Everyone’s talking about cloud computing, but some government CIOs are still not convinced, arguing that the market is still immature with one saying that some vendors are simply “repackaging” outsourcing services. During a panel session at CIO’s recent digital assets event in Canberra recently, Gary Sterrenberg, CIO at the Department of Human Services (DHS), told attendees there were only one or two cloud vendors that could provide ‘true’ cloud capabilities. He was referring to ‘as-a-service’ agreements where users can “scale up or scale down” computing services depending on their needs. Related: Immature technology slowing private cloud take up Related: Where is cloud computing heading in 2014? “I think we are seeing a repackaged version of outsourcing from some of the vendors, but there are others that are emerging as global players,” Sterrenberg said. “We [DHS] are certainly hoping that in Australia the cloud providers mature a lot more … and we are waiting for one to break free because everybody seems to trying to do repackaged outsourcing with the title ‘cloud’ on it.” Sterrenberg said it was important how ‘narrow utility’ services from cloud vendors are bridged together. He said there is a ‘risk transfer’ to a third-party cloud provider for government departments, which are required to be the custodians of information about citizens. “If you lose an identity, you can be sued for millions,” Sterrenberg said. “So is the cloud vendor prepared to take accountability for the lawsuit that will come?” he asked. “We are trying to work with industry to say to be feasible as a capability for government … it has to be a different relationship, and until the vendors are bold enough to go there, we are going to be stuck with limiting our access to this potential capability [using cloud services] to external websites and limited commodity-type stuff. “So I’m hopeful that we can engage with the vendor community to try and stretch them to a new paradigm.” Meanwhile, Glenn Archer, Australian Government CIO, pointed out that cloud services fail and fail regularly. “At the end of the day, government is not entirely like large corporate … government is expected by citizens to be there forever, to be reliable and a stable provider of the services that they expect,” Archer said. “One of the things we [government] don’t have a handle on is when a major cloud vendor [such as] Amazon or Microsoft Azure fails … I’m just one of 10,000 important people across the planet who are complaining about an outage. Related: Government still cautious about cloud: Glenn Archer Related: AGIMO updates Aust government cloud policy. “And the degree by which we can influence the responsive of that cloud provider is very limited.” Archer said there have been some examples already within government where cloud services have failed, compromising service delivery. Consequently, agencies with disparate operations have realised that they don’t necessarily have a good handle on business continuity issues. These include recovery of their data or service, and how long it should take to advise citizens and customers of an outage, Archer said. “There’s a whole range of practices and procedures that we’ve learnt how to do for a long time that we don’t have there.” However, cloud is a key part of the government’s future, said Archer. “It’s just that we need to be conscious about when and where it makes sense. While there’s a lot written about the potential savings from cloud, I think the more interesting thing is that cloud might be one of those tools that allows us to innovate,” he said. Follow Byron Connolly on Twitter:@ByronConnolly Follow CIO Australia on Twitter and Like us on Facebook… Twitter: @CIO_Australia, Facebook: CIO Australia, or take part in the CIO conversation on LinkedIn: CIO Australia Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP When natural disasters strike Japan, Ōita University’s EDiSON is ready to act With the technology and assistance of SAP and Zynas Corporation, Ōita University built an emergency-response collaboration tool named EDiSON that helps the Japanese island of Kyushu detect and mitigate natural disasters. By Michael Kure, SAP Contributor Dec 07, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by BMC BMC on BMC: How the company enables IT observability with BMC Helix and AIOps The goals: transform an ocean of data and ultimately provide a stellar user experience and maximum value. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 3 mins IT Leadership brandpost Sponsored by BMC The data deluge: The need for IT Operations observability and strategies for achieving it BMC Helix brings thousands of data points together to create a holistic view of the health of a service. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 4 mins IT Leadership how-to How to create an effective business continuity plan A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of disaster, whether fire, flood, or cyberattack. Here’s how to create a plan that gives your business the best chance of surviving such an By Mary K. Pratt, Ed Tittel, Kim Lindros Dec 07, 2023 11 mins Small and Medium Business Small and Medium Business Small and Medium Business Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe