Why Won't Public Sector Embrace Cloud?

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Cloud is by no means a brand-new technology, but the public sector has been slow to embrace it. CRN asked solution providers in the public sector: Is the hesitation a case of bureaucratic red tape or are there other factors at play?

Security, particularly in the government, is the biggest concern.

’This is another situation of analysis paralysis; the cloud has not really reached into a lot of the government agencies such as the military, such as Homeland Security,’ said Neil Cohen, director at Cobra First Responder. Cohen said government agencies dealing with sensitive information haven’t built out an infrastructure or the technology to properly handle security risks. ’A lot of them are still on BlackBerries.’

But security is not the only reason for slow adoption. For agencies looking to switch to the cloud, they need to take into consideration multiple processes, like redeveloping applications for cloud migration.

’The challenge for the integrators is some of these markets are still developing,’ said PS Partnerships President and CEO Scott Lewis. ’You’re getting Google and Amazon and those kinds of companies winning them as a prime, and the larger integrators are thinking, ’Well how can I support that?’’

’I think security concerns are kind of secondary, it’s more in the discovery stage of how do we go to the cloud, can we do that?’ said George T. Pashardis, vice president of ePlus Technology.

In both government and education the challenges are clear: Most agencies do not have the infrastructure and staff to move to the cloud in the ways they want to, which offers a huge opportunity for solution providers.

PUBLISHED JUNE 3, 2014