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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
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