Over the last several years, organisations have expanded their investments in the cloud to improve citizen services and accessibility to various citizen utilities. This investment is a direct result of recognising that the cloud, with its ability to facilitate the needs of a digitally enabled organisation, is a powerful and cost-effective IT solution, giving entities the flexibility to scale their environments easily and efficiently to meet their goals.  

As the local government, education, and healthcare sector embark on this digital transformation, they are seeing benefits, but also encountering the challenges that come with any change. Do the barriers outweigh the benefits? What are the organisations, each with their unique needs, learning as they implement their cloud solutions?  

Cloud and legacy modernisation 

Government IT services must upgrade and optimise expensive, ineffective legacy infrastructure with technology that is simply operable, scalable, and combining the advantages of cloud architecture with the necessity for on-site management.  

The cloud conversation has evolved away from some of the fundamental issues, such as agility and scalability, and toward more complex applications of the cloud, like containers and edge, which are influencing the future. Companies are also more likely to take on more risk than they did in the past, in addition to the shutdown of data centres. 

Organisations have profited from better customer experiences thanks to the use of cloud technology, and they have realised the value that cloud, and application modernisation provides when it comes to innovation and keeping ahead of the competition. 

The difficulty of locating and maintaining the critical IT expertise in the area may be overcome by collaborating with outside cloud solutions providers in order to continue to effectively leverage the advantages of cloud technology. Security is the most important factor to consider when choosing a cloud environment, ahead of scalability, compliance and flexibility/agility.  

 The path to IT transformation and on-demand services 

Continuing demand for increased IT capacity arises when institutions adopt innovations like data analytics and disruptive technology. As more citizens use the services and facilities, that development increases the demand for capacity. 

The best strategies to utilise public cloud resources are sought in order to save costs and improve agility. Using the cloud for disaster recovery, backup, or both infrastructure choices need to take the cloud into consideration, whether they include migrating applications there. Complex infrastructure might hinder efforts and have an impact on the outcomes. One way is to accelerate your transformation by allowing a hybrid cloud to seamlessly combine cloud services that are built on a unique scale-out architecture and mainly offer predictable scalability. 

To become a fully digital organisation, the core idea is to utilise agile, effective, multicloud-capable IT with hyperconvergence to change how you conduct operations. Delivering new features significantly raises the internal standard. Lastly, improving user experience and allowing government employees and industry professionals more time to concentrate on actual tasks provide the ability to reinvent the organisation. 

The cloud is no longer a cutting-edge innovation; it is now a largely recognised technology, and practically no organisation is not in the process of using the cloud to transform itself. At the same time, several obstacles, most notably a shortage of IT personnel, stand in the way of that shift. As organisations continue to get rid of legacy infrastructure and expect the cloud to do more tasks, they will more than ever need to rely on outside expertise to fulfil their cloud goals. 

OpenGov Asia is pleased to invite you to an exclusive OpenGov Breakfast Insight that aims to provide the latest information on the benefits of a seamless cloud experience for citizens to enjoy and become empowered by. This is a closed-door, invitation-only, interactive session with top public sector, education, and healthcare leaders from Singapore.   

OpenGov Breakfast Insights are concise, to-the-point, strategic-level discussions designed to bring learning to the highest level! The unique proposition of an OpenGov Asia Breakfast Insight is the integration of cutting-edge insights from our expert speakers and interactive discussion among the participants.