Ensuring more Pros than Cons from the Public Sector Cloud
On the 27th September the 2nd annual Public Sector Cloud Computing Conference is taking place in Edinburgh and Neil Thomas, Flexible Computing Product Manager at Cable&Wireless Worldwide will discuss how best to take advantage of cloud computing within the public sector.
Having worked closely with some of the earliest adopters of cloud services, Neil has gained great insight into the advantages to be had from the cloud, but also the pitfalls to avoid if an implementation is to succeed.
Neil comments, “Organisations of all sizes are looking towards cloud computing as a means to cut costs, increase agility and facilitate change. However cloud computing is not always about reducing costs, instead it should be viewed as a way to align costs with the organisation’s activity and make it more productive as a result. Cloud computing enables organisations to consume IT services rather than fund expensive infrastructure.
“Cloud services will help organisations, especially the public sector, achieve strategic objectives but only if it is looked at as a means to deliver these rather than simply replicate and house the existing IT estate., A clear understanding of the business objectives behind any IT requirements are fundamental when selecting cloud services and the environment must be designed with set objectives in mind. Looking beyond cost cutting we envision that cloud services will help the public sector address organisational changes and give them much needed additional agility. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides a platform from which to develop services quickly and respond to changes in service delivery faster.
“In the private sector, the flexibility provided by cloud computing is already helping businesses to address internal challenges with R&D and facilitating changes, for reorganisation, redevelopment and the merging of departments. It also helps with day to day agility, giving them the ability to scale up resources to respond to demand. This is evident in sectors such as education and retail where organisations need additional resources during school term or retail peaks such as Christmas.
“The GCF Framework and Public Sector Network (PSN) will give public sector organisations an additional advantage. They now have a chance to consume and experiment with cloud services within a secure network.”
About Cable&Wireless Worldwide
Cable&Wireless Worldwide (LSE: CW.) is a leading global telecoms company providing a wide range of high-quality managed voice, data, hosting and IP-based services and applications to large multinational companies, governments, carrier customers and resellers across the UK, Asia Pacific, India, Middle East & Africa, Continental Europe and North America. Established in the 1860s, Cable&Wireless Worldwide helps more than 6,000 organisations deliver their goals. The Group’s vision is to be the first choice for mission critical communications.
Reaching 20,500km in length, Cable&Wireless Worldwide owns the UK’s largest fibre network dedicated to business users of telecoms, and provides ubiquitous nationwide access through a combination of fibre, digital, microwave, radio and leased circuits. The network has presence in over 400 towns and cities in the UK, with 864 unbundled exchanges covering 56% of the population.
Internationally, Cable&Wireless Worldwide’s global next-generation network (NGN) stretches to more than 425,000km, including interests in 60 global cable systems, enabling connectivity to more than 150 countries. The Group’s IP-based Multi-Service Platform operates at the core of our NGN, offering a single environment on which voice and data applications can be converged to drive business efficiencies. Cable&Wireless Worldwide’s network is uniquely designed with inbuilt resilience.
With more than 6,000 colleagues globally, Cable&Wireless Worldwide is committed to delivering exceptional customer service and developing long term partnerships with its customers.
To find out more, please visit www.cw.com
