Protecting Public Sector Cloud-Based Data

Government Gets on Board with Advanced Applications

With the rapid technological advancements in today’s fast-paced world, it is inevitable to adopt cloud-based technologies and applications such as Software as a Service (SaaS) to remain competitive. Governments and public sector organizations have started embracing cloud-based applications to be more effective in delivering quality service to the public. Innovative technology firms offer comprehensive IT fulfillment services to help facilitate the need for IT fulfillment strategies that will improve public sector network security and data recovery for cloud-based applications.

Why SaaS and the Cloud are Being Used in the Government and Public Sector

SaaS and cloud technology enable IT leaders at all levels of government to innovate and collaborate more easily. However, cloud security and compliance concerns seem to inhibit decision makers, especially IT leaders, in implementing cloud migrations to fully achieve the benefits of shifting to the cloud. The aim of governments and public sector agencies shifting to the cloud is to enable them to use the cloud for various IT functions and gain a wider range of efficiencies.

Why Are So Many CIOs Taking A Cloud-First Adoption Strategy?

The key to successful adoption of the cloud in the government and public sector is to account for the unique procedural, regulatory, organizational, and technical issues of individual organizations. For instance, while local and regional governments pursue cloud computing to reap the immediate gains of innovation (tactical and cost savings benefits of cloud technology), the federal government considers it a long-term approach to strategic IT modernization.

The cloud-first adoption approach has enabled governments to move away from waterfall to agile methodologies in implementing new projects. Collaboration through the cloud has tremendously increased the agencies’ agility to execute processes more effectively.

The cloud payment model is called “on-demand payment” as users only pay for what they use. The model helps agencies to shift their capital costs to maintenance costs also known as CAPEX to OPEX for more flexibility in IT budgets. The cloud also allows government organizations to shed costs related to maintaining legacy infrastructures and running physical datacenters.

Data Loss by the Numbers – How Prevalent Is It? What are the Causes?

Data loss inconveniences can lead to bigger implications for businesses. The reality is that 70 percent of small businesses close shop within a year of facing a huge data loss incident. Moreover, 94 percent of companies that suffer severe data loss fail to recover. According to a 2014 study by Gartner, it was revealed that 20 percent of small and medium-sized businesses that experienced data loss due to outages suffered losses of between $50,000 and $5 million.

Here at IDS Systems, we employ unique IT fulfillment strategies to enhance collaboration and reduce infrastructure costs in IT. SaaS augments and supplements existing IT infrastructure, moving many processes towards cloud-based application, offering many organizations a turnkey solution from implementation to ongoing security and maintenance. Organizations can benefit from the latest data protection and data recovery solutions when using the cloud. Government organizations can rest assured that their data is safeguarded with cybersecurity regulations such as FedRAMP.

According to Gartner, nearly half of all government organizations “are actively using cloud services.” Though it varies depending on the level of government (local governments spend, on average, 20.6 percent of their IT budget on the cloud, while national governments spend around 22 percent), these public sector organizations have taken to the cloud in a big way—compare these spending averages to the private sector’s 20.4% average spend.

Even still, government spending on the cloud has significant potential for increased growth; Gartner also predicts that spending on cloud-based solutions and SaaS will increase by 17.1% annually through to 2021.

Need for Increased Security and Robust Data Recovery Plans

Government IT leaders should always approach cloud deployments and public sector network security cautiously. Unfortunately, agencies end up creating incomplete security infrastructures by patching together a range of individual purpose-built solutions or security products that were not designed to work with one another.

The best solution is to use a unified network-based platform that has flexible data recovery and security architectures in managing the rapidly changing cloud environment. The process should be seamless from the endpoint through the data transmission touch points to the cloud network and back. Such a platform can be used by agencies to unify access governance, threat protection, and information security in their cloud platforms and in their on-premises security infrastructures.

In other words, the agencies will ultimately benefit from the same level of protection they are used to in their physical networks. With the right policies that govern their processes, employees will only have access to the data they need. It is also important to have a foolproof disaster recovery plan that complements the agency’s endpoint security.

Understanding the Role of Human Error – The Cloud isn’t Infallible

Cloud technology enhances collaboration with colleagues and boosts productivity on multiple mobile devices. Hence, users are not likely to turn to unapproved online tools or consumer services that could put agencies at risk. Moreover, agencies should have an IT strategic plan that gives them the capacity to identify data storage systems across the cloud and mobile networks, and monitor how data is used and protected from cybercriminals. In the end, agencies in the public sector will ensure that the routes of valuable traffic are clearly classified, seen, and monitored for anomalies.

Government organizations can reduce human error and deliver improved citizen services by quickly testing virtual machines before scaling up. In other words, it is possible for agencies to scale new ideas much more quickly compared to up-scaling from their physical servers or facing lengthy requests for new hardware. New services can be quickly rolled out to the public rather than spending months on unnecessary formalities to release a new service.

Final Thoughts

There are numerous challenges facing the full adoption of cloud computing. However, with the help of experienced agencies like IDS Systems, both the private and public sector can benefit from reliable and scalable IT infrastructure solutions

These include:

Any business or organization in the public sector and those in commercial environments can stay relevant in today’s market demands through cloud computing. With a team of skilled technology experts, analysts, and system engineers, you can rest assured you’re backed by massive industry experience to offer unparalleled services that are customized to suit your specific needs.