Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 10 | Page 92

/////////////////////////////////////////// INDUSTRY WATCH of public cloud, showing that the problems often get worse, rather than better, during the implementation process. This seems at odds with one of the major potential benefits of public cloud – cost efficiency. Only 17% of NHS trusts that have adopted public cloud expect to see any ROI from the technology and 6% state that they expect to see no ROI at all. This highlights an ongoing challenge that IT teams face to prove efficacy and ROI from public cloud. Tech vendors have an opportunity to step up here with tools that offer transparency into how the cloud is producing cost-efficiencies. This is particularly important in the NHS, where budgets are tight and IT teams are under significant pressure to do more with less. At the same time, a big part of this budget challenge can be attributed to the shift from CAPEX to OPEX that comes with the cloud, which is challenging for many organisations. This makes it far more important for public sector IT teams to focus on the needs of the user to make the most of that usage. A little further down the public cloud adoption journey, central government has felt the impact of a lack of digital skills – a concern voiced by 25% of central government organisations. While the digital skills gap is widely discussed in the SMB and enterprise space, it’s important not to overlook the public sector. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) initiatives designed to address this should be adapted to tackle the needs of the public sector as much as the private one. Addressing this plays into a change in IT department culture. IT professionals can no longer only be experts in one field. They need to perform a number of roles and communicate and interact with both the business and IT function. It will be crucial to attract a new generation of talent to work in the public sector, which means being innovators in the digital space, as well as allocating resources for training and development. An initial investment here pays dividends when a new generation of skilled workers can lead the digitisation charge. A history of common roadblocks Back in 2016, the GDS was convinced that the public cloud offered assurances of data security. However, NHS Digital only provided guidance in January 2018, affirming public cloud’s suitability for patient data. This delay may account for a significant portion of the security mistrust around the cloud, plaguing 61% of NHS trusts according to ONLY 17% OF NHS TRUSTS THAT HAVE ADOPTED PUBLIC CLOUD EXPECT TO SEE ANY ROI FROM THE TECHNOLOGY 92 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com