As part of the series of training sessions on cloud computing, the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) recently organised a second-batch capacity-building programme in cloud computing. It set out to train government officers of central line ministries, states and union territory departments, mission mode project officers, e-governance project heads, and state e-mission teams.
The two-day residential training was held at the Administrative Training Institute (ATI) in Mysuru. 24 participants attended the event. At the opening ceremony, an official outlined the significance of being adept at cloud computing and highlighted aspects that are effective for governance. This technology has the power to transform how the government deals with natural disasters, power failures, and other crises. Having data stored in the cloud ensures it is always backed up and protected securely. Being able to retrieve the data quickly allows for government operations and public service delivery to resume business as usual, minimising any downtime and loss of productivity. The workshop brought together an array of subject matter experts from the industry, academia, and the government to discuss:
- cloud architecture
- the basic building blocks of cloud computing
- regulatory and policy frameworks that support cloud computing
- cloud provider selection and empanelment
- the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s guidelines for cloud
- key concerns while implementing cloud computing projects including issues of security and loss of control
- policy and compliance
- feature changes, forensics, and migration
- the future of cloud
Participants experience a live demonstration of how cloud computing requirements can be calculated by government departments. They also discussed popular cloud-based government initiatives like CoWIN, Poshan Tracker, and DigiLocker.
This workshop was the second in the series of cloud computing training for government officers. Officers of the state governments of Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Telangana, as well as central line ministries. The third workshop on the same thematic domain will be held from 15-16 September.
The government is investing in infrastructure and training human resources in cloud technology, which is a major emerging technology in the digital world. NeGD organised the first batch of the capacity-building programme for cloud computing in August. Participants talked about challenges associated with cloud implementation and the future of cloud in digital transformation while using engaging presentations on successful cloud use cases, as OpenGov Asia reported.
Session discussions also featured essential training on various components of cloud computing such as custom bidding for cloud services and the establishment of pay-per-use and billing frequency with cloud service providers. Participants explored negotiation instruments for dynamic services under cloud, best practices in cloud procurement, and computing requirements. The event was attended by officers from central line ministries and the state governments of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa, Mizoram, and Uttarakhand.
The large-scale adoption of cloud has the potential to contribute US$ 380 billion to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), creating 14 million direct and indirect jobs by 2026, according to a report by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM). It stated that a concerted all-around effort could result in the sustained growth of 25%-30% of cloud spending in the next five years to reach US$ 18.5 billion.