Does the cloud beacon finance ministries?
Given the interest in the public cloud by finance ministries, we provided an overview of the advantages of this model on the last day of the Comitê de Direção Internacional FreeBalance (FISC) in Dili, Timor-Leste. Unlike many other vendors, FreeBalance does not force customers to the public cloud. And, the FreeBalance Accountability SuiteTM is fully cloud portable enabling migration between public and private cloud, among public clouds, and hybrid cloud support. That’s the advantage of using open systems – for governments.
Much like the transition from client/server to web, we are witnessing a transition from on-premises to cloud. Finance ministries, globally, have adopted Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service, and Software-as-a-Service options.
Our session addressed the question of why governments are increasingly considering the public cloud. Several factors are driving this acceleration, particularly the Covid19 Pandemic:
- exposed vulnerabilities in existing government systems
- showed the pitfalls substantial expenses associated with maintaining in-house computing infrastructure in public debt
- demonstrated the effectiveness of GovTech applications, many of which are cloud-based
While governments have historically been more cautious adopters of new technologies, compelling reasons include:
- Reduced IT Costs and Improved Efficiency: Governments can leverage the economias de escala offered by cloud infrastructure services, leading to potential reductions in IT costs. Furthermore, cloud services can streamline IT management practices, ensure proper patching, and provide early warnings for potential issues
- Enhanced Reliability and Business Continuity: The public cloud offers robust reliability with guaranteed uptime for critical financial systems through multiple availability zones. It also provides strong disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities.
- Elasticity to Meet Demands: Cloud resources can be easily scaled up or down to meet fluctuating demands, such as during payroll runs or year-end procedures, an elasticity that is often unrealistic for on-premises government systems.
- Robust Cybersecurity: Governments benefit from enterprise-grade protection against cyber threats, including adherence to standards like ISO-27001 and ISO-27017, incident detection, firewalls, virtual private networks, and denial of service protection.
- Predictable Costs and Optimization: Public cloud models offer standard monthly and annual costs, facilitating better budgeting. Additionally, tools are available to optimize cloud usage and even reduce carbon footprints.
- Stronger Negotiating Position: By certifying cloud providers, governments can also strengthen their negotiating position and legitimize these providers for their private sector.
Why is cloud portability important?
A central theme of this presentation, and an earlier session about innovations in the FreeBalance Accountability PlatformTM é cloud portability. Cloud portability ensures that the same software can operate in government data centers and on the public cloud, allowing for seamless movement between environments and even across different cloud providers.
Most importantly, cloud portability eliminates cloud lock-in.
The presentation emphasizes that solutions like the FreeBalance Accountability SuiteTM are designed with an open choice philosophy, allowing governments to leverage various cloud providers, including major players like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle. National telco clouds are also supported because of the open design.
Open systems give government leverage in cloud computing negotiations. Open systems and cloud portability future-proofs governments.
Governments should take a pragmatic approach to cloud computing. Governments can choose to continue hosting on owned data centers, move everything to the cloud, or adopt a hybrid model.
On the other hand, many vendor Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) have limitations. There are no functionality differences between on-premises/private cloud and public cloud deployments of the FreeBalance Accountability SuiteTM. This is not the case with most commercial providers. These cloud versions combine less functionality compared to on-premises deployments with increased vendor lock-in.
Conclusões
The ultimate goal for any technology adoption to support public finances, like Government Resource Planning (GRP), is public value. Fiscal stewardship is fundamental to public value. Open and cloud portable systems protect government investments.
The public cloud plays an increasingly vital role in PFM. By embracing portability, leveraging the inherent benefits of cloud infrastructure, and maintaining an open and flexible approach, governments can navigate this transition strategically and pave the way for more efficient, reliable, and secure management of public finances.