How government CIOs can balance the use of cloud and on-premises data centers

State governments are increasingly turning to cloud computing to accelerate IT modernization and improve digital services. However, the exponential growth of government data has led to skyrocketing storage and management costs, forcing agencies to consider what data is better managed in the cloud than on-premises.

The decisions come down to finding the right balance between technical and budget priorities, says Mississippi Chief Information Officer Craig Orgeron, one of three state government IT experts discussed in a new video for StateScoop created by GDIT discuss how to manage these decisions.

“Data sensitivity and compliance requirements play a critical role in deciding whether to use cloud or on-premise solutions,” says Orgeron. “From performance considerations such as latency to integration challenges in hybrid systems, scalability and flexibility are key factors.”

Budget constraints make decisions even more difficult. Orgeron noted the difficulty of adapting to rigid budgets in the public sector. “Predictability versus variability of costs is a key concern,” he says. “We rely heavily on total cost of ownership (TCO) analyzes when planning.”

Bo Reese, senior director of state and local civil economy at GDIT, emphasized the importance of data governance and new frameworks such as Data Fabric and Data Mesh. “Governance and ownership are critical, especially in distributed data ecosystems,” says Reese. “Data Fabric simplifies rules and policies, while Data Mesh decentralizes data ownership – the key to managing complex government data.”

Cybersecurity concerns also play a big role in the cloud vs. on-prem debate. Morgan Reed, head of the executive advisory team at AWS, emphasized that aligning security tools across environments is critical. “Security teams are overloaded,” says Reed. “Ensuring consistent controls between on-premises and cloud environments is critical.”

Reed also says AI further increases efficiency and allows employees to focus on high-value tasks. “Cloud migration can result in significant cost savings and improved outcomes,” he says. “For example, one state (that AWS worked with) saved $10 million by consolidating 88 server rooms.”

Looking ahead, Orgeron emphasized that “rapid changes in technology, particularly AI, require agility. Balancing flexibility, cost management and security while considering data management is critical.”

Learn more about how GDIT empowers state and local government agencies with transformative technology.

This video panel discussion was produced by Scoop News Group StateScoop and taken over by GDIT.