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The Era of Cloud Smart: Cloud Computing Strategy

The Era of Cloud SmartConversations with Federal Leaders onCloud Computing Strategy

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The Era of Cloud Smart: Cloud Computing Strategy

In a data-rich world, successful organizations must harness the capabilities of cloud in a specific, strategic fashion to realize their long-term visions. However, in a Government Business Council (GBC) poll assessing IT modernization progress in the public sector, 70% of federal employees say their agency does not have a cohesive cloud strategy, and 80% say their organization has not effectively communicated a strategy for complying with federal cloud computing mandates.¹ The findings indicate a persisting disconnect between federal IT directives and actual application of such policies in the workplace.

2019 is shaping up to be the year agencies finally address this disconnect. Understanding that agency needs have evolved since Cloud First was released in 2011, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published its Cloud Smart Strategy in September of 2018 to focus greater attention on security, procurement, and workforce needs.² The update coincides with the April 2019 release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that finds the majority of agencies are increasing cloud usage, realizing financial benefits, and enhancing the efficiency of operations and systems through cloud deployments.³ Despite these developments, employees have signaled that cloud strategies must be developed, communicated, and executed more appropriately to accommodate workforce needs.

In order to investigate the status of federal agency cloud strategies, GBC interviewed federal information technology leaders at the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Defense (DoD), and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on their cloud implementation plans, their response to federal mandates, and their strategies for communicating with their organizations at large. Their perspectives not only elucidate how their agencies have prioritized their cloud strategies, but also provide insights into the gap between federal cloud mandates and employee perceptions.

Agencies Find Value in Customizing Cloud to Drive Mission FunctionalityCloud Smart mandates apply across the board to federal organizations, but departments have chosen to shape their strategies to meet particular challenges and priorities. As the Associate Deputy Chief Information Officer for Information Enterprise at DoD, Peter Ranks oversees the DoD’s cloud program and traditional infrastructure data policy. The data ubiquity and security that cloud provides are not only important for DoD operations, but key during

In a Government Business Council (GBC) poll assessing IT modernization progress in the public sector, 70% of federal employees say their agency does not have a cohesive cloud strategy.4

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The Era of Cloud Smart: Cloud Computing Strategy

warfighting situations when communications could be interrupted. Ranks says “the opportunity with cloud is to solve that problem in a structural way for the whole department, rather than having each individual program trying to solve the problem. What we hope to enable with our cloud strategy is an enterprise foundation that takes out some of the heavy lifting, particularly in data synchronization so that people can build systems on top and not have to continually, within the context of their individual programs, solve for that particular problem.”

The DoD cloud strategy revolves around increasing the capacity of national defense systems through faster time to capability, greater security, greater software agility, and cost reduction. One critical component of this strategy is employing solutions designed to address ‘tactical edge’ challenges in executing warfighting missions. If communication is disrupted, for example, deployed forces need access to data as current as their last connection. “The tactical edge is both an infrastructure problem,

but it's also a data problem,” says Ranks. “We need to make sure we can keep that data in sync — that

when it's disconnected from the network, it is as current as its last connection and that when it

reconnects it automatically resynchronizes.” This unique challenge is a force that shapes the DoD cloud strategy, urging a cloud environment that is “susceptible to disruptions in connectivity.”

Rubrik's Industry View

Rebecca Fitzhugh, Principal Technologist at Rubrik, predicts that the perception of cloud maturity in the federal government will be vastly different in 12-18 months.

“It’s a massive undertaking for an agency to completely rearchitect the way that services are delivered,” she said, citing that many agencies have recently finished developing their strategies. Regulations such as Cloud Smart and FedRAMP have helped federal agencies develop their cloud programs. Looking forward, “federal organizations will continue to evolve their strategy, architecture, and implementation. Agencies will have to grapple with how to protect against cyber threats such as ransomware and still manage their ever-growing amounts of data.”

“With Rubrik, we enable secure data protection across cloud, on-premises, and at the edge. Using our product, our customers are able to very confidently back up, restore, manage, and archive that data and still comply with whatever standards they have in place.”

Rebecca FitzhughPrincipal Technologist, Rubrik

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The Era of Cloud Smart: Cloud Computing Strategy

of tools with the customer in mind. He says, “the Office of American Innovation (OAI) team supported by the White House chose the USDA as their lighthouse agency to further support our already established and ongoing IT Modernization efforts. The OAI did this by establishing multiple Centers of Excellence (CoE) groups embedded within the Department.” Reyelts says that the USDA also created various Cloud Working Groups with representation from all levels of the department. USDA leveraged the expertise of the Centers of Excellence and the multitude of voices from the cloud working groups to find ways to incorporate customer engagement into their entire IT modernization plan, including cloud adoption. This is part of USDA Secretary Purdue’s plan to become “the most effective, most efficient, most customer-focused department in the entire federal government.”5

As the USDA spans a diversity of mission-areas, the requirements and objectives of cloud adoption vary across the department. Reyelts says they were able to overcome this challenge by embracing their diversity of needs and creating one cloud services organization with adaptable options. Reyelts continued: “The OCIO-DISC Cloud Platform Services (CPS) will be a centralized USDA organization that provides customers with documented workflows and access to technical expertise to facilitate migration to one of USDA’s approved Cloud Landing Zones.” These specialized landing zones are a secure, pre-authorized environment for application development and migration to fit a desired objective. They are part of a multi-cloud strategy at USDA that leverage “reuse, ease of operation,

Jay Mahanand is the Chief Information Officer at USAID, where he noticed an entirely different set of problems he hoped to solve when his agency started implementing cloud solutions. Operating in challenging environments all over the world caused difficulties for communication and storage. USAID implemented a cloud-based email system in 2010 because many missions in low-bandwidth environments did not have functioning email systems. In the years since, USAID has become 100% cloud-enabled, owing much of its success to an intense focus on efficiency, data connectivity, and mobility. For instance, its Desktop as a Service using Virtual Desktop Infrastructure has been implemented in many overseas locations, as well as in Washington. This service connects missions globally and provides better centralized management and improved network access. Additionally, Mahanand says, “USAID reduced its physical server footprint from five to two devices at each mission site by deploying network appliances that also run virtual servers.”

Both USAID and the DoD’s cloud implementation strategies highlight strategic solutions to enhance agency functionality. However, at the United States Department of Agriculture, their strategy devotes equal attention to mission-enablement and customer satisfaction, as it provides farmers, ranchers, foresters, and agricultural producers with online applications and tools. Ed Reyelts, the Associate Chief Information Officer of the Digital Infrastructure Services Center at USDA says that by leveraging their position at the forefront of federal IT modernization, they were able to prioritize the development

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The Era of Cloud Smart: Cloud Computing Strategy

and saw real results in parts of the strategy based on that feedback, such as the update to data center metrics and focus on the workforce.”

If the consensus is that the federal government’s cloud migration is headed in the right direction, then what explains the considerable portion of employees who cite lack of progress in developing a comprehensive IT strategy for cloud computing?6 Leaders acknowledged that communicating IT strategies to the entire organization is challenging, and that good strategy requires senior leadership buy-in early in the process to effectively communicate with the organization at-large. They also stressed the importance of multiple lines of communication and repetition of key messages in order to effectively ensure employees, vendors, and stakeholders clearly understand organizational objectives.

For example, the communication strategy used by USDA was creatively designed with employee accessibility in mind. Their efforts to communicate at all levels of the organization may have played an instrumental part in vaulting USDA to top performer status in GAO’s 2019

and built-in security.” The landing zones give customers and agencies choices, as various agencies at USDA are at different levels of technological maturity. This process streamlines the development of tools and applications to increase the experience of department employees and end-users. It seems that mission-enablement, rather than compliance with federal IT mandates, is the primary driver of new cloud solutions across the federal government.

Anticipating Communication in a ‘Cloud Smart’ WorkforceThe Cloud Smart strategy was developed in collaboration with leadership across many departments, and all the experts that GBC interviewed approve of the standards it sets for optimizing security, procurement, and workforce

enablement. According to Reyelts, “Cloud Smart only reinforced the way we were supporting

and operating our modernization efforts from the outset.” This is

echoed by Ranks, who says, “we already had a plan in place, but

I would say that what Cloud Smart details is exactly the right thing. Cloud Smart policy is all about organizational maturity.” Mahanand responds similarly: “We were able to provide feedback about our experience

“Cloud Smart only reinforced the way we were supporting and operating our modernization efforts from the outset.” — Ed Reyelts, Associate Chief Information Officer Digital Infrastructure Services Center, US Department of Agriculture

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The Era of Cloud Smart: Cloud Computing Strategy

and repetition of the message” is critical to drive home the importance of leveraging cloud services. He acknowledged the constant challenge of communicating a message to a large force, explaining that to ensure the strategy is employed, “we arm our strategy with some policy enforcement teeth. So, we hope that anyone in the workforce has heard about the strategy, but we can also use some of the tools we have as a CIO to make sure they are abiding by it.” He says that while the policy is published, “there’s a lot of space between articulating a strategy and executing a strategy, and we are in that space now.” As more organizations mature their cloud programs from strategy to execution, it will be important for them to prioritize employee awareness and feedback for ensuring full enterprise buy-in.

The Future of CloudThis space between strategy articulation and execution is a likely culprit for the disparity in employee perception and federal mandates. Cloud strategies in the federal government are maturing, but implementation takes time. Ranks stresses that “your strategy needs to be a lot more than acquisition.” He looks at the holistic

report on cloud implementation, which found that 24% of USDA’s IT investments were already running on cloud services.7 Reyelts explained that creating multiple Communities of Practice helped disseminate the messaging about their strategy to various levels of agency staff and leadership. He described a creative assortment of messaging platforms, ranging from brown-bag meetings to IT Modernization Newsletters, which built upon the work done by the Communities of Practice.

USAID’s communication strategy prioritizes linking IT with mission. The enhanced communication that cloud services promoted between sites greatly improved mobility and allowed employees to better accomplish their mission. The mission-driven orientation of the cloud strategy at USAID is also reflected in their communication strategy. Mahanand says, “we connect our messaging to what our users know and do.” His solution for communicating a cohesive strategy is to connect IT infrastructure and modernization to the strategic priorities and mission-objectives of delivering development assistance globally. However, he acknowledged that communicating with employees across the agency can be difficult, as they are “competing for attention with their day jobs and information about the organization’s mission.”

At the DoD, the first line of communication is a published cloud strategy, part of an overarching digital modernization strategy that extends to artificial intelligence, cyber, and command, control, and communications (C3).8 After publishing the strategy, Ranks says that “persistence

“There’s a lot of space between articulating a strategy and executing a strategy, and we are in that space now.” — Peter Ranks, Deputy Chief Information Officer Information Enterprise, Department of Defense

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The Era of Cloud Smart: Cloud Computing Strategy

set of processes and policy hurdles, such as defining requirements, accessing resources, or moving software through an accreditation process, because these can be large bottlenecks to deploying an effective solution.

Looking forward, streamlined procurement systems may mitigate many of these challenges. Reyelts spoke about how the landscape of available private vendors is evolving through streamlined procurement practices, such as GSA’s Blanketed Purchasing Agreements (BPAs), which provide ready-made, packageable service solutions that have passed FedRAMP compliance. These have helped pave the way for USDA to quickly harness the expertise of various cloud service providers. Across the board, experts are eager to harness innovative solutions from the private sector. When discussing the future of federal partnerships with private companies, Ranks says, “they should be thinking less about the basic blocking and tackling of IT and more about the really sophisticated problems. I think those are higher value problems.”

The federal cloud service environment has greatly evolved since its emergence less than a decade ago, but the maturity levels of agencies’ cloud programs are diverse. Mission-enablement sits at the forefront of strategy, but buy-in from the workforce will be critical as more cloud-based tools are at their service to help them carry out the vision of each agency.

Endnotes

1. Government Business Council: “Measuring Cloud and AI Maturation.” June 27, 2019. https://www.govexec.com/insights/reports/flash-poll-measuring-cloud-and-ai-maturation/158019/

2. Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer: “From Cloud First to Cloud Smart.” June 24, 2019. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Cloud-Strategy.pdf

3. General Accountability Office: “Cloud Computing: Agencies Have Increased Usage and Realized Benefits, but Cost and Savings Data Need to Be Better Tracked.” April 4, 2019. https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/698236.pdf

4. See [1].

5. United States Department of Agriculture: “Secretary Perdue Announces USDA Improvements for Customer Service & Efficiency.” September 7, 2017. https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2017/09/07/secretary-perdue-announces-usda-improvements-customer-service

6. See [1].

7. See [3].

8. Department of Defense: “DoD Cloud Strategy.” December 2018. https://media.defense.gov/2019/Feb/04/2002085866/-1/-1/1/DOD-CLOUD-STRATEGY.PDF

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The Era of Cloud Smart: Cloud Computing Strategy

About Government Business Council

As Government Executive Media Group's research division, Government Business Council (GBC) is dedicated to advancing the business of government through analysis, insight, and analytical independence. An extension of Government Executive's 40 years of exemplary editorial standards and commitment to the highest ethical values, GBC studies influential decision makers from across government to produce intelligence-based research and analysis.

Report Author: Molloy Sheehan

About Rubrik

Rubrik delivers a single platform to manage and protect data in the cloud, at the edge, and on-premises. Enterprises and Federal agencies choose Rubrik’s Cloud Data Management software to simplify backup and recovery, accelerate cloud adoption, and enable automation at scale. For more information, visit www.rubrik.com/federal and follow @RubrikFed on Twitter.

Research Methodology

GBC and Rubrik launched a qualitative research campaign in May 2019 that included a series of 30-minute interviews with federal government leaders regarding Cloud strategy in the federal government. The list of featured interviewees is as follows:

Government ExpertsJay Mahanand — Chief Information Officer at United States Agency for International Development

Ed Reyelts — Associate Chief Information Officer of the Digital Infrastructure Services Center at United States Department of Agriculture

Peter Ranks — Deputy Chief Information Officer for Information Enterprise, Department of Defense