.
