Without a continually evolving vision for the cloud journey, there’s a risk of missing out on the benefits. There are countless approaches and solutions to choose from—but we’ve identified four key practices that will help APAC governments develop the best cloud strategy for their specific needs:

1. Prioritize experiences for citizens

To harness the long-term value of cloud initiatives, public service organisations need to put people at the heart of their digital transformation strategy. This is already happening. According to Accenture’s research, 48% of public service executives have pursued increased citizen value as a key organizational goal, while 45% have pursued faster time-to-market for new services globally.

2. Prioritize experiences for the workforce

To add more value for citizens, public service organisations must reimagine the way their employees use and interact with technology, as well as consider how cloud solutions can enhance their everyday work experiences.

To implement new ways of working, agency leaders should consider how to empower employees to play a bigger role in shaping their future workplace experiences. Public service organisations that focus on this ‘human’ aspect of cloud adoption are poised to reap benefits including improved employee retention and increased innovation to build a future-ready workforce.

3. Establish standard practices to support constant ongoing adoption of new technologies and operating models

Commercial cloud computing is the pathway for government agencies to transform into innovative citizen-centric service delivery organisations. It’s why 59% of public services leaders expect to increase their total cloud spend between 2020 to 2024.

A key consideration? Establish cloud-first policies that set out the wider intention to move to cloud. Once these are established, and the right infrastructure is in place, their IT teams can more effectively engineer ‘born-in-the-cloud’ or ‘cloud-native’ solutions – and procurement can be confident it’s selecting and implementing the right cloud solutions.

4. Understand the need for continuous commitment from leadership

Today’s cloud solutions offer public service agencies the opportunity to shift their focus away from cutting costs and towards a mindset of harnessing the cloud to move fast, scale, and innovate. It is vital for public agency leaders to define a clear, outcomes-based vision, and ensure new IT structures are closely aligned with organisational goals at every stage of the cloud journey.

For cloud transformation to succeed, government leaders must effectively communicate the purpose—their ‘North Star’—and set a clear mandate for all team members to understand the vision, cloud best-practices and desired outcomes.