Chapter 4. Data Results and Analysis
4.5 Cloud Computing Opportunities
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Other - (Fo – Fe)*2 /Fe = (4-3)*2 / Fe = 0.66 (not related)
The above calculation using the chi-square analysis indicates that there are no relationships.
Question 10: Based on the last few years, what do you think government is doing to embrace new technologies?
Government has used technology to provide services to citizens; the respondents had to think whether government is embracing new technologies. They were presented with four options and Figure 13 show 38 respondents have highlighted that government is trying to implement new technologies while 32 and 28 respondents have indicated that government is focusing on mobile and Internet services respectively.
Figure 13: Trends
From the respondents’ feedback it shows that government is not doing enough to embrace technology as an enabler; below is some of the feedback:
Bureaucratic red tape prevents embracing new technology;
Government departments are unsure about their current environments, and therefore do not know what to do next;
Implementation and delivery execution is always a problem even when having the most brilliant solutions;
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
New technologies are being implemented
Using more mobile related technology such as MMS and
SMS
Have more services are available over
the internet
Other Based on the last few years, what do you think government is doing to
embrace new technologies? (Choose all that are applicable)
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Lack of skills within government;
Very little is happening to embrace and use new technologies; and
Very slow to respond to industry trends.
Question 11: What can enhance or make the IT services better than what is currently being provided by the government?
As technology is changing, government needs to embrace new technologies. The respondents had to think about what they would like government to focus on for the emerging technologies and they were presented with nine options; the results in Figure 14 show the top two items that can enhance the existing IT services provided by government are to make more services available over the Internet and understand what the user requirements from government are.
Surprisingly, none of the respondents selected ‘do not change anything’ - this indicates that the current IT services must be improved.
Figure 14: Enhance IT Services 0
10 20 30 40 50 60
Make more services available over the internet instead of going to a physical office Understand what are the user’s requirements before developing an application Use of more technology overall Applications developed for mobile phones More user-friendly applications Applications that allow collaboration with other people Applications that allow you to personalise it Other Don’t change anything What can enhance or make the IT services better than what is currently being
provided by the government? (Choose all that apply)
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Question 12: The traditional way to get software was to buy it and then you can use it according to the licensing. The new paradigm is that you can “rent” the software you need over the Internet and only pay for what you have used. Would you prefer to pay only for what you use?
The traditional way to get software was to buy it and then use it according to the licensing; and the new paradigm is that the software can be rented over the Internet - the user pays for only what they use. In order to understand the change in behaviour from the old approach to the new approach, Figure 15 shows that 49 respondents are willing to use the new approach by renting the software while 6 respondents will not change to use the cloud computing software by continuing to use the traditional way. This is indicative that the users are adapting to the new way of working as they understand the benefits of using the cloud services.
Figure 15: Traditional Approach 28
21 9
5 1
Would you prefer to pay only for what you use?
Strongly agree Agree
Neither agree or disagree Strongly disagree Disagree
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Question 13 to Question 15:
To understand the current software that is being used in government, the respondents were presented with three questions:
Question 13 - Which software are you currently using?
Question 14 - Which software are you considering to use in the near future that you are not using currently?
Question 15 - Which software do you think should move to the cloud?
The results are shown in Table 2 in which most respondents are using E-Mail , ECM and ERP software. The most likely software that respondents are considering to use in the near future that you are not using currently includes Procurement, HR and ERP software. The HR, Procurement and Project Management software are the most likely to move to the cloud.
Observed
Frequency (Fo) E-Mail ECM ERP
Project
Management HR Procure
ment Other Row Total Which software are
you currently using?
55 54 52 41 30 22 12 266
Which software are you considering to use in the near future that you are not using currently?
7 6 8 0 9 15 17 62
Which software do you think should move to the cloud?
38 41 36 31 28 29 9 212
Column Total 100 101 96 72 67 66 38 540
Table 2: Software Used in Government (Observed Frequency)
To determine the expected frequency, the formula used is: multiple the sum of the row by the sum of the column and divide by the number of people.
Expected Frequency (Fe) E-Mail ECM ERP Project
Management HR Procure
ment Other Which software are you
currently using? 49 12 26 35 33 32 18
Which software are you considering to use in the near future that you are not using currently?
11 12 11 8 8 8 4
Which software do you think
should move to the cloud? 39 40 38 28 26 26 15
Table 3: Software Used in Government (Expected Frequency)
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By using the chi-square test of independence, the formula ((Fo – Fe)*2 / Fe) is used to determine if there is a relationship. The results are shown in Table 4.
Chi-Square
Analysis E-Mail ECM ERP
Project
Management HR Procure
ment Other Which software are you
currently using? 0.24 7.00 2.00 0.34 -0.18 -0.63 -0.67
Which software are you considering to use in the near future that you are not using currently?
-0.73 -1.00 -0.55 0.00 0.25 1.75 6.50
Which software do you think
should move to the cloud? -0.05 0.05 -0.11 0.21 0.15 0.23 -0.80
Table 4: Software Used in Government (Chi-Square Analysis)
The highlighted areas indicate that there are relationships that exist.
Question 16: How can government leverage cloud computing but also be secure by having the data to stay within the government network?
To evaluate the knowledge of the respondents about network security, they were presented with four options and Figure 16 shows the majority are aware of security. 53 Respondents selected the government cloud and a community cloud, which indicates they are well informed. The government Community Cloud is where the cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a specific community of consumers from the different government departments that have shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy and compliance considerations). A comparison was done with Question 25 (basic administrator capabilities) and it reflects that 16%
of the respondents selected disagree or neither agree nor disagree for the basic administrator capabilities question but selected the correct response for this question. This indicates that they understand some of the aspects about cloud computing.
39 Figure 16: Leverage Cloud Computing
Question 15 and Question 17:
A comparison is made between question 15 and question 17
Question 15 - Which software do you think should move to the cloud?
Question 17 - Which software would you like to deploy in the cloud immediately, so you can use this to promote more buy-in from government?
In order to gain a better understanding of the priorities from government, the respondents had to select the software that they think that should move to the cloud and thereafter select the software that can move to the cloud to get government buy-in. Figure 17 shows the results of the comparison between the two questions and it is clear that the ECM has been selected as the software that is most likely to be deployed in the cloud immediately, followed by e-mail and ERP.
0 2
53 6
How can government leverage cloud computing but also to be secure by having the data to stay within the government
network? (Choose one)
All networks are generally secure and you don’t need a government network Create a new network and link it to the government network
Create a government cloud and a community cloud
Other (please specify)
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Summary
Many of the respondents do not feel that government is utilising technology effectively to deliver better services to citizens. However, in the last few years government is embracing new technologies such as mobile technology and services over the Internet. There is support for more services to be made available over the Internet and understanding the users’ requirement before developing an application in order to make IT services better than what is currently being provided. The software that are in demand that will need to be cloud-ready includes:
procurement software, ERP software and HR software.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
ECM software E-Mail software ERP software Project Management software Procurement software HR software
Which software do you think that should move to the cloud?
Which software would you like to deploy in the cloud immediately, so you can use this to promote more buy-in from government?
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