Prior to the pandemic, extensive regulation was one of the key roadblocks faced by public sector firms that wanted to adopt remote and hybrid working practices. However, Covid-19 has changed all that, steering public sectors organizations down the remote working path.
This is according to a new report from cloud provider Nutanix, which states that fewer than 15 percent of public service organizations now employ no remote workers, as compared with 48 percent one year ago.
The report hints that remote and hybrid working are here to stay, as an increasing number of organizations are deploying technologies to better support these working styles. At the heart of this effort is hybrid cloud infrastructure; more than four in five global public sector respondents described hybrid cloud as the ideal IT operating model for them.
A year before the pandemic, more than half (53 percent) ran exclusively on traditional, non-cloud-enabled data centers. Last year, the same could be said for less than a quarter (22 percent), the report further stated, claiming that organizations are opting for both private and public clouds.
For the mid- to long-term, Nutanix expects the number of public service organizations running on non-cloud-enabled data centers to drop even further, while the number of hybrid cloud deployments grows.
As they rush to modernize their infrastructure, these organizations are wary of potential threats. All respondents consider security a significant concern that could affect hybrid cloud management.
“The public sector has struggled with IT modernization efforts, due in part to the regulatory and security challenges in the industry,” said Chip George, VP Public Sector of US Sales at Nutanix.
“However, the rapid IT changes that were implemented in order to maintain seamless operations at the onset of the pandemic proved that modernization could be accomplished in a cost-effective and streamlined manner, all while keeping regulations in mind. Looking ahead, I believe the public sector will continue to expand its reliance on hybrid cloud models to support increasingly digitized workplace operations.”
