How the G-Cloud will make buyers think like service integrators
January 13, 2012
Advocates of cloud computing often talk of how it offers a new procurement model for IT services, providing both substantial savings and more flexibility in the face of fluctuating demand. Their day is coming with the first procurements for the G-Cloud, the government’s formal channel for procuring cloud services.
However according to Kevin Holland, who has been involved in the G-Cloud programme for two years in his capacity as service management consultant for NHS Connecting for Health (CfH), the outlook is more complex.
While the availability of cloud services can encourage the view that you pay for what you use and it’s the supplier’s job to know about the technology, Holland claims that getting the best out of the cloud is going to demand new skills in service integration that are not yet widespread in the public sector…
One of the major challenges that lies ahead will be to manage suppliers efficiently, he says, thanks to the nature of cloud services which are built from tried and tested components.
"Instead of having one service provider or multiple suppliers of software, cloud means you will now have an increase in the number of providers involved in the services you deliver to your end users. Hence the challenges – they are going to have to get those skills to manage those providers for an end to end service."
Holland cites the experience of CfH in managing the NHS National Programme for IT as an example, saying it has aimed to provide specific services by bringing together different technology providers, as in the case of the Choose and Book e-referrals service which uses the GP’s system, the N3 broadband network, the Spine for messaging and the hospital system.
While none of these are cloud services, Holland says the way CfH manages the different parts of the contracts provides a precedent for managing cloud services. "When everything works smoothly you don’t get involved, but when they don’t, the relationship management model comes in.
"As the service integrator you have relationships with all of the service providers involved in the business transaction. Some will be contractual relationships but some won’t, and just because you don’t have a contract it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a relationship with them.
"When something doesn’t work it’s the service integrator who identifies what has gone wrong and has to put it right. It has the view of the end to end service, not just the management of individual contracts."
In effect, organisations will have to learn how to be service integrators, knitting together and managing services from a range of different suppliers so that users can’t see the join in the end-to-end service. They will also have to be "informed customers", with the ability to manage requirements effectively.
Holland says that although cloud makes it easier to buy a service, you have to understand what you want it do. Requirements management is not just writing down what you want and going out to tender – the approach that often justifies the development of expensive bespoke systems – but understanding what is wanted, looking at what is in the market as a cloud offering, and designing the service accordingly.
There are some commercial providers that claim to have the skills to do that, but Holland suggests that public authorities would be better placed by developing them in-house, or taking advantage of a shared service offered by another public sector organisation acting as the informed customer.
The argument goes that if a supplier has a significant share of the market for a particular service, public sector clients would find it more cost-effective to use an informed customer that had proven the relevant skills than try to manage the supplier individually. The commoditised nature of cloud services should, over time, make it easier to find those informed customers that could act on behalf of others.
Security assurance
Holland also reiterates one of the main advantages expected for the G-Cloud: that it will save public authorities from seeking assurance for security, testing and service management. "Provided testing meets the government guidelines they have met them, there’s no need for the supplier to do it again for another department."
But he warns that the G-Cloud will not be a "get out of jail free card": services still need to be managed and there will always be a need for some specialist services that just don’t fit with the cloud principles. "But we should all start to be aware of it and be inquisitive about what it means, because it is going to change the face of government ICT forever, and that includes the NHS."
He concludes that harnessing the full potential of the G-Cloud is going to require a mindset change, in which organisations look hard at what is special about their processes, what they have in common with those of others, and how they can best use the majority of services that can be commoditised.
"It’s about having a challenging mind, and moving from that ‘Why not?’ to ‘How could we?’" he says.