Cloud Hosting

Brought to you by The WHIR

Nearly half (40 percent)of federal government employees dont know if cloud computing has had a positive or a negative impact on their department or agency, according to new research from Deloitte, highlighting a major issue as government agencies continue in their push to cloud adoption and data center consolidation.

Less than one in four respondents (24 percent) say cloud computing has had a positive impact on their organization, according to DeloittesMastering the Migrationreport, which surveyed328 federal government employees from over 30 departments and agencies.

Fortypercent of respondents do not know if cloud adoption has helped or hindered their organization, and a further 31 percent say it has had neither positive or negative impact. Almost every category in which dont know was an available response, it was the most common.

The survey also found that lift and shift strategies have been the primary method of meeting the federal governments Cloud First policy. Only one in five respondents said their organization is extensively using cloud native applications (5 percent), or even piloting applications developed for the cloud (14 percent).

The promise of the cloud is huge, but the journey isnt easy, Doug Bourgeois, managing director, Deloitte Consulting LLP said in a statement. Cloud value cannot be achieved through technology aloneits about governance, security, people, and processes. This report validates that support for cloud in federal agencies is growing, but perceptions of its impact vary significantly. Agencies need to rethink their core development principles and strategy for going cloud native.

Nine percent of those surveyed say their cloud migration has been successful, while 41 percent characterize it as mixed, problematic, or non-existent. As usual, security was identified as the greatest concern and challenge of cloud adoption, followed by skills and budget limitations.

Asurvey last year by MeriTalkfound that 82 percent of public sector cloud adopters say their agency will increase spending on cloud computing in 2017.

Limited migrations and incomplete migration plansidentified three years after the 2011 adoption of the Cloud First policy were largely attributed to staffing and procurement challenges by an Accenture report.

Read more:
Report: Many Federal Government Employees Oblivious of Cloud Computing Impact - Talkin' Cloud