European public sector failing to embrace cloud computing

Grazed from Public Service Europe. Author: Carsten Bruhn.

New research reveals a worrying picture of a European public sector equipped with the latest technologies but unable to effectively use them, writes IT expert. The European public sector has a great opportunity right now. Against the backdrop of the eurozone crisis and pressure to reduce operational budgets, cloud computing could well be the solution to the monumental challenge of delivering more with less. In fact, the public sector has already embraced the cloud to some extent, with recent research showing 47 per cent of employees in the public sector are using the cloud to share critical documents – more than any other sector surveyed – and 71 per cent are using it to enable mobile access to documents.

Its adoption could be down to an increased expectation by citizens to access information online and a commitment from governments across Europe to adopt more e-government services. As well as playing a central role in the migration of paper to digital documents, through the cloud information can flow more freely with workers able to gain mobile access to critical information on the move. This means staff can continue working from anywhere, without being hindered by traditional information technology constraints…

But where the adoption of cloud for document sharing and mobile access are positive in the public sector, it is concerning that more than half of senior public sector employees claim the technology has actually made information sharing more difficult. This data paints a worrying picture of a European public sector equipped with the latest technologies but unable to effectively use them. So where are they going wrong? Some 83 per cent of those in the public sector said they have some of the latest devices but are being hindered by back-end legacy systems. So perhaps it is time to move the focus away from the technology itself and to look into the processes underpinning the day-to-day work of public sector employees…

Read more from the source @ http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/3021/european-public-sector-failing-to-embrace-cloud-computing