28 Sep 2016, 3:01 pm
New figures published by government show, however, that local authorities remain slow to procure cloud-based IT solutions through the G-Cloud framework, which allows public sector bodies to gain access to cloud-based IT products services being offered by the listed suppliers during a set period. There have been eight iterations of the framework to-date.
According to the data, central government departments have been responsible for sales totalling £1.06bn since the G-Cloud launched, compared with £73 million from local authorities and £245m from the wider public sector.
Central government departments are subject to a 'cloud-first' policy when buying IT products and services, unlike other public sector organisations.
The data, which reflects sales to July 2016, showed that £753m of the £1.39bn total sales recorded via the G-Cloud were made with SME suppliers. Buyers spent £640m with large IT suppliers via the G-Cloud up to July.