How government can do cloud computing right

According to Bloomberg, IBM is looking to “grab a piece of the more than $1 trillion in global stimulus spending by pitching cloud-computer projects for health care and energy.” However, I can tell you that other cloud computing providers and consulting service providers are after that money in a big way. As Bloomberg reported, the U.S. government’s stimulus plan will put more than $100 billion toward health-care networks, energy grids, and other technology projects, according to researcher IDC. “Uncle Sam is coming down with funding,” Gens said. “Cloud computing’s coming at a very good time.” Total cloud spending will top $40 billion by 2012, almost triple last year, according to the researcher.

The stimulus money is following the cloud because those in government IT are looking to get a much bigger bang for the IT buck, and they consider cloud computing as the way to do that. Within the federal government, cloud computing has some pretty big supporters these days, including the U.S. CIO, who has been a public advocate for cloud computing. Also, just last week the GSA put out an RFQ looking to provide an easy on-ramp to cloud computing for most government agencies.

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I suspect that by the end of 2010 we’ll have some pretty huge government-sponsored cloud computing projects under way, and hopefully more effective and efficient directions for government IT. Figure you’re going to see a mixed bag of cloud computing successes, with a few bad projects mixed in, as they typically are.

So how do you make this work? Once again, here is some unsolicited advice to cloud computing providers, government service providers, and the government.

First, pick your battles. Cloud computing is about selecting the right data, services, processes, and applications to place on cloud computing platforms. Those that move heaven and earth, and spend much more than they should on custom security technology and huge pipes between the cloud providers and the agencies or enterprise, won’t find the value with cloud computing. It should never be a forced fit.

Second, learn to give up control. Cloud computing is about allowing others to host and manager your applications, data, and other IT assets, and about the ability to allow them to do that without a huge amount of stress. So adopting cloud computing is difficult for many that manage IT. The more you want to control your IT assets on cloud computing platforms, the more expensive cloud computing is, and the less value that it brings. You can always pick up an old server at a yard sale, put it in your office, and watch the lights blink if that makes you feel better.

Finally, make sure that selecting and deploying to cloud computing platforms is part of a holistic architecture and IT strategy. The use of cloud computing is synergistic with the existing IT assets, and it does not become counterproductive when considering the bigger picture. But many organizations are simply tossing things out onto cloud computing platforms without thinking strategically, and that’s clearly the wrong approach; it will greatly diminish the value of cloud computing for your enterprise or agency.