Migrating to the cloud can be a costly process and new figures have revealed that the UK government is spending more than £1bn each year as it undergoes its own cloud transition.
According to industry experts, public sector bodies are set to spend as much as £1.3bn on cloud services before the fiscal year ends in April.
Government figures for the 2017/2018 year show that around £1.1bn was spent on cloud services including hosting, software and support which is more than double the £421m spent in 2014/2015.
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The Home Office and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have spent the most on cloud technology as they aim to migrate more of their systems such as the Universal Credit platform to the cloud.
Cloud growth
US tech giants Google, Amazon and Microsoft have been spending heavily on improving and building out their own cloud services over the past few years.
AWS still controls the largest share of the cloud market though its dominance could be tested as other companies seek to expand their own offerings in the space.
A number of British businesses, such as the public sector cloud computing provider UKCloud, are also trying to establish a foothold in the growing cloud market.
The company recently confirmed that it had received a £25m investment from the Digital Alpha Advisors fund backed by Cisco. UK digital minister Margot James praised the investment saying it marked “another vote of confidence in our talented sector and will help us maintain our reputation as the leading destination in Europe for inward investment”.
Regional Director for UK&I at Citrix, Darren Fields offered further insight on the UK government's current cloud spending, saying:
“Transitioning to hybrid cloud will be crucial in helping government CIOs to accelerate their digital transformation, while delivering a host of other business benefits, with the cloud typically being more cost effective, scalable, secure, and flexible than legacy alternatives.
The UK government introduced its ‘Cloud First’ policy back in 2013, but progress to date has been a mixed bag, and many are still arguably in early stages of adoption. The need to contain costs and risks has created major complexity, and there is rarely a one-size fits all approach. Finding an impartial partner who works with several different suppliers is vital if departments are to truly achieve their cloud objectives.”
Via The Telegraph
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