Opportunities for the Channel as Government Discovers the Cloud

A recent Information Week survey has found that federal government organizations have discovered a need to bring cloud services into the workplace and are actively planning the swift changeover.

Around 50 percent of organizations in the U.S. government have sought out viable options in cloud services and application space, and 46 percent of those, according to the report, have started to analyze and compare those.

In addition, 103 federal IT professional respondents have outlined patterns which shape the development of cloud technology in the federal vertical, and it does not come as a surprise to learn that a lot of opportunity is available in this sphere for solution providers; 50 percent of respondents are currently getting started with cloud technology.

Cloud is certainly popular; 18 percent of respondents recommend this model. However, many more companies continue to use, or are looking to use the private cloud, as do 14 percent of respondents.

These findings suggest that there lies a large base of federal IT professionals who require help to seek out the correct cloud services, as well as a significant group that need private cloud technology. This is particularly useful for partners, and could result in investments in infrastructure. A sale of hardware and services would provide a basic approach, yet there still exists opportunity beyond these needs.

Cloud adoption comes with some major issues for federal agencies; assessment and security within cloud services appears to be the biggest hurdle as 68 percent of respondents refer to this problem. Additionally, problems with compatibility in legacy systems were highlighted by 51 percent, and a further 31 percent cited a lack of familiarity and experience with the cloud.

Services involved in consultative, compliance and migratory issues can certainly be offered by the channel, which is well-suited and experienced in handling such matters. Like other enterprise customers, federal agencies need some help as well as a trusted advisor to train new users in bringing the cloud to the workplace. Solution providers well-trained in federal pain points will be ideally suited for these challenges and opportunities.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that 49 percent was commanded by Infrastructure-as-a-Service, 32 percent underlined Storage-as-a-Service, 25 percent pointed at Software-as-a-Service, and 19 percent at Platform-as-a-Service.

Comprehension of cloud services currently in use and those needed by federal agencies should also aide solution providers to realize the kind of apps, services and value-attach technology which would be required to satisfy federal agencies. (CY) Link