July 19th marked the return of a sense of normality amongst Brits, with the Prime Minister removing almost all COVID-19 restrictions from England on what he’d called “Freedom Day”. Nightclubs reopened, big events had their limits removed and wedding guest restrictions lifted as part of the final step of the roadmap out of lockdown. It does seem the global economy is slowly getting back in gear, but that doesn’t mean that things are going back to the ‘old normal’ – especially when it comes to the workplace.

After months of the ‘new normal’, local councils have experienced the true benefits of remote working, including increased flexibility and no commuting, and seen the financial rewards with huge cost efficiencies. As a result, whilst some plan on either returning fully to the office or remaining WFH in the foreseeable, a great deal of others will adopt a hybrid model of both on-site and remote locations, including local councils.

And it goes without saying that this hybrid model of working is fundamentally allowed by cloud computing.

Flexible workforce

By hosting applications in cloud services rather than on-site, public services such as councils give users access to their resources in real-time, from anywhere, on any device – as long as they’re connected to the internet. Multiple employees are able to collaborate on centrally stored projects and exchange ideas instantly, even if from different locations. This enhances the quality of the work being produced, as well as of each individual’s time-efficiency. Business leaders have in fact noticed an increase in levels of productivity, with using online tools for project management, video conferencing and file sharing. A survey by TalkTalk Group, for instance, found out that 58% of workers in the UK have been more productive as a result of working from home, while over half (52%) said they never expect to return to a five day working week in the office.

Now, imagine a post-pandemic world where cloud computing didn’t exist – working from home would’ve been catastrophic, to say the least. Instead of collaborating on planning policies or housing benefits at the same time, public servers would have to rely on the never-ending exchange of emails containing feedback and iterations. And, as you can imagine, it’s easy to lose track of the newest version of a document with so many messages flying around.

Cost-efficiency

Cloud solutions are much easier to scale than traditional data centres and servers. A council could temporarily scale back or increase resources as it pleases, to accommodate staff members or changes in traffic. Instant activation of services and speedy adjustments are key components to support growth. They also provide much needed agility.

Additionally, the cloud significantly reduces expenses on hardware and infrastructure, consequently reducing IT budgets. Think about it: when you buy an office and all of the equipment to fill it with, your capital expenditure is high, even if it’s a one-off payment. However, by moving to the cloud, you will move to an operational expenditure model, where you pay-as-you-go for the resources you use.

Increased security

To say that accessing sensitive data from outside of the office requires a robust cybersecurity strategy is to state the obvious. Security and compliance are one of the top concerns for most businesses, but especially for those in the public sector. Councils, in particular, are a goldmine for cyber criminals when considering how sensitive is the data they hold on their constituents – Hackney Council's hack and Redcar and Cleveland's ransomware attack being recent examples.

The truth is, cyber crime against councils is likely to continue to grow. Migrating to the cloud and away from legacy infrastructure can help organisations reach high standards of security by hosting their website, data and applications in enhanced data centres that run on enterprise-grade networking.

If you haven’t yet migrated to the cloud, it’s important to look into providers’ compliance and accreditations to boost the overall level of security (both cyber and physical) of network and digital information systems. I’d also recommend looking for cloud servers with ‘no single point of failure design’ and 100% uptime guarantee, ensuring seamless continuity of service.

The future is in the cloud

The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly highlighted the importance of cloud computing. Working in the cloud has been tried and tested. If council leaders were uncertain of its benefits before, they are likely convinced of its potential now. Moving forward, the cloud will continue to be the solution that allows for flexible working, with employees dispersed in multiple locations, may that be in the office, at home, or from their favourite coffee shop.

Jon Lucas is co-director of Hyve Managed Hosting