Government Agencies Embrace Cloud Computing
U.S. government agencies, at first slow to adopt cloud computing, are starting to see the benefits, including low costs and quick deployment, said government officials at the recent Software Information Industry Association's conference on cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS) in Washington, D.C.
CIO (02/25/09) Gross, Grant
Cloud computing services from
Salesforce.com helped the U.S. Army revamp its recruiting technology tools in a
couple of months, and helped the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services'
Program Support Center create an enterprise-ready requisitioning tool within
weeks. While government agencies are under great pressure to consolidate
services and cut budgets, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and
Technology’s Ron Ross says agencies considering cloud computing contracts need
to weigh the benefits, such as productivity increases, with concerns about
control over data, security and other issues. Agencies need to view cloud
computing contracts with an eye to risk management. Ross says that cloud
computing could benefit agencies in a climate of tight budgets.
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