October 7, 2009 By Andrea DiMaio
Photo: Andrea DiMaio, vice president and distinguished analyst, Gartner Inc.
With the new administration, the U.S. federal government has set the pace for a "cloud gold rush" that is already reverberating in other parts of the world and is creating expectations for suppliers.
The value proposition of cloud computing is certainly attractive. The cloud gives public CIOs the ability to better relate costs to actual use of infrastructure and applications, and to shift limited human resources from managing assets and processes that can be easily made commercial, to focusing on activities that are core to the missions of departments and agencies.
Besides that, cloud computing is closely related to another important phenomenon taking place within government agencies: socialization. The business of government is being challenged and transformed by the emergence of social networks, with government data mashed up with external data to support service delivery.
This implies that information assets and human resources that contribute to government operations will be more and more outside the government's span of control. Cloud computing shows the IT side of this same phenomenon: Technology assets and processes that government agencies rely on will be outside their traditional span of control.
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Based off of discussions of the Digital Communities Large Jurisdiction Chief Information Officer (CIO) Working Group, this white paper aims to answer the question, "In today's economic, political and business environment, what constitutes a successful relationship between government and industry?" Cause for Optimism identifies and clarifies the issues that separate government and industry, and begins to find an answer to the question necessary for both to enjoy a successful and prosperous future.
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