Levelling up efficiency with cloud: opportunities for the public sector (Guest blog from Kainos)

Author: Ricky Walker, Public Sector CTO at Kainos

The UK Government has made great strides into using cloud to transform operations and citizen-facing services. Whether it’s digitising the passport application process or providing government-funded childcare, there’s been steady progress in leveraging cloud’s agility, flexibility and scalability. 

Now, with increased pressure on budgets and clear direction from the Central Digital and Data Office’s updated roadmap, where should you focus? 

In this article, we look at targeted ways to drive cloud-enabled efficiency gains, including:  

• Cloud opportunities that link efficiency to strategic priorities  

• Key considerations (and how to address them) 

Targeted opportunities for cloud-enabled efficiency 

Ease budget constraints – by sharing and reusing 

The Central Digital and Data Office identified 75 key services for transformation across government departments. These range from paying self-assessment tax to recording MOT test results. In addition to these flagship projects, there are smaller yet crucial services that would benefit from moving to the cloud.  

Many of these services have similar features, like processing payments, notifying users, or ensuring secure log-in. There are even higher-level interaction patterns, like issuing permits and licences.  

Cloud makes it easy to use shared technology services and reusable components to develop and transform services quickly. For instance, GOV.UK Notify lets you send emails, text messages and letters. At a more complex level, there are examples like the NHS Wales App, which reused tech, processes and learnings from the NHS England App to launch seven months early. 

Drive towards net zero – by streamlining and automating 

68% of the data we store is never accessed post-creation. This means digital waste is endemic across the public sector – and needs to be tackled to achieve net zero targets. 

Cloud helps make the decarbonisation process more efficient. Firstly, cloud data centres are more energy efficient than on-premises ones, meaning migration is a quick win. Secondly, cloud provides capabilities that help manage ongoing emissions, including: 

• Autoscaling and shared tenancy to minimise non-essential demand, 

• Using the most efficient algorithms and processors targeted to the load profile to reduce processor usage and execution times, 

• Automating scheduled shutdowns to power down unneeded, non-production environments, 

• Applying pre-configured lifecycle policies to reduce data sprawl. 

Harness more value from your legacy estate – by integrating into modern citizen services 

A key cloud benefit is flexibility. Through cloud services like Platform as a Service (PaaS), you can create a robust foundation for integrating multiple systems and enabling more effective use of data across services. 

Using a cloud service to front your legacy backend services allows you to expose your legacy data and functionality with a modern interface safely and securely.  In time, the legacy backend can be modernised without impacting the updated user experience. 

Key cloud adoption considerations and how to deal with them 

What’s standing in the way of seizing these opportunities?  

Public sector organisations must deal with three common considerations – but the good news is they’re surmountable (and shouldn’t hold back progress). 

• Data sovereignty: The public sector deals with sensitive and confidential data that must be protected and stored in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. Cloud providers may store and process data in different locations globally, which can raise data sovereignty issues. However, there’s a straightforward fix – because you can dictate which jurisdiction is used.  

• Privacy and compliance: As with any IT, there are always risks of breaches, unauthorised access, or misuse. But in many ways, cloud puts you in a stronger position to protect assets and enhance security posture. Why? Because providers are at the cutting edge of innovation in this area and help you stay ahead of the cyberthreat curve. You also get streamlined capabilities for access control, governance and more, which help make data protection and compliance more efficient and robust. 

• Skills gaps: Cloud requires new skills and ways of working, which inevitably means a degree of upskilling and cultural change. The right partner is key here. Yes, you can use them to fill gaps in your tech and dev teams. But you should also use their expertise to upskill along the way so you’re progressively empowering your people to make the most of cloud.  

What are your strategic drivers? 

From cost savings to innovation, cloud plays an important role in delivering them more efficiently. As you plan for 2024 and beyond, remember to: 

• Leverage existing services and capabilities – from cloud providers and other public sector organisations 

• Automate as much as possible – because it’s key to efficiency, savings and agility 

• Focus on foundations as well as top-level services – so you can make the most of innovations like AI 

With these three pillars supporting your approach, you’ll drive successful and sustainable cloud implementation.