World governments embracing cloud services

Government agencies worldwide are likely to increasingly adopt managed cloud services in 2011, according to a recent report.

The report, published by research firm Ovum, indicates the trend toward services in the cloud will be motivated by the desire to increase the efficiency of government IT programs.

According to the report, while some governments remain concerned about cloud security issues, a growing number of agencies are expressing openness to the benefits offered by cloud services.

Ovum analyst Jessica Hawkins said she expects cloud service adoption by governments to gain momentum in 2011, "as agencies become more open to the efficiencies that a cloud-based approach can offer."

Hawkins suggested governments affected by debt and the economic crisis may be the most likely to benefit from outsourcing IT infrastructure to the cloud. "For those economies most severely affected by the crippling deficits, we expect to see an increase in outsourcing," she said.

According to a recent InformationWeek report, the United States federal government is planning to encourage all of its agencies to adopt managed cloud services, as part of a "cloud first" policy set to be implemented in 2012.