Federal Cloud Computing Report - Market Connections & General Dynamics Information Technology

GENERAL DYNAMICS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Federal Cloud Computing Survey Summary Report

© 2015 Market Connections, Inc.

©2015 MARKET CONNECTIONS, INC. | WWW.MARKETCONNECTIONSINC.COM | 703.378.2025

FEDERAL CLOUD COMPUTING SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT

Background and Approach

2

• 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.

• The primary objective of the project was to develop thought leadership materials to support GDIT’s positioning, marketing and sales of cloud-based services. The survey also included some questions for GDIT’s internal informational purposes.

• Throughout the report, notable significant differences are reported using a gold circle.

• Due to rounding, graphs may not add up to 100%.



Key Takeaways

3

• 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.

• Organizations prefer private clouds over public, community and hybrid models.

• One-quarter or fewer organizations are using multiple providers.

• Organizations are less likely to migrate financial and mission critical applications, more likely to migrate collaboration, file storage, email and standard office applications.

• 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.

• Respondents overwhelmingly want security, technical support and federal experience from cloud providers. They also value customization and a cohesive, forward-thinking strategy.

• 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.


FEDERAL CLOUD COMPUTING SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT 4

Organizations Represented & Knowledge Level• If a respondent did not work for any of the specific organization types noted below, the

survey was terminated.

• A majority of respondents were somewhat knowledgeable about their organization’s 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 orindependent 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's…?

33%

33%

28%

67%

67%

72%

0% 50% 100%

Cloud ComputingInitiatives

Data CenterConsolidation/Modernization Efforts

Shared ServicesInitiatives

Level of Knowledge

SomewhatKnowledgeable

VeryKnowledgeable



Decision-Making Involvement

How are you involved in your organization’s decisions or recommendations regarding information technology (IT) solutions? (select all that apply)

• All respondents are knowledgeable or involved in decisions and recommendations regarding IT operations and management and IT solutions and services.

• 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 (pleasespecify)

Make the final decision regarding technologysolutions, services or contractors

Manage or implement technology solutions

Develop requirements for technology solutions orservices

Evaluate or recommend firms offering technologysolutions or services

On a team that makes decisions regarding technologysolutions

Note: Multiple responses allowedN=150



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



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

• CIOs and CTOs make cloud migration decisions in more than half of agencies.

• Mission-oriented department heads make the decision more than one-third of the time.



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

SaaSCurrently using

Planning to use innext 12 months

Researching/considering

No plans

• About one-third are using or planning to use cloud services, one-third are researching/considering and one-third have no plans.

• SaaS tops the list of cloud computing services in use and under consideration.• One-third of organizations have no plans for IaaS, PaaS or Managed Hosting services.



CLOUD COMPUTING CURRENT USE AND PLANS

Saas: Differences Between Defense & Civilian

9

• A greater proportion of civilian agency respondents indicate already receiving SaaSfrom cloud providers

• 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 ofSaaS services from cloud providers

Planning to use SaaS services within thenext 12 months

Currently receiving SaaS services fromcloud providers

Defense Civilian

= significant differences



Cloud Services in Use

10

• Organizations prefer private clouds over public, community and hybrid models.

• 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



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.



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 currently …

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") …

Decrease IT operating costs

Reduce infrastructure costs



79% 76% 75% 73%68%

60%54%

48%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Collaboration File Storage Email StandardOffice

Applications

Program orProject

Management

HumanResources

MissionCritical

Applications

Financial

Have migrated applications or are somewhat/very likely

Likelihood to Migrate Applications to the Cloud

13

• Three-quarters or more have migrated or are somewhat/very likely to migrate collaboration, file storage, email and standard office applications.

• 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



Likelihood To Migrate Applications To The CloudDIFFERENCES BETWEEN DEFENSE & CIVILIAN

14

• A significantly greater proportion of respondents from civilian agencies indicate having already migrated program/project management to the cloud.

• 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

Mis

sio

n C

riti

cal

Ap

plic

atio

ns

Pro

gram

or

pro

ject

man

age

men

t

Extremely likely – already have migrated Very likely Somewhat likely Not very likely Not at all likely

= significant differences



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



Performance-based Issues in the Cloud

16

When thinking about risks related to cloud services, what are your top concerns?

N=150

• 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.

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)



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 inlower capital expenses in comparison to in-house

deployment of infrastructure

Disagree Neither Agree Nor Disagree Agree



Top Benefits of Cloud Services

18

What do you see as the top three benefits of the cloud solution just described?

N=150



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.




FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT:

www.gdit.com/cloud

DOWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPERAND INFOGRAPHICS:

www.marketconnectionsinc.com/cloud

http://www.gdit.com/cloud

http://www.marketconnectionsinc.com/cloud



Laurie Morrow, Research Director | Market Connections, Inc.

703.378.2025, ext. 101 | [email protected]

Monica Mayk, Marketing Director | Market Connections, Inc.

703.378.2025, ext. 107 | [email protected]

Jennifer Harvey, Marketing Communications | General Dynamics Information Technology

[email protected]

[email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

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Government & Nonprofit

Federal Cloud Computing Report - Market Connections & General Dynamics Information Technology