More Cloud Computing in Government Than You Might Think

A month or so ago Vivek Kundra, Federal CIO, released a report called "State of Public Sector Cloud Computing." I haven't had a chance to post about it until now, but believe it is worthwhile reading for anyone trying to figure out the state of cloud computing adoption -- which is more difficult than might be imagined.

Everyone I speak to about cloud computing talks about how important case studies are -- and how difficult it is to find them. The reasons case studies are important are:

• They offer real-world experience to learn from. As the old saying goes, "those that can't do, teach." A corollary to that might be "the best teachers are those that do." The detailed knowledge gathered by someone who has actually implemented a technology project is phenomenal, and learning from that person can speed up one's own efforts tremendously. Just finding out about things that didn't work as they were supposed to is extremely valuable, and learning tips and tricks can shorten project lifecycles immeasurably.
• They increase confidence. If someone else was able to do it, I'll be able to do it, too.
• They separate vendor chaff from wheat. People love case studies at conferences because it is easy to get turned off by vendor happy talk. No vendor ever gets up and talks about what's hard (or, even rarer, what didn't work properly and how to work around it), so a real-world case study is highly appreciated.
• They're engaging. Abstract knowledge is difficult to assimilate and typically poorly learned. Concrete examples/stories align with the ways humans learn and transfer knowledge much better. Besides, they're fun.

For all these reasons, the report is something you should read, and it's enlightening. In contrast to many people who assert that use of cloud computing is limited to the SMB market, with enterprises only experimenting with dev/test in the cloud, the report illustrates that cloud computing production applications are alive and well in government at the county, state, and federal level.

Many of the case studies relate to agencies using SaaS applications, while a few related to IaaS applications. While many dismiss SaaS as not really cloud computing, we do not hold that opinion, although we recognize that the goals, selection criteria, and implementation process differ significantly from an IaaS project.

What the report makes clear is that cloud computing has serious momentum at all levels of government, and is likely to pick up speed going forward. If you want some additional examples of how organizations are levering the cloud, download a copy of the report and read it.

• Bernard Golden's blog
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