Data is increasingly becoming fundamental to the world we live in. Governments use it on a daily basis to provide us services, to protect us, and to keep our society running smoothly. But data sets are multiplying in size almost too quickly for our infrastructure to keep pace.
Moreover, municipal governments are being asked to cope with financial pressures and budget-breaking phenomena, such as the growth of cities and unfunded mandates handed down from higher government bodies.
So what can governments to do ease the burden of big data? The cloud is an obvious solution. Its very infrastructure negates the need for IT departments to spend more on the components that comprise a traditional deployment model. With cloud, there is no need for additional on-site storage devices – all data can be stored in an off-site data centre.
The infrastructure offers scalability and does not need to be replaced when it reaches full capacity. This means departments must pay only for what they need at any given time, and can upgrade whenever they need more capacity.
There are, of course, benefits that go beyond the financial. Cloud computing facilitates the sharing of information between agencies. This allows for more efficient management and use of data, and provides ample opportunity for collaboration between agencies on tasks in which they have a mutual investment.
For more information on using the cloud for efficient governance, visit our digital library, where we have a number of whitepapers available for download.
