NASCIO and Accenture Release Capitals in the Cloud Part II: Changing the Cloud Conversation
LEXINGTON, Ky., Tuesday, October 3, 2023 — Today the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) and Accenture released the second in a series on the maturity of state government employment of cloud capabilities, Capitals in the Cloud Part II: Changing the Cloud Conversation. The study revisits the first in the series by NASCIO and Accenture, which was published in 2021, and created a baseline for evaluating the maturity of cloud adoption across state governments. This second report presents longitudinal analysis, patterns of success and recommendations for overcoming persistent barriers to change with cloud services.
“This report looks at progress that states have made in the past two years and recommendations for further progress,” said Doug Robinson, NASCIO executive director “It’s clear cloud services have become a critical component of the state CIO operational portfolio.”
State health and human service departments are the leading adopters of cloud computing. Many have implemented cloud solutions to enhance operations and service delivery, especially for benefits claims processing and case management-based workloads. Other state functions shifting to the cloud, but not as fast, are employment services, transportation, HR/workforce management and education.
“The move to cloud computing is about states striving to improve services and outcomes for citizens and better manage government operations within tight resource constraints,” said Anita Puri, Accenture Public Service global managing director. “It is an essential tool for state governments to become more adaptable and resilient in the face of continual change and volatility.”
Additional highlights from the report are:
- 88% of state CIO respondents are expediting cloud adoption across operational domains.
- 74% of respondents say security is the most important benefit of cloud computing.
- 30% of respondents have completed a cloud strategy or roadmap, and the remaining 70% are actively developing strategies to optimize the cloud’s potential.
- A substantial 60% of organizations have also incorporated cloud adoption into their enterprise IT governance process.
- Hybrid and multi-cloud environments are increasingly common, with 23% of states’ total system and application catalogs utilizing Infrastructure as a Service and Software as a Service, double the level in 2021.
- 53% of CIOs indicated workforce skill shortages and lack of staff are impeding their organization from adopting cloud services.
Contact
Meredith Ward
Deputy Executive Director
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209
[email protected]