Up to now, global public sector cloud uptake has been held back by the headwinds of security, privacy and risk management concerns. Today, we’re publishing two white papers on Seeding the Global Public Sector Cloud – Part I, a role for international standards and Part II, the UK’s approach as pathfinder for other countries. Together, they aim to provide food for thought for government and cloud users by exploring options and opportunities to effectively address these inhibitors to public sector cloud computing adoption around the world.

Part I suggests a role for ISO standards, particularly ISO 27001 and ISO27018, as effective, evidenced procedures to manage cloud security risk based on the authorisation, certification and audit techniques that these standards apply.

Part II focuses on the structured approaches to cloud adoption taken by a number of countries including the UK, and suggests that countries looking to develop their public sector clouds but without wishing to reinvent this particular wheel could validly start from the UK’s approach as a pathfinder.

We hope that you find the white papers informative and useful and naturally welcome any feedback.