The nation’s first CIO is pushing for government cloud services, but network officials in federal agencies are pushing back citing security concerns.
Nearly 80% of federal IT managers who answered a survey say security is a barrier and 41% says privacy is another related concern.
Federal CIO Vivek Kundra wants to fast-track cloud computing for all the right reasons – reduced capital outlay, operational savings through more efficient use of hardware and faster time to roll out resources. But that is going to require assurances that the cloud services the government certifies are secure.
The IT managers polled are aware of this and have started prioritizing what they would entrust to the cloud first with e-mail being the leader, and expectations of moving procurement, ERP and CRM applications in the near future.
But the group surveyed seemed a bit confused about what cloud use means, with 44% saying they use database applications in the cloud and 42% using cloud-based document management applications. This despite a result that says just 13% answered that they currently use cloud services.
The reaction of these government network officials is on par with those in private industry. They are getting a directive from on high to embrace cloud computing for its significant, provable upsides and are trying to figure out how without endangering data and applications.
The answer they seem to lean toward is placing non-critical applications in the cloud, just as their private sector cohorts do. A big difference is that with government agencies, caution must be even more pronounced because of the potential widespread political and economic damage breached government data could cause.
Of course placing data in public clouds where security has been made a priority and has been certified could actually result in safer computing than they practice now.
