The federal government should establish a “cloud first” policy that requires departments to consider cloud-based services before purchasing new or replacing existing ICT services.

That’s one of several recommendations in a newly released whitepaper created by the Information Technology Association of Canada’s Enterprise Working Group.
If government officials are not mandated to consider cloud-based services first, the report concludes departments and agencies will likely default to the status quo, possibly impeding large-scale IT modernization projects underway.
Cloud Computing: Transforming the Government of Canada for the Digital Economy makes seven recommendation ranging from leveraging existing security controls already in place by other governments to the establishment of a cloud marketplace within government to ensure the standardized implementation of cloud services across all agencies and departments.
“Governments around the globe have been developing cloud strategies and cloud-based managed service delivery models that add value for specific workloads, applications, and timely business process transformation,” says ITAC CEO Karna Gupta.
“With the Government of Canada investigating computing options for faster development and cost savings, ITAC saw that the opportunity to tap into the expertise of its membership and offer recommendations on how the government might best embrace the cloud.”
Read the full report