IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Chinh said that with the use of cloud, the ministry will be able to address its “fragmented IT infrastructure” that has data centres scattered across departments and local government offices.

Also keen to share inter-agency information through the cloud is the Information and Communication Technology Centre, Ministry of Science and Technology. Bui Dac Phuc, Deputy Director of the agency said that they already have a 1-year project with a budget of US$2 million approved.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has determined that the cloud computing platform is a key part of telecommunications infrastructure to focus on in the coming years. The ministry has also defined cloud computing as the digital infrastructure for the development of a digital government, digital economy and digital society.

Microsoft Asia-Pacific chief marketing officer Andrew Pickup estimated that Viet Nam would post the highest growth in the region this year for cloud computing services.

"Overall the Asia-Pacific market is growing 33 per cent per year, but in Viet Nam, it's 50 per cent," he said. "Viet Nam has a small base and is expected to grow faster"

Government cloud (G-cloud) taking shape

The neighboring governments all have got ready for G-cloud, which had prompted Vietnam to think about this as well. However, there would be a lot of things Vietnamese agencies and service providers need to do to turn this true in Vietnam.

Nantawan Wongkachonkitti, Information Technology Director of the Thai E-government Department, said at FutureGov Vietnam forum held recently that the Thai government has decided to deploy cloud computing applications in a trial basis in order to cut down the expenses on technologies in building e-governmetn.

Whether or not you use the word Cloud, for the purposes of this column I am writing it with respect to the delivery of all functions of a GIS from distant computing centers. Imagine GIS in the Cloud. The entire, complete functionality and delivery of published geospatial and GIS work flows, and results, through the use of computers operating at distant locations. Data creation, data management, spatial analysis and visual representation - all Cloud propagated.

Microsoft’s Didier Ongena explains how generative AI, digital twins and the cloud are helping governments and city leaders to optimise operations and deliver better services to citizens

Every public sector employee in the UK spends more than eight hours per week managing data and performing routine administrative tasks, according to Microsoft’s 2024 Harnessing the Power of AI for the Public Sector report. The research shows that 45 per cent of respondents are “drowning in unnecessary administrative tasks”, with 55 per cent saying this workload negatively impacts their ability to get on with the day job, and nearly half indicating it compromises the quality of service they provide and limits how long they can spend directly interacting with the public.

TechRadar Pro: What are the biggest pain points for SMEs when it comes to managing their workforce?

Neil Pickering: Staffing and people management issues are very often the central and chief concern of small to medium businesses (SMEs), be it managing talent and giving staff the right opportunities, attracting and retaining the right staff, or simply the day-to-day issues of keeping staff productive and engaged.

“We went ahead with the launch of a messaging system because we believe there is an urgent need for a resilient and scalable system to be ready in case of emergency when the messaging system becomes a critical component among teachers to interact and collaborate,” explained Lim. “Messaging is an optional item within the SOE (Schools) contract which is up for tender. In the event we are not satisfied with the current service provider, we will still have the option to leverage the SOE (Schools) platform for messaging.”

Did you know that data classification enables organisations to realise optimisations they would otherwise have been unaware of?

Have you been using data classification in a way that benefits your organisation? If not, this whitepaper - ‘Data classification for cloud readiness’- is for you. The 20-page guide offers a step-by-step manual for classifying your data - be it restricted, sensitive or unrestricted information - and offers several tips to handle related issues surrounding data management.

Public sector organizations have been going through digital transformation for a number of years now, but in the past 20 months we have seen many accelerate their digital journey. Advances in technology around mobility, cloud, and cyber have helped government and educational agencies meet the new expectations of employees and constituents. From navigating the new world of hybrid remote work to deploying modern apps in record time while strengthening cybersecurity, cloud adoption has allowed these agencies to become more agile and resilient, despite the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Over the last two years it has become apparent that a single cloud will not provide all the capabilities required for any large enterprise environment. As a matter of fact, in a 2020 Forrester survey of Government IT leaders, 56% planned on increasing the amount of clouds used in their environment over the next 3 years. So multi-cloud is real and growing. It's no secret that the flexibility that comes with leveraging a multi-cloud approach is excellent - but it also comes with complexity that can force trade-offs between moving fast and managing risk.

Cloud computing represents virtual servers available over the Internet, what basically means that one can use program or access personal data via any computer that has an internet connection.

The independent technology analyst firm, Ovum, claims that next year will be the year that governments turn to cloud computing and data analytics, as well as ‘agile development’ to respond to times of austerity.

Newly appointed communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams delivered her first official public address on Friday, just 24 hours after being sworn-in.

Speaking at the launch of government's private cloud by the State IT Agency (SITA), Ndabeni-Abrahams said history was being made with this initiative.

The managed cloud is no longer only a place for provisioning rapid capacity for application development initiatives and application testing, says Ryan Skipp, ICT solutions sales and portfolio management at T-Systems SA.

According to Skipp, managed cloud is now capable of providing core business application support at production level, and enables businesses to move forward more quickly and flexibly.

The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) has become another government department to migrate its cloud workload onto the State IT Agency’s (SITA’s) government cloud platform.

This is according to acting SITA CEO Ntutule Tshenye, saying the government private cloud ecosystem (GPCE) is something that SITA prides itself on.