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Response A1345203

Response to request for information

Reference

A1345203

Response date

26 May2021

Request

We are exploring the use of hybrid cloud within public sector organisations in line with the Government Digital Service's (GDS) guidance on 'public sector use of the Public Cloud'. We would like to ascertain whether the cloud-first policy was fit for purpose and what challenges, if any, have arisen when outlining and implementing your cloud strategy.

Please could you provide me with responses to the following questions via electronic copies. If the request is unclear, I would be grateful if you could contact me. If any of this information is already in the public domain, please can you direct me to it, with page references and URLs if necessary.

FOI questions below and attached.

  1. Do you have a cloud strategy? (Please provide a link to the strategy)
    • Yes/No
  2. When was the cloud strategy defined?
  3. If yes, what is the focus of your cloud strategy?
    1. All in on public cloud (no private cloud or on-premise infrastructure)
    2. Cloud First (new services in public cloud with some on premises infrastructure or private cloud)
    3. Hybrid cloud (some combination of one or more public clouds, private cloud and on-premises)
    4. Private cloud (no public cloud)
  4. What public cloud(s) do you use?
    1. AWS
    2. Alibaba Cloud
    3. Azure
    4. Google Cloud Platform
    5. Oracle Cloud
    6. UK Cloud
  5. What percentage of your applications and/or workloads is on premise?
    1. 0%
    2. 10% - 25%
    3. 25% - 50%
    4. 50% - 75%
    5. 100%
  6. What percentage of your applications and/or workloads is in the public cloud?
    1. 0%
    2. 10% - 25%
    3. 25% - 50%
    4. 50% - 75%
    5. 100%
  7. What percentage of your data is on premise?
    1. 0%
    2. 10% - 25%
    3. 25% - 50%
    4. 50% - 75%
    5. 100%
  8. What percentage of your data is in the public cloud?
    1. 0%
    2. 10% - 25%
    3. 25% - 50%
    4. 50% - 75%
    5. 100%
  9. What percentage of your infrastructure is legacy?
    1. 0%
    2. 10% - 25%
    3. 25% - 50%
    4. 50% - 75%
    5. 100%
  10. Do you have third-party services or solutions on premise that are not cloud-ready or fit for cloud migration?
    1. Yes
    2. No
  11.  What workloads or functions have you moved to the cloud? (Multiple answers. Please specify other if not listed)

    1. Office productivity (e.g. Microsoft 365, Google Workspace)

    2. Citizen-facing digital services (e.g. GOV.UK)

    3. Back-office applications (e.g. transaction processing)

    4. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, cognitive services

    5. Software development/DevOps

    6. Corporate functions (e.g. HR, Finance, CRM)

    7. Intranet

    8. Public website

    9. Backup, business continuity and disaster recovery

    10. Other

  12. What challenges did you face when moving to the public cloud? (Multiple answers. Please specify other if not listed)

    1.  Migrating certain applications

    2. Legacy infrastructure

    3. Different refresh cycles

    4. Difficulty proving cost illustrations

    5. Funding paths (Capex/Opex)

    6. Data gravity

    7. Data Classification

    8. Licensing concerns

    9. Data privacy concerns

    10. Offshoring & data residency

    11. Lack of in-house skills

    12. Vendor lock-in/ Egress cost prohibitive

    13. Other

  13. What percentage of your infrastructure do you plan to be public cloud based in 12 months' time?

    • 0%

    • 10% - 25%

    • 25% - 50%

    • 50% - 75%

    • 100%

  14. What percentage of your infrastructure do you plan to be public cloud based in three years' time?

    • 0%

    • 10% - 25%

    •  25% - 50%

    • 50% - 75%

    • 100%

  15. How much has your organisation spent on public cloud since the Government's G-Cloud or 'cloud-first' policy was introduced in 2012?
  16. How much has your organisation spent on cloud/infrastructure consultancy services in financial year 20-21?
  17. How much was spent on public cloud data egress charges in financial year 2020-21?

Response

  1. Do you have a cloud strategy? (Please provide a link to the strategy)
    • No
  2. When was the cloud strategy defined? 
    • N/A
  3. If yes, what is the focus of your cloud strategy?
    • N/A
  4. What public cloud(s) do you use?
    • Azure
  5. What percentage of your applications and/or workloads is on premise?
    • Approx. 90-95%
  6. What percentage of your applications and/or workloads is in the public cloud?
    • Approx. 5%
  7. What percentage of your data is on premise?
    • Approx. 80%
  8. What percentage of your data is in the public cloud?
    • Approx. 10%
  9. What percentage of your infrastructure is legacy?
    • 0%
  10. Do you have third-party services or solutions on premise that are not cloud-ready or fit for cloud migration?
    • Yes
  11. What workloads or functions have you moved to the cloud? (Multiple answers. Please specify other if not listed)
    • A) Office productivity (e.g. Microsoft 365, Google Workspace)
    • F) Corporate functions (e.g. HR, Finance, CRM)
    • I) Backup, business continuity and disaster recovery
    • J) Other
  12. What challenges did you face when moving to the public cloud? (Multiple answers. Please specify other if not listed)
    • I) Data privacy concerns
    • J) Offshoring & data residency
  13. What percentage of your infrastructure do you plan to be public cloud based in 12 months' time?
    • 10%
  14. What percentage of your infrastructure do you plan to be public cloud based in three years' time?
    • 10%
  15. How much has your organisation spent on public cloud since the Government's G-Cloud or 'cloud-first' policy was introduced in 2012?
    • N/A
  16. How much has your organisation spent on on-premise infrastructure since the Government's G-Cloud or 'cloud-first' policy was introduced in 2012?
    • These figures are from the ICT Capital programme spent on infrastructure technology. We hold 7 years of financial records in ICT and Approx. £510k spent since 2014
  17. How much has your organisation spent on cloud/infrastructure consultancy services in Financial Year 2020-21?
    • £0
  18. How much was spent on public cloud data egress charges in FY 2020-21?
    • £0

FOI Responses ICT 2021