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Digital Transformation

Public sector ‘behind the cloud computing curve’

Retailers lead the way in the importance different sectors attach to cloud computing

While both private and public sectors stand to benefit from the expansion and availability of cloud computing solutions, it seems that government organisations are failing to prioritise adoption of the technology and so are struggling to keep up with the latest developments.

That’s according to research conducted by Cisco as part of its most recent CloudWatch report, which analyses the use of the cloud across a variety of sectors and compares the contrasting levels of importance different industries attach to the services.

And while 39 per cent of retailers and 38 per cent of respondents in the services industry explained that a cloud strategy is critical to the functioning of their business, only 24 per cent of government organisations and 18 per cent of healthcare departments consider implementing such services to be a priority.

However, despite the public sector seemingly struggling to keep up with the latest trends as the government waits to see what impact its G-Cloud service will have, the increasing adoption of the technology in other areas reflects its growing popularity.

With 90 per cent of IT decision makers explaining that the cloud is now on their agenda – a significant jump from the 52 per cent seen in 2011 – it appears that awareness of the benefits of cloud computing is spreading rapidly.

Ian Foddering, chief technology officer and technical director of Cisco UK and Ireland, said: "This new report validates a shift that many of us in the IT industry have been witnessing first hand over the last six to 12 months. Cloud usage has now gone mainstream."

What’s more, with 85 per cent of organisations where cloud is on the agenda said to be planning further investment in the area, it appears that the technology is set for a sustained period of growth in the near future.

Given the benefits of backing up files and data sharing within the cloud, it seems likely that this trend will hold strong for some time – and the public sector could do well to keep up with the latest developments.