CIF scheme to boost private and public cloud co-operation
The UK’s Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) has launched a special interest group (SIG) tasked with helping cloud computing service providers to align their offerings more closely with the needs of the public sector.
The SIG’s first objective will be to encourage the cloud industry to boost the number of services bought by the public sector through G-Cloud, the Government’s existing procurement initiative for cloud computing services.
It will also try to make sure the cloud computing market as open and transparent when it comes to providing for the Government, and that new products and developments are catering for public sector buyers.
“This is an exciting time for the cloud computing sector, and G-Cloud has enabled the government and the public sector to tap into that energy and creative thinking," said Peter Middleton, director at Cloudline and leader of the new SIG.
"This SIG is all about accelerating that process and removing as much friction as possible. With all the recent changes in government, we call on the Cabinet Office to nominate a representative who we can work with to take forward the above priorities."
CIF believes that with the looming challenges of Brexit, austerity and a potential switch of governments, there is a risk that progress made towards the Government Transformation Strategy might stall. The initiative promises to deliver and design joined-up, end-to-end services that “change the relationship” between the government and the public by 2020.
With this in mind, the Forum has also provided a list of priorities intended to help the cloud industry reach the 2020 target.
Among them are calls to publish cloud transition and IT sourcing plans across Government, a request for further commitment to the G-Cloud 10 framework, and a need for clarity around the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and how it will feed into the Government’s own frameworks.
The CIF was established in 2009, with the main aim of providing certification to a Code of Practice to identify credible cloud service providers.
