Page 22 - Federal Computer Week, May/June 2019

IT Modernization
Modernization and the
cloud conundrum
Moving mission-critical applications to the cloud starts with understanding some potential roadblocks
Michelle Rudnicki
Vice President, Public Sector, Virtustream
As a result, agencies considering their IT transformational journeys and the opportunity to migrate mission-critical workloads to the cloud should start with a few critical questions to help navigate the overarching cloud conundrum and accelerate their time to value.
• Can you safely move mission-critical applications to the cloud? While the push for IT transformation allows agencies
to strengthen technology’s role as an enabler of their mission, agency officials are often hesitant to move mission-critical applications to a cloud environment. Most agencies are not equipped to re-platform existing mission-critical applications,
plus the supporting services tied to those applications, to public cloud architectures in a realistic timeframe. But experts in this space can help with the entire migration.
• Do you have the right data protection?
One of the key benefits of using cloud computing is that there is a heightened focus on security. Security policies and procedures are spread across multiple entities. The underlying infrastructure security management is handled by the cloud service provider while the application security management is handled by
the federal agency or is outsourced to
a third-party provider. This division of responsibility enables each party to focus on the security components they specialize in, thus ensuring the best possible defense.
• Can you keep your operating costs predictable in the cloud? Operating
within budget is non-negotiable for government agencies. Therefore, keeping costs predictable — including in cloud environments — is critical. Understanding
IN SEPTEMBER 2018, the White House released its Cloud Smart Strategy, which sets the stage for
agencies to accelerate their quest to reduce costs and transform their IT environments by finding secure ways to migrate mission- critical applications to the cloud and improve the constituent experience.
Numerous cloud options exist today, as do barriers and the potential for pitfalls. Clearly understanding the barriers is instrumental in helping decision-makers evaluate and define the right cloud strategy for their agency’s needs. Equally
challenging is finding a technology partner that can meet the non-negotiable demands of government agencies and can handle the biggest and most complex challenges
— starting with their mission-critical applications.
Adding to the hurdles is the fact that expectations for IT modernization are rising while significant portions of agency budgets remain devoted to maintaining existing investments. For example, approximately
70 percent of the $95.7 billion U.S. federal IT budget in 2018 was aligned to operating and maintaining existing IT investments.
davooda/Shutterstock/FCW Staff
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