Public sector cloud adoption grows but digital transformation slow, says CIF
Although the public sector is continuing to adopt cloud computing and make it a part of their daily operations, promised “digital transformation” is still some distance off for many agencies, according to new research.
The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF)’s seventh annual report into how the public sector is using the cloud found that the majority of the UK’s public organisations are failing to use off-premise services to solve anything other than small-scale and easy projects.
Since last year, there has been a 20 percentage point rise in the number of public sector organisations that have made the switch to cloud-based software and infrastructure, the report states, taking the sector’s total cloud adoption rate to 82 per cent today.
The report, which is co-authored by CIF and public sector cloud service provider UKCloud, also says that the lack of widespread transformation can be put down to a lack of leadership and cloud skills among civil servants.
CIF’s own survey found that 40 per cent of respondents to its survey of public sector workers said budgetary constraints were also slowing their department’s move to the cloud, while 24 per cent blame a digital skills shortage.
The report’s authors describe cloud migrations that have taken place so far as “low hanging fruit”, largely made up of moving virtualised apps that are easily shifted into the cloud.
Simon Hansford, UKCloud’s CEO, added: “While this is a good start, to unlock the full potential of cloud and digital transformation, organisations need to tackle the complexity inherent in many processes, overcome the cultural barriers to adoption and seek to breach departmental silos.”
Elsewhere, CIF recommends the Government’s Digital Service to accelerate the use of off-premise IT services across the public sector, despite many respondents reporting that they do not use it.
CIF’s CEO, Alex Hilton, said that factors such as “long-standing and heavy investments in legacy technology”, combined with a lack of funding and skilled IT professionals could act as a “brake on progress”.
“These obstacles must be navigated and addresses as a priority if the public sector is to progress and make a lasting break with old ways of working,” he added.
