When I stepped outside this morning, new clouds were forming by the second.

By the time I reached my car, they had transformed a static blue sky into a pulsing network of dynamic gray structures. It was so fast it seemed like a magic trick.

Transforming existing government IT services into cloud services is absolutely not magic.

It's a process, a series of phased steps. It's a journey that requires smarter security, integration with legacy systems and processes, and substantial expertise and experience.

Feeling the pressure

Cloud computing is shifting from an option to must-have. If you're an IT professional working in local, state/province, or national government, the pressure you're feeling to move to the cloud is palpable, and growing by the week.

You face increasing pressure to reduce costs-and concurrently expand services, data sharing, and information access. Simultaneously, rising security challenges demand that you use new approaches for securing data and compliance.

There's also mounting pressure to deploy applications more quickly and consistently, and downsize your data centers and environmental footprint.

A cloud model can relieve all these pressures. Cloud computing presents you with a huge opportunity-for your organization and your career-to transform the way that people access and use data, and the way that you store and secure it.

No wonder moving services to a cloud model has become a top priority for government entities. Some have already progressed past the public cloud to implement private, hybrid, and multi-tenant (community) cloud models.

In Spain, for example, their regional government has rolled out a private cloud for multiple tenants that delivers e-government, healthcare, and education services, including online learning: Castilla-La Mancha Creates New Collaborative Cloud Model

A city in South Korea is deploying a cloud-based services infrastructure for "green" city management, urban planning, and economic development:Cloud Based Services Infrastructure EnablesTransformation of Busan Metropolitan City

Check out this video that shows how deploying cloud-based infrastructure encourages young entrepreneurs and identify new growth engines for the economy:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuJ9yWJ6BS4&context=C439a6dcADvjVQa1PpcFPFBEvb-2aNtxA9Pmp9BsAcN1gUHPOQcOk

Are you moving ahead efficiently on your cloud initiative, or encountering challenging obstacles?  Let us know.

Finally, stay tuned to the Cisco Government blog for the next installment of the "Cloud for Local Government" blog series or clickhereto register and reserve your copy of the complete compilation of the blog series, including this blog as well as a variety of cloud resources, which will be available in May.

To read this blog in Spanish, click here.  For Portuguese, click here.