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Cloud
Transition
As the civil service seeks to meet government ambitions contained in various strategies, the transition to cloud has become an ever more important goal. The One Government Cloud Strategy (OCGS) states that public sector organisations should consider cloud solutions first before considering any other option. The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO)’s cross-government cloud and technology infrastructure strategy and the Cyber Security Strategy highlight the need for a highly secure, resilient transition to cloud across government which helps to increase collaboration and reduce paperwork, while being cost-effective for taxpayers FourNet’s community cloud service, ANTENNA, can help improve the speed and effectiveness of government delivery, providing increased security, agility, versatility and efficiency with the costs shared across government.
Challenges
Cloud-first for scale, security and agility
Innovation and introducing new services
Since the pandemic, flexibility, agility and scaleability, coupled with government strategies, have proved to be key drivers for cloud transition. A cloud-based infrastructure allows departments to be more flexible and agile, enabling swifter innovation as needs change and evolve.
There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy when it comes to cloud transition but in general it allows all departments and employees access to the same information, at the same time, no matter where they are working from.
This means there are greater opportunities to allow civil servants and contact centre agents to work remotely or from home, without any impact on the department, agency, or government working. So long as an internet connection is available, everyone can be at work – whether on mobile, laptop or desktop PC.
As a result, workforce management is more efficient both for managers and team-members, agents are happier, and civil service collaboration is more likely.
Moving to a cloud-based solution offers you, your department and agencies, the ability to access your system remotely. This means general maintenance, essential security and system updates can also be conducted instantly – leaving employees to focus on the work of government.
Security & privacy
With cyber-threats more prominent and data protection an increasing global concern, a robust and highly-secure infrastructure, particularly for government, is essential. Cloud based technology gives greater across the board security, with updates simple to roll out.
Technology also allows managers to accurately forecast the changes within each department allowing civil service resources to be managed better.
Uneven workloads
Cloud technology allows departments to better accurately forecast changes in workloads and staffing schedules, allowing resources to be managed better and workloads to be streamlined.
It can seriously reduce the cost of disaster recovery, which can be expensive without cloud-based back-up.
Security is an ongoing consideration for all departments and agencies, and that is not likely to change any time soon. With cyber threats more prominent and data protection an increasing concern, a robust and secure infrastructure for your telephony, digital and contact centre services is essential.
Updating a cloud-based solutions’ security patches can be done remotely from anywhere. Eliminating the need to visit an on-premise solution means that the turnaround to protect government infrastructure from potential attacks can be near instant.
Legacy technology
Moving to the cloud does not instantly mean having to rip and replace with added environmental impact. While government strategies suggest a move away from legacy technology, with the transition to cloud via ANTENNA, legacy technology can be connected to cloud solutions. Savings in IT support and hardware allow affordable investment elsewhere.
Savings in areas such as IT support and hardware allow affordable investment elsewhere, such as cloud-based customer experience solutions. Cloud services regularly release new features and functions, meaning your department is constantly innovating and future-proofed.
Multi-cloud environments
There’s no one-size fits all approach. Some departments and government agencies may be better suited, or require, hybrid solutions, while many will go all in for cloud.
Interoperability
With flexible working and a hybrid workforce, systems need to work with other systems and offer third party and partner integration.
The latest features and functionality via the cloud
Create a roadmap to the cloud that capitalises on existing investments while integrating the latest features and applications.