London’s Hounslow to Switch to Cloud
The physical information technology infrastructure market seems to be continuing its downward spiral as it becomes more and more obsolete. The London region of Hounslow has made public their intention to plug into the cloud within a five year time frame.
As investment allocations for the Hounslow borough dried up, the city’s council peoples analyzed the worsening situation and decided to look at the alternatives. The decision to go cloud clearly came at an opportune time, specifically for city work personnel. In an extended interview with V3 at the inauguration of Box’s new global office in London, Hounslow executive of corporate resources Anthony Kemp stated, “We said we need to be able to do anything, anywhere, any time while remaining completely agnostic about the device that a person has. We asked ‘why do we want to own infrastructure?’ We don’t want it.”
This shift should have a very positive effect on the city council workforce. Rather than relying on outdated and company controlled infrastructure, employees will now have the option of bringing their own computers, smartphones and other technological devices from home. Hounslow executives did mention the potential security risks and therefore are implementing the use of mobile device management software, which will delete the sensitive information from the staff’s smartphone in cases of lost or stolen devices.
Kemp also mentioned that the cloud transition will not only benefit staff members but all people of the area including private residents and hopefully students. Continuing the interview with V3, Kemp additionally said, “It’s a generational thing. There are some residents who would rather use the website the way they do now, but if you look at 16-19 year olds coming onto our services now, they’ll be using smartphones and other mobile devices and they’ll be comfortable with getting a link for a document, going on and commenting on it.”
The Hounslow cloud move is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.
