Drive for efficiencies to bring big changes to government IT

Ovum expects more focus on cloud and business process outsourcing

Increased use of the cloud and business process outsourcing (BPO) will be the two main trends to drive efficiencies in government IT in 2011, according to research firm Ovum.

The firm argues that government agencies will offer more services over the cloud and outsource more of their services during the year ahead, as cost-cutting continues to be a priority.

"We expect to see consumption-based and shared delivery models gaining momentum in 2011, as agencies become more open to the efficiencies that a cloud-based approach can offer," said Jessica Hawkins, analyst and author of the report.

"Alongside this, for those economies most severely affected by the crippling deficits, we expect to see an increase in outsourcing, particularly in back-office processes, in a bid to find cost savings and fast."

Hawkins urged government bodies to push beyond short-term cost-cutting measures and adopt a long-term approach to making the way services are delivered more efficient.

"Many will look to their IT vendor to give them guidance on new technologies and vendors should be ready to do this," she said.

As well as new service delivery models emerging in 2011, Hawkins also believes there will be a new approach to procurement by government agencies.

"With pressure to be more visible and accountable regarding how taxpayers' money is spent, agencies will look at new ways of procuring services," she said.

"In addition there will be changes in how contracts look - in some cases we will see consolidation."