G-Cloud boss hopes sexy cloud expos will warm up gov bods

The G-Cloud programme is being developed to help the wider public sector transition to cloud services, according to Denise McDonagh.

In an interview with Guardian Government Computing, the director of the G-Cloud programme said that she is currently focusing on the "propagation" of the G-Cloud.

"Propagation for me is about how I help the public sector – central and local government, the NHS, charities, education and skills – to think about how and when they use the service and can transition from where they are now into cloud services."

Specialist "buy camps" for government purchasers, supplier expos, communities of interest and an "Ask Mike" online information service are among initiatives that McDonagh is using to promote the G-Cloud.

The Home Office, where McDonagh is also IT director in addition to running the G-Cloud programme, was among the departments to make a purchase – for support services – through the first iteration of CloudStore.

She said that contracts worth £500,000 were signed in the first 10 weeks after the initial CloudStore catalogue opened in mid-February.

The G-Cloud programme is now in discussions with 50 public bodies through the Ask Mike service, helping them through the process of what and how to buy.

So far 244 suppliers have expressed an interest in joining the second version of CloudStore, but McDonagh said she is expecting a lot more to sign up.

"I have had a number of SMEs that said 'we did not bid first time around because we wanted to see what it was like, but we will want to bid second time around'," she said.

Cloud hosting company Cat N was one of the SMEs that decided to join the first iteration and, according to McDonagh, made its first sale in May.

This article was originally published at Guardian Government Computing.

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