US Government saves $5.5 billion by using cloud computing

According to recent reports, NASA should be even more excited about rising to the clouds, or at least one cloud, the cloud. MeriTalk Cloud Computing Exchange released a survey that suggests the US government could save up to $12 billion dollars by continuing their ‘Cloud-First’ policy. That’s just slightly less than NASA’s annual budget.

Currently, the US government is saving $5.5 billion annually with their current cloud implementations, but that number is expected to rise as more and more agencies buy into the ‘Cloud-First’ concept. The 2013 IT budget is $78.9 billion, and IT executives have reported they’ve been able to save an estimated 7% already, equaling $5.5 billion.

Of course everything is clear in hindsight. Federal agencies could have saved between $27 and $35 billion over the past three years had they been more aggressive in investing in cloud computing, and now that the benefits of cloud computing are becoming clearer and clearer, there is little doubt that the additional savings will be sought after during the coming years.

Next year, about 11% of the IT budget will be spent on cloud resources, totalling $8.7 billion, and expansion upon that is dependent on a couple of things. For one, many IT managers are still worried about the security of the cloud, a reasonable concern considering the nature of the data, but the ability to create a secure environment does exist, it’s just a matter of ensuring the security is in place.

Many government agencies in both the US and Canada have chosen Telax as their contact center solution of choice, giving them the freedom and savings the cloud offers. We’re proud to be a part of the $5.5 billion dollars the US government will save in 2013, and we’re looking forward to being a part of the additional $6.5 billion they’re going to save over the next few years.