A study from Market Connections, Inc and General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) reveals the state of federal government cloud computing plans, key benefits and challenges of cloud migration, and who is driving decisions about what cloud environments to use.
Federal Cloud Computing Report - Market Connections & General Dynamics Information Technology
1. GENERAL DYNAMICS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Federal Cloud Computing Survey
Summary Report
ยฉ 2015 Market Connections, Inc.
2. ยฉ2015 MARKET CONNECTIONS, INC. | WWW.MARKETCONNECTIONSINC.COM | 703.378.2025
FEDERAL CLOUD COMPUTING SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
Background and Approach
2
โข General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) and Market Connections
worked together to design and conduct a blind online cloud computing survey
among 150 federal government IT decision makers and influencers in April
2014.
โข The primary objective of the project was to develop thought leadership
materials to support GDITโs positioning, marketing and sales of cloud-based
services. The survey also included some questions for GDITโs internal
informational purposes.
โข Throughout the report, notable significant differences are reported using a
gold circle.
โข Due to rounding, graphs may not add up to 100%.
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FEDERAL CLOUD COMPUTING SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
Key Takeaways
3
โข Federal government cloud adoption is divided three ways: one-third are using or planning
to use, one-third are researching or considering and one-third have no plans. SaaS tops the
list of services under consideration.
โข Organizations prefer private clouds over public, community and hybrid models.
โข One-quarter or fewer organizations are using multiple providers.
โข Organizations are less likely to migrate financial and mission critical applications, more
likely to migrate collaboration, file storage, email and standard office applications.
โข Concerns regarding security and data loss are masking the bigger potential issue of
performance in the cloud. Less than one-third of respondents listed performance-based
issues among their primary concerns. Organizations may not be thinking of outcomes well in
advance of a migration.
โข Respondents overwhelmingly want security, technical support and federal experience from
cloud providers. They also value customization and a cohesive, forward-thinking strategy.
โข A majority of government IT decision-makers agree that cloud-based services result
in lower capital expenses in comparison to in-house deployment of infrastructure,
but perceptions are divided regarding up-front costs.
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Organizations Represented & Knowledge Level
โข If a respondent did not work for any of the specific organization types noted below, the
survey was terminated.
โข A majority of respondents were somewhat knowledgeable about their organizationโs
cloud-related initiatives. If they were not knowledgeable, the survey was terminated.
3 %
11 %
32 %
54 %
0 % 20 % 40 % 60 %
Federal Judicial
Federal Legislature
Defense or military agency
Federal civilian or
independent agency
Organizations Represented
N=150
What type of federal government agency do you work for?
How would you describe your level of knowledge with your organization'sโฆ?
33%
33%
28%
67%
67%
72%
0% 50% 100%
Cloud Computing
Initiatives
Data Center
Consolidation/Mod
ernization Efforts
Shared Services
Initiatives
Level of Knowledge
Somewhat
Knowledgeable
Very
Knowledgeable
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Decision-Making Involvement
How are you involved in your organizationโs decisions or recommendations regarding information technology (IT) solutions? (select all that apply)
โข All respondents are knowledgeable or involved in decisions and recommendations
regarding IT operations and management and IT solutions and services.
โข If they had no involvement, the survey was terminated.
6 %
21 %
46 %
47 %
49 %
56 %
0 % 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 %
Other involvement in technology solutions (please
specify)
Make the final decision regarding technology
solutions, services or contractors
Manage or implement technology solutions
Develop requirements for technology solutions or
services
Evaluate or recommend firms offering technology
solutions or services
On a team that makes decisions regarding technology
solutions
Note: Multiple responses allowedN=150
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Years of Experience
6
More than one-quarter of respondents have 20+ years of experience and one-
quarter have 5-9 years of experience.
How long have you been working at your current employer?
N=150
26 %
25 %
21 %
15 %
7 %
5 %
2 %
0 %
5 %
10 %
15 %
20 %
25 %
30 %
20+ Years 5-9 Years 10-14 Years 3-4 Years 15-20 Years 1-2 Years <1 Year
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Cloud Decision-Makers
7
What job role(s) is currently held accountable for making the decision to (or not to) migrate to a cloud based infrastructure?
N=150
โข CIOs and CTOs make cloud migration decisions in more than half of agencies.
โข Mission-oriented department heads make the decision more than one-third of
the time.
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FEDERAL CLOUD COMPUTING SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
Cloud Computing Current Use and Plans
8
What are your organization's plans for cloud computing for the following services?
N=150
11%
14%
16%
17%
19%
17%
19%
17%
35%
35%
31%
40%
34%
34%
33%
27%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
PaaS
IaaS
Managed Hosting
SaaS
Currently using
Planning to use in
next 12 months
Researching/
considering
No plans
โข About one-third are using or planning to use cloud services, one-third are
researching/considering and one-third have no plans.
โข SaaS tops the list of cloud computing services in use and under consideration.
โข One-third of organizations have no plans for IaaS, PaaS or Managed Hosting services.
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CLOUD COMPUTING CURRENT USE AND PLANS
Saas: Differences Between Defense & Civilian
9
โข A greater proportion of
civilian agency
respondents indicate
already receiving SaaS
from cloud providers
โข Significant differences
did not exist for IaaS,
PaaS or managed
hosting
What are your organization's plans for cloud computing for the following services?
N=150
26%
37%
15%
23%
29%
46%
21%
4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
No SaaS plans
Researching/considering the use of
SaaS services from cloud providers
Planning to use SaaS services within the
next 12 months
Currently receiving SaaS services from
cloud providers
Defense Civilian
= significant differences
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FEDERAL CLOUD COMPUTING SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
Cloud Services in Use
10
โข Organizations prefer private clouds over public, community and hybrid models.
โข One-quarter or fewer agencies are using multiple providers.
For each of the following types of cloud approaches, approximately how many actual providers does your organization use?
N=150
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Top Drivers of Cloud Adoption
11
What are the top drivers or your organization's interest in cloud-based services?
N=150
Cost reduction drives interest in cloud-based services.
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FEDERAL CLOUD COMPUTING SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
Drivers of Cloud Adoption
12
What are the top drivers or your organization's interest in cloud-based services?
N=150
Reducing cost is a main
driver of cloud
adoption, followed by
increasing accessibility
and improving
efficiency and security.
2%
5%
7%
22%
22%
24%
29%
31%
31%
32%
35%
36%
38%
53%
53%
0% 20% 40% 60%
Other (please specify):
My organization is not currentlyโฆ
To outsource IT software operations
Reduce IT energy/power consumption
Facilitate data security
To gain new functionality
Afford staff more time for other activities
Application modernization
Improved security
Speed of deployment
Consolidate data centers/IT infrastructures
Improve IT software operating efficiency
Enable virtualization ("anywhere access")โฆ
Decrease IT operating costs
Reduce infrastructure costs
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79% 76% 75% 73%
68%
60%
54%
48%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Collaboration File Storage Email Standard
Office
Applications
Program or
Project
Management
Human
Resources
Mission
Critical
Applications
Financial
Have migrated applications or are somewhat/very likely
Likelihood to Migrate Applications to the Cloud
13
โข Three-quarters or more have migrated or are somewhat/very likely to migrate
collaboration, file storage, email and standard office applications.
โข Organizations are less likely to migrate financial and mission-critical applications.
How likely is your organization to migrate any of the following applications to the cloud?
N=150
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Likelihood To Migrate Applications To The Cloud
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DEFENSE & CIVILIAN
14
โข A significantly greater proportion of respondents from civilian agencies indicate having
already migrated program/project management to the cloud.
โข A greater proportion of defense respondents indicate that they are not at all likely to
migrate mission-critical applications to the cloud.
How likely is your organization to migrate any of the following applications to the cloud?
N=150
11%
8%
22%
4%
14%
23%
18%
33%
32%
17%
31%
25%
28%
23%
18%
27%
15%
29%
12%
10%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Civilian
Defense
Civilian
Defense
MissionCritical
Applications
Programor
project
management
Extremely likely โ already have migrated Very likely Somewhat likely Not very likely Not at all likely
= significant differences
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FEDERAL CLOUD COMPUTING SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
Top Perceived Cloud Services Risks
15
When thinking about risks related to cloud services, what are your top concerns?
N=150
Security concerns top
the list of perceived cloud
services risks.
30%
37%
45%
65%
69%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Unpredictable costs
Application performance
Difficulty with or inability for data
recovery if the provider fails
Security defects in the technology
itself
Unauthorized access to or leak of
our proprietary data
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FEDERAL CLOUD COMPUTING SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
Performance-based Issues in the Cloud
16
When thinking about risks related to cloud services, what are your top concerns?
N=150
โข Concerns regarding
security and data loss
are masking the bigger
potential issue of
performance in the
cloud.
โข Less than one third of
respondents listed
performance-based
issues among their
primary concerns.
3%
14%
16%
23%
23%
25%
27%
29%
0% 20% 40%
Other
Difficulty in managing multiple
vendors
Difficulty managing multiple
providers
Vendor lock-in
Lack of maturity of the technology
Difficulty with or inability for data
recovery if we cancel the service
Lack of data segregation among the
provider's customers
Migration of applications to a cloud
environment (application readiness)
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FEDERAL CLOUD COMPUTING SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
Cost Implications of Cloud Services
17
While a majority of government IT decision-makers agree that cloud-based services
result in lower capital expenses in comparison to in-house deployment of
infrastructure, perceptions are divided regarding up-front costs.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
N=150
28%
15%
39%
27%
33%
59%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
When an organization migrates to the cloud, the up-
front cost is minimal because it's a pay-as-you-go
service
The migration to cloud-based services results in
lower capital expenses in comparison to in-house
deployment of infrastructure
Disagree Neither Agree Nor Disagree Agree
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Top Benefits of Cloud Services
18
What do you see as the top three benefits of the cloud solution just described?
N=150
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Important Characteristics of Cloud Providers
19
When working with cloud service providers, how important are the following provider characteristics?
N=150
Respondents overwhelmingly want security, technical support and federal
experience from cloud providers.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT:
www.gdit.com/cloud
DOWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER
AND INFOGRAPHICS:
www.marketconnectionsinc.com/cloud
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Laurie Morrow, Research Director | Market Connections, Inc.
703.378.2025, ext. 101 | lauriem@marketconnectionsinc.cometconnectionsinc.com
Monica Mayk, Marketing Director | Market Connections, Inc.
703.378.2025, ext. 107 | monicam@marketconnectionsinc.com
Jennifer Harvey, Marketing Communications | General Dynamics Information Technology
jennifer.harvey@gdit.com
monicam@marketconnectionsinc.com
FEDERAL CLOUD COMPUTING SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT 22