Cloud addresses all the needs of an organization, changing how we work, where we work, and the ways we do business. Here are some key benefits that an organization derives if the cloud is implemented correctly.

1. Reduces infrastructure costs and overall TCO: The cloud eliminates physical servers and storage space, real estate, power, and personnel. Organizations don’t have to worry about high costs of hardware and software upgrades and obsolete security and networking devices. While it may seem like the costs of an on-premise solution are lesser, most organizations forget that most of these costs are hidden and recurring. The subscription fees of a cloud solution might be high, but the ongoing costs are minimal thus providing long-term benefits to government agencies often riddled with low budgets and lack of resources.An average five-year on-premise licensing cost is 9% of the total cost while subscription costs for a cloud solution can be as high as 80%. But that is just the tip of the iceberg for an on-premise solution. There are so many hidden costs that the actual 5 year TCO is at least two to three times higher than a cloud solution for the same time frame. Here is a diagram that shows how a cloud solution makes more business sense in the long term.
2. Scalability: Instead of using all the infrastructure space all the time, cloud solutions can scale during peak times and ramp down at other non-peak times due to low usage.
3. Business continuity and automatic updates: There are many solutions today that promise great up-times, for example, Microsoft Azure guarantees 99.9% uptime. Disaster recovery solutions are also available, thus making business continuity a no-problem area. Regular software updates are provided automatically thus eliminating precious time of government agency personnel.
4. Security: Contrary to popular belief, cloud gives greater protection if implemented right. Even if personal machines get hacked, the data on the cloud is secure. 
5. Increased collaboration: A cloud solution makes it possible to share documents amongst colleagues thus making collaboration easier and increasing productivity.

The other advantage of using a cloud platform that is not so evident is the innovation it offers. Many cloud platforms can enable organizations to push the boundaries of testing new apps, simplifying processes to free up resources and making data-driven decisions. Data analytics becomes easier and simpler in the cloud as it allows a connected ecosystem of users, customers, and developers. New offerings like machine learning, server development, and advanced security services are also available today for maximum return on investments.

Even with all the cloud advantages, public sector agencies have been slow to adopt cloud for many reasons. Want to find out why and how Government agencies can start to adopt cloud? Click the link below.