Barriers to implementing / integrating the Cloud in education

Karl Donert, Director: Innovative Learning Network [email protected]

Barriers to Cloud adoption: some manager perspectives

School on the Cloud WG1 meeting, Lithuania, December 15-17 2014

What are the barriers to implementing / integrating the Cloud in education?Share on linoit http://tinyurl.com/SoC-cloudbarriers

Barriers to Cloud-based services: Manager perspective

Some likely barriers to the use of Cloud-based services

• different standards and regulations• security of transactions • consumer protection

SME survey

Barriers to Cloud-based services: Manager perspective

1. “Not Invented Here” syndrome• Q. Organisations have ‘legacy systems’ they

developed over many years in response to their particular needs - feel an emotional attachment to it

• A. Need good IT management advice

2. Loss of control• Q. Managers used to working closely with

‘their’ servers. • Feel out of control on a Cloud system they

don’t have or own at a physically• A. Start small, use Cloud servers for non-

critical operations

Barriers to Cloud-based services: Manager perspective

3. Data Security• Q. Compliance, governance, IPR are serious barriers to Cloud

adoption. Policies and in-house systems exist to satisfy standards and rules, change is difficult.

• A. Can use a specialist IT consultancy to help with converting an existing data centre to a hybrid Cloud setup (public + private).

• Sensitive data can remain in-house • Less important info moved to the external Cloud• Use best practice approaches to ensure data storage is secure

Barriers to Cloud-based services: Manager perspective

4. Cost• Q. A major barrier to Cloud adoption can be cost. Hosting

services must be paid for every year, traditional provision is not.

• A. Consider transforming existing system to a private Cloud – the system is then Cloud enabled

• If you need more space, some of the load can be moved to a public Cloud.

• Minimising external space keeps costs down and maximises the ROI of existing hardware.

Barriers to Cloud-based services: Manager perspective

Comments?What are the main challenges?What advice to give managers?Should there be guidelines? If so what?How best to promote “the Cloud in education” to managers?

Barriers to Cloud-based services: Manager perspective