Simon Greig, Executive IT Architect, IBM Global Business ServicesMay 2015

Public Sector Cloud

2

About the Author

Simon is an experienced IBM Executive IT Architect with 20 years experience in designing and delivery complex projects

He has been working on complex systems integration projects since 1999 and over the years have been immersed in SOA, ESB and more recently cloud, mobile and agile technologies

Over his career he has delivered projects worth cumulatively about US$2Bn

His current role in IBM is Cloud Leader for the Public Sector business within IBM Global Business Services Europe

This presentation was created following many conversations with clients and colleagues about how cloud applies to the Public Sector

It is one person’s point of view on the subject…!

Simon GreigExecutive IT ArchitectIBM Global Business ServicesEurope

Contents

What do we mean by “Cloud”?

Cloud in a Public Sector Environment

Government Cloud Architecture

Implications of Cloud

Conclusion

What do we mean by “Cloud”?Most people should be on the page by now…but just in case…

Business Process as a Service

Software as a Service

Platform as a Service

Infrastructure as a Service

Definition of Cloud according to NIST *“Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g. servers, storage, network, applications and business services) that can be

rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”

Delivery Models

Deployment Models

Automation VirtualisationStandardisation

Characteristics

On-demand self-service

Broad network access

Resource pooling

Rapid Elasticity

Measured service

Public Cloud

Private Cloud

Hybrid Cloud

* NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology

Shared Services

Off Premise

On Premise

Cloud Delivery Models

Infrastructure as a Service:• Pre-defined

standardised images ready to use

Platform as a Service:• Standardised

development and deployment platform

Software as a Service:• On-demand software to

support business processes

Cloud Services:• Solutions built upon

cloud platforms

IaaS PaaS SaaS Services

Cloud Delivery Models

IaaS PaaS SaaS Services

Relatively self explanatory Multiple Options

Infrastructure as a Service Options

Private Cloud

Benefits:• Customisable• Local control &

management• Customised security

Benefits:• Accessibility• Pay-per-use• Elasticity

Public Cloud

Benefits:• Match applications to

best-fit infrastructure• Balance risk and

performance• Meet seasonal capacity

without CAPEX

Hybrid

On Premise Off Premise

Cloud in a Public Sector Environment

Cloud in the Public Sector Environment

Commercial and technical disaggregation

Cost cutting

“Cloud First” government policy

Need an ability to react quickly to changes to policy and/or legislation

“Provide better services with fewer resources”

Drivers

Security Data centre location Data Protection Aversion to risk Snowden revelations US NSA data access Vendor lock in

Concerns

Flexibility Environmentally friendly Cost effective ‘Strength in numbers’

security Cost benefits through scale On shore delivery with

security cleared staff (mostly)

Demands

!

Public Sector Cloud Use Cases

Public Sector

Cloud Use Cases

DevOps & Agile

Disaster Recovery

Web Apps

Mobile

Seasonal Apps

Big Data &

AnalyticsPeak Load Processing

Managed Apps as

a Service

Business

Support SaaS

Channel Shift

Shared Service

s

Dev/ Test/ PoC

Citizen engagement &

Workforce enablement

Citizen & employee

engagement

Reduce DR costs and improve system

recoverability

Deliver projects faster

and more efficiently

Outsource management and

support of individual

applications

Encourage users to move away from

paper and telephone channels

to digital

Pay as you go for business supporting software. E.g. HR, education, contract

management, procurement, collaboration

Periodic spikes in processing load

can be offset to a cloud.

Seldom used apps (e.g. for compliance) can be

made dormant to reduce costs when not

needed

Reduced costs through elastic

storage and compute

Offer common services across government departments and

agencies in order to improve efficiency and

reduce costs

Rapid provisioning of dev & test environments that scale up and down with the team. Fast start, low entry cost for PoCs and

Pilots.

System “Cloudiness”

Regulated

Open

FlexibleInflexible

Systems with Highly

Sensitive DataRegulatedSystems

Systems withConsistent Workload

Batch processing

Social Business Mobile

DevOps

Front Office / Desktop

Web Applications

Customer Service

HR Management

Dev & Test

Disaster Recovery

Data Archive

Systems with Variable

Workload

Big Data & Analytics

Pilot / POC

Legacy COTS Middleware

Based Systems

Systems withComplex

Integrations

Collaboration

Mature Systems

ERP

CRM

Good fit for cloud

System “Cloudiness”

Regulated

Open

FlexibleInflexible

Systems with Highly

Sensitive DataRegulatedSystems

Systems withConsistent Workload

Batch processing

Social Business Mobile

DevOps

Front Office / Desktop

Web Applications

Customer Service

HR Management

Dev & Test

Disaster Recovery

Data Archive

Systems with Variable

Workload

Big Data & Analytics

Pilot / POC

Legacy COTS Middleware

Based Systems

Systems withComplex

Integrations

Collaboration

Mature Systems

ERP

CRM

Good fit for cloud

A large proportion of existing Public Sector systems fall into this

quadrant.

What do we do with them?

Replace with SaaS?Migrate?

Transform?

Unlock the Legacy in order to Tap Into the Cloud Ecosystem

TransformMigrate Wrapper

Migrate the system from dedicated hardware to a cloud infrastructure.

Pros:• Offers a simple way to move to an

infrastructure rental model at an appropriate tech refresh point.

Cons:• Without alternation it is unlikely that the app

will be able to take advantage of the benefits (e.g. dynamic scalability) that a cloud platform will provide

• Care needs to be given to interfaces and dependent systems to ensure that their performance and operation are not adversely impacted.

Leave the application where it is and create a cloud compatible secure API to the app that enables the cloud ecosystem to tap into the data and services offered by the application.

Pros:• Existing applications could be cloud

ecosystem enabled without the need for large changes to the existing application

• Existing interfaces and users are unaffected by the change

Cons:• The application remains where it is and

merely interfaces to the cloud (might not be a con!)

Rebuild the application from the ground up to take advantage of the cloud platform capabilities.

Pros:• Applications that take advantage of the

platform can be more dynamic and drive a lower infrastructure cost

Cons:• Rebuilding the applications is a non-trivial

exercise• Applications may be in long term support

contracts that make it hard or impossible to rewrite the system

Implementation speedBenefits realised from the cloud platform

Born on the CloudLift and Shift Hybrid Cloud

Other Alternatives

Radically Simplify Retire

Where there is a good fit with an off the shelf software as a service product consider a complete replacement

Pros:• Most SaaS products offer a per user per

month charging model• SaaS offerings are very focussed on what

they do and tend to offer significant functional benefits over a roll tyour own solution

Cons:• Historic data may need to be transformed

and imported to the SaaS provider. This data move will have an associated transition cost

• The business process will likely need to change in order to support the way the SaaS product operates. This change will have an associated transition cost

• Data integration between SaaS products and the rest of the enterprise may be harder than with a local solution

Decommission the system either immediately or at the end of its contract term. Not as unlikely as it first appears as in a large application estate things can fall between the cracks when business priorities change leaving duplication and redundancy between systems.

Pros:• Low cost option• Simplify the estateCons:• Likely to be a very limited number of systems

that fall into this category• The likelihood is that *something* will need to

replace the functionality

SaaS Enablement Turn Off

X

Government Cloud ArchitectureBalancing the Hybrid Aspects of Government Enterprise

Solu

tion

Pla

tform

Opti

ons

Government AccessPublic Access

Traditional Hosting

On Premise IaaS

Government IaaS

Public IaaS

Public PaaS

GovernmentPaaS

Secure Data

G2G Interfaces

On Premise PaaS

Traditional Platforms

Compute Storage Network

DevOpsAnalyticsMobile

Interaction DataPublic Data

Infrastructureas a Service

Platformas a Service

Cloud Services

AP

I

AP

I

Transaction Data

Core Business Applications

Citizen Interaction Web Apps

Citizen Mobile Apps

Government User Web

Apps

Government Mobile Apps

Ap

plic

ati

on

Serv

ices

Data

Serv

ices

Secure Access

API API

G2C Interfaces

Public SaaS

G2B Interfaces

External Ecosystem

Government CloudArchitecture

Security Enforcement

Security Integration

Data Integration

Data Security

Inte

gra

tio

nS

erv

ices

Service Security

Integration Bus

Integration Bus

Other Channel

Apps

Other Channel

Apps

Public API Analytics

Key Messages on the Architecture

Cloud may not be the only answer– Complex enterprises and systems require different solutions for

different situations– Non-functional policy and rules may require that the master data is

kept local– The secure and dependable integration of legacy systems and

data to a cloud platform is key to the success

Unlocking appropriate access to enterprise data creates opportunities– Potential to increase digital adoption or citizen engagement with

citizen centric solutions delivered via modern cloud based platforms

Enables “Government as a Platform”– Creating API interfaces into each layer of the application improves

separation but also provides fine grained access control– The use of APIs allows for an ‘ecosystem’ approach to system

development rather than relying on a single supplier

Implications of Cloud

Cloud Benefits

•Deploy new instances in minutes or hours rather than weeks or months

•Projects can start much quicker as development and test environments can be stood up quickly

•Changes can be delivered very quickly and sometimes automatically

Agility

•“Safety in Numbers” security

•Cloud is a bank vault security concept opposed to a safe in your office. The security controls on a vault are more efficiently delivered with scale

Security

•Costs of infrastructure, monitoring and support can be much more efficiently delivered

•Costs are transparent and the spending controls are much more powerful

Economy of Scale

€

Cloud Risks

•Pay for what you use risks costing a lot of money without governance and controls over the XaaS deployments

•The performance difference between physical and virtual may increase software licencing costs

Utility Costs

• Integrating existing applications into the cloud environment may not provide cost or scaling benefits if the applications are not designed to take advantage

•Software licencing from software vendors of migrated applications may not be flexible or elastic to match the hardware

•The integration of multiple cloud suppliers with data transfer times/costs and security integration may be non-trivial

Integration

•Solutions and contracts risk being fragmented which could make SLA and service management a challenge

•The more fragmented the environment the greater the data integrity and performance challenges

Fragmentation

Scale Up

Which Compute Workload Patterns Might Benefit From Cloud?

Steady State

The application workload is steady state and constant most of the time. Applications that fit this profile are quite rare.

Moving an application such as this risks increasing the costs of operating the application. Cloud rental rates tend to be higher than on-premise self build costs. Cloud flexibility benefits may not apply in this case.

Daily Variable

This application profile is the most typical. Peaks in processing are predictable and occur at similar times each day.

It is possible that an hourly cloud rental model could provide a more cost effective platform as extra compute power can be provisioned when needed and only paid for when utilised.

= Likely to be a good fit for cloud = May not be a good fit for cloud

Annually Variable

This application profile is typical of large compliance based systems with an annual deadline. There is a constant background level of use but an annual spike at particular times of the year.

Hosting an application such as this on a cloud platform could save a significant amount of money as the extra compute power is only provisioned when needed.

On/Off

Applications that fit this profile tend to me smaller applications that are only used occasionally and have a few number of users.

Hosting an application such as this on a cloud platform could save money as some cloud providers do not charge for compute power when it is not being used.

New applications tend to have a user growth – either forced by a roll out programme or unforced as user volumes increase by word of mouth or advertising.

A cloud model allows for compute power to be paid for when it is needed. This avoids some of the need for complex business volumes predictions and having to buy peak load hardware many years in advance of when it may be used.

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Scale Down

Applications that are being phased out or have a declining user base will slowly reduce the need for compute power over time.

A cloud platform potentially allows for the infrastructure to be scaled back in line with the users. The scaling back would reduce the infrastructure costs in a way that would be impossible with fixed on-premise infrastructure.

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Which Storage Workload Patterns Might Benefit From Cloud?

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Data Standard System

A steady increase of stored data over time. Cloud storage costs will rise proportionally to the amount of data stored. Cloud will offer virtually limitless storage on demand without a long lead time.

Periodic archiving to lower cost storage will reduce cloud storage costs.

Time

Am

ou

nt

of

Data

Standard Practice Analytics

Data is taken on with periodic spikes in data for specific projects.

Periodic purging of data that is no longer required will reduce cloud storage costs.

= Likely to be a good fit for cloud = May not be a good fit for cloud

Time

Am

ou

nt

of

Data

Real-time Streaming Analytics

Data is streamed through the analytical engine without needing to be stored to disk. A background level of reference data and a small amount of results storage may gradually increase over time.

Cloud would provide a very efficient platform for this profile of system.

Time

Am

ou

nt

of

Data Leading Practice Analytics

Data is loaded for a specific purpose and then removed or archived when no longer needed. The determination of the data that is relevant and the data that can be deleted is key in order to achieve maximum benefit.

Cloud would provide a very efficient platform for this profile of system.

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ou

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Data Lagging Practice Analytics

Data is taken on in large volumes and used for analytics. Data is never purged or archived and builds up over time.

Using a pay as go storage model where there is no downscaling risks the medium to long term costs of the cloud storage being greater than the costs of hosting local on-premise storage.

Conclusion

Applying Cloud Technology to Government

• ‘Peripheral systems’ (e.g. talent mgt, HR, contract mgt, supplier mgt, CRM) that are not fundamental to the business can be explored to be replaced with an off the shelf SaaS offering

• Reduced costs and more efficient working

• Unlocking enterprise data and getting it closer to the citizen for less cost and increased flexibility• Promote innovation

• Rapidly stand up new environments• Turn on and off environments on demand• Reduce project delivery time

• Integrated tooling to automate the build, deployment and test of applications• Reduce time and increase repeatability• More efficient working

Unlock Systems of Record

Radical Simplification

Dev/Test Environments

DevOps Automation

Where to start?

Infrastructureas a Service

Platformas a Service

Softwareas a Service

• Business support apps that are completely standard and non-differentiating but yet require costly management

• Often offered with very low cost of entry with monthly per user per month prices

• Go for citizen engagement applications first (e.g. form filling, mobile app, information sites)• Java/web development productivity improvement

• Look for dev/test optimisation to play to strengths of cloud (flexibility, variable cost, short lead time)• Opportunity for Devops platform to improve IT department productivity• Application portfolio assessment looking for ‘low hanging fruit’ to transform to cloud platforms

• On-prem or off-prem or a mix? What are the constraints? How do we work around them?• Is the business interested in the cloud technology? Lets assume not, so focus on time to value,

reduced project costs, flexible pricing, low entry costs for projects, ability to experiment• Is there potential to reduce run costs estate optimisation through virtualisation and consolidation

Where to Start?

Questions?