Comments on: Lack of Money Pushes Local Governments Into the Clouds http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/ A member of the Gartner Blog Network Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:26:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Andrea Di Maio http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/comment-page-1/#comment-1309 Andrea Di Maio Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:21:47 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/#comment-1309 @Paul Your point is interesting and probably makes a lot of sense to many people. I, for one, have written a piece about the concept of "Citizen Data Vault", suggesting that citizens may be given the option of choosing who is going to manage their data (pretty much like with Google Health or Microsoft Health Vault). However, it is fair to say that all this beautiful digital world made of "invisible government", "data stored does not matter where", and endless "mashups" comes to a sudden end when something goes wrong and people hold government - and not Google or Microsoft or Facebook - accountable for inaccurately processing their benefits or losing their data. @Paul
Your point is interesting and probably makes a lot of sense to many people. I, for one, have written a piece about the concept of “Citizen Data Vault”, suggesting that citizens may be given the option of choosing who is going to manage their data (pretty much like with Google Health or Microsoft Health Vault). However, it is fair to say that all this beautiful digital world made of “invisible government”, “data stored does not matter where”, and endless “mashups” comes to a sudden end when something goes wrong and people hold government – and not Google or Microsoft or Facebook – accountable for inaccurately processing their benefits or losing their data.

]]> By: Andrea Di Maio http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/comment-page-1/#comment-1308 Andrea Di Maio Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:17:39 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/#comment-1308 @Dennis You make an excellent point in your blog (http://www.ddmcd.com/cloud.html) where you suggest that the Feds may actually jump into the cloud to replace not only infrastructure but also applications. However I do see very difficult dynamics between state & local government on the one hand and federal government on the other hand. While moves to cloud-based infrastructure or applications in state&local would be primarily motivated by the need to save money fast enough, federal government still has money (or - at least - is not under a comparable budget pressure), so drivers to move to the "cloud" are different and more nuanced. @Dennis
You make an excellent point in your blog (http://www.ddmcd.com/cloud.html) where you suggest that the Feds may actually jump into the cloud to replace not only infrastructure but also applications. However I do see very difficult dynamics between state & local government on the one hand and federal government on the other hand. While moves to cloud-based infrastructure or applications in state&local would be primarily motivated by the need to save money fast enough, federal government still has money (or – at least – is not under a comparable budget pressure), so drivers to move to the “cloud” are different and more nuanced.

]]> By: What if government IT (and spending) vanishes in a cloud? http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/comment-page-1/#comment-1297 What if government IT (and spending) vanishes in a cloud? Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:25:23 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/#comment-1297 [...] ← Lack of Money Pushes Local Governments Into the Clouds [...] [...] ← Lack of Money Pushes Local Governments Into the Clouds [...]

]]> By: Paul http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/comment-page-1/#comment-1291 Paul Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:35:08 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/#comment-1291 Fears of the 'cloud' for computing are irrelevant and unfounded. People, if your info is digitzed, it can be accessed if you try hard enough. When are people going to understand that it doesn't matter where the hard drive is located, and in fact better it be in a cloud providers datacentre than in a computer 'room'. Don't we recall instances of people accessing the Govt. servers? LA will face the cost realities and realities that we live in a digital world now and this 'bricks & mortar" reality no longer exists. Fears of the ‘cloud’ for computing are irrelevant and unfounded. People, if your info is digitzed, it can be accessed if you try hard enough. When are people going to understand that it doesn’t matter where the hard drive is located, and in fact better it be in a cloud providers datacentre than in a computer ‘room’. Don’t we recall instances of people accessing the Govt. servers? LA will face the cost realities and realities that we live in a digital world now and this ‘bricks & mortar” reality no longer exists.

]]> By: SmithWill http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/comment-page-1/#comment-1290 SmithWill Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:43:57 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/#comment-1290 Also, technology and complexity are the enemies of freedom. A cloud by another name is a fog bank=obfuscate/concealment Also, technology and complexity are the enemies of freedom. A cloud by another name is a fog bank=obfuscate/concealment

]]> By: SmithWill http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/comment-page-1/#comment-1289 SmithWill Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:41:04 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/#comment-1289 I would only welcome "Virtualized" government sevices if it meant the bureaucrats went away. In reality, moving services to the cloud is just another way of saying "you'll like the poor service and won't have anyone to complain to so shut up and pay your taxes!" I would only welcome “Virtualized” government sevices if it meant the bureaucrats went away. In reality, moving services to the cloud is just another way of saying “you’ll like the poor service and won’t have anyone to complain to so shut up and pay your taxes!”

]]> By: Dennis McDonald http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/comment-page-1/#comment-1288 Dennis McDonald Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:29:20 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/#comment-1288 Another possible angle is that moving to cloud based services at least partly overcomes the cost and complexity of re-architecting legacy systems using traditional approaches to development and integration. See "Are Federal Acquisition Practices Accelerating the Move of Government Computing to the Cloud?" (http://www.ddmcd.com/cloud.html). Another possible angle is that moving to cloud based services at least partly overcomes the cost and complexity of re-architecting legacy systems using traditional approaches to development and integration. See “Are Federal Acquisition Practices Accelerating the Move of Government Computing to the Cloud?” (http://www.ddmcd.com/cloud.html).

]]> By: Andrea Di Maio http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/comment-page-1/#comment-1282 Andrea Di Maio Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:36:35 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/#comment-1282 @Bruce & Tom Indeed, this is yet another pendulum that starts swinging @Bruce & Tom
Indeed, this is yet another pendulum that starts swinging

]]> By: Tom Bittman http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/comment-page-1/#comment-1281 Tom Bittman Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:16:55 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/#comment-1281 Security concerns are already pushing many enterprises to solutions between the full public cloud offerings and internal offerings - more like traditional hosting (Exchange Online Dedicated, for example). It's going to take pioneers to find where the "safe" balance lies. Security concerns are already pushing many enterprises to solutions between the full public cloud offerings and internal offerings – more like traditional hosting (Exchange Online Dedicated, for example). It’s going to take pioneers to find where the “safe” balance lies.

]]> By: Bruce Robertson http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/comment-page-1/#comment-1280 Bruce Robertson Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:02:25 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/07/17/lack-of-money-pushes-local-governments-into-the-clouds/#comment-1280 Inevitable, indeed. The NEXT inevitable blog post will be about getting off the cloud when significant gov’t info is hacked, ala the TechCrunch/Twitter kerfluffle (http://digg.com/tech_news/Will_Twitter_Sue_TechCrunch). And, the cycle continues -- chased by wolves in both directions. It's just a matter of which wolves are growling most at the time. Inevitable, indeed.

The NEXT inevitable blog post will be about getting off the cloud when significant gov’t info is hacked, ala the TechCrunch/Twitter kerfluffle (http://digg.com/tech_news/Will_Twitter_Sue_TechCrunch).

And, the cycle continues — chased by wolves in both directions. It’s just a matter of which wolves are growling most at the time.

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