Months after criticising the UK government’s attitude to Cloud Computing, the new G-Cloud strategy has been given the thumbs up by Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff.
Back in September, Benioff had a meeting with Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude after which he accused the UK government of being “way behind” on the Cloud and focusing too heavily on virtualisation and the private Cloud. He said at the time:
“The UK government needs to get aggressive about Cloud services. The UK is way behind in this – and way too much into virtualisation and the G-Cloud, which is a big virtual machine that has not been executed well. Too much cost has gone into running too many data centres. ”
But with the G-Cloud strategy document now published and the presence of an App Store a key part of the government’s planned approach as well as a commitment to getting services onto the public Cloud, the US CEO seems to have modified his opinions. Benioff told us this week:
“Identifying a Public Cloud First approach shows that the UK Government Cloud Strategy is starting to really gain focus and momentum. Clear leadership around how Cloud Computing is defined and implemented is essential, and embracing multi-tenant public Cloud services - like we have helped deploy for government agencies in the US and Japan — will help the UK government’s Cloud programme be a success. ”
Salesforce.com plans to open a UK data centre next year – location to be determined – which will enable it to pitch more aggressively into the UK public sector which is seen as a prime opportunity for the firm in 2012 and beyond. The firm hopes that with momentum building behind the G-Cloud, its ambitions can be realised.
Steve Garnett, Salesforce.com EMEA Chairman commented:
“Six months ago it looked like the UK Government Cloud Strategy had stalled. But this latest Cloud strategy document, together with a new enabling procurement framework, shows that the Government Cloud Strategy is really gaining traction. With over ten years of success, more than 100,000 customers and major government Cloud deployments around the world we understand more than most what is needed to be successful. This latest report and statement of vision show that the focus is in the right place and the strategy is in tune with the market. ”
The government will be hoping such enthusiasm is matched by the user base across the public sector. G-Cloud Programme Director Chris Chant told the Business Cloud Summit last week that up to 60 percent of government decision-makers are not sure whether to take up the initiative, and 20 percent are “ready to go”. This means that:
“There’s still 20 percent that aren’t interested, however. We know some will have to be dragged kicking and screaming, and they probably will. But we know it requires deep cultural change. Often people don’t understand the exit costs from their gigantic contracts – commercial, technology and business de-integration”
- This week Salesforce.com's Tokyo data centre went live. Housed in NTT Communications' facility, the Tokyo data centre is aimed at supporting the company's customer base across Japan and Asia Pacific.
