Sunny outlook thanks to the cloud
Many of you will have heard about the G-Cloud project. It’s the Government’s programme aimed at getting more cloud-based services into the public sector. Already it’s been met with a huge amount of interest from companies looking to develop services for it.
The G-Cloud aims to be agile, efficient and open to companies of all sizes to compete for Government contracts. Simply come up with a good idea, get the OK from the Government, create it, and then make it available to public sector workers. Think of it as a big Government app store.
Whilst there are concerns that opening up the public sector to a variety of software suppliers will require management in and of itself, it’s surely a good thing the Government’s experimenting with the cloud and inviting more companies to demonstrate their innovation.
Of course in some areas of the public sector there’s already a great deal of collaboration over IT networks. Universities and research institutes have been doing just that for many years. If tablets and the new Apple e-textbooks take their place in the classroom, then educators will increasingly need cloud-based services to use on these devices.
The London Grid for Learning is a fantastic example of how educators can work together. Nearly 3,000 schools in London are sharing a Public Services Network to improve their collaboration. As this becomes the norm, it will be increasingly important to have access to a reliable and secure network to maintain public services and ensure the G-Cloud is effective.
It all adds up to one thing – opportunity. An opportunity for companies to compete for Government business, and an opportunity for the Government to take its pick from the best services available. Ultimately, it should be good news for the taxpayer.
