P&P August 2015

easily, and on demand—and in most instances, without significant capital expenditures. The model makes sense from a practical standpoint, because govern- ment agencies want to achieve lower computing costs, improve quality of service, and more quickly deploy new capabilities. The movement of applications and information to the cloud has also accelerated due to new economies of scale and evolving con- sumption models. For example, the U.S. federal government’s Cloud First policy mandates that agencies take full advantage of cloud computing benefits to maximize capacity utilization, improve IT flexibility and responsive- ness, and minimize costs. Child Welfare Agency Investments Like many government organiza- tions, CW agencies increasingly are innovating to help lower costs, increase efficiency, and improve operational agility. Cloud computing is integral to that innovation, and now is rec- ognized as both a business and a deployment model that can transfer how CW agencies work with children and families to achieve family reunifi- cation, adoption, or to provide services to children as they age out of the system. There are three primary business drivers for CW agencies looking to reap the benefits of cloud computing: l First, similar to the private sector, CW agencies seek to improve services and experiences for children and families. These include better, more integrated, and targeted services, while reducing the long- term cost of delivery. l Second, CW agencies aim to overcome budget cuts and associ- ated constraints while combating rising service delivery costs. CW agencies must maximize funding in order to effectively meet the needs of children and families, and for new families formed through adoption or guardianship. In the current economic climate, governments are faced with declining tax revenues and other sources of revenue, while operational costs generally continue to rise.

Cloud computing is a technology model that changes the way govern- ment agencies consume information technology (IT) services and how they deploy these services to their stakeholders. In its simplest term, cloud computing is the practice of using a network of remote servers on the Internet to store, access, and manage data. Although some see cloud computing as an IT initiative, many government agencies are con- sidering changing the way they do business to optimize services toward constituents. From a technology standpoint, cloud computing offers a model for enabling convenient, on-demand access to a pool of shared computing resources. These resources range from various applications that specific industries and organizations provide to service customers and to manage their businesses, to the tools devel- opers use to create those applications. It also can include the computing infrastructure—databases, servers, and storage, for example—used to power the applications. Simply put, cloud services provide the ability for end users to use parts of bulk IT resources over the Internet quickly,

l Third, CW agencies seek to deliver more innovation in response to demands from service providers that expect government service to be of the same quality they can find in the private sector. These include personalized solutions for the unique demands of the families and children they serve. And, in response to customer demands, they need to do so much more rapidly than ever before. Cloud Transforming Child Welfare Cloud technologies can improve service delivery for CW agencies. In Joe Mullich’s article in The Wall Street Journal, “16 Ways the Cloud Will Change Our Lives,” he describes a world in which end users will be able to make smarter decisions based on the nearly ubiquitous access to relevant information. He notes approx- imately 10,000 laptops are reported lost every week at 36 of the largest U.S. airports. These laptops carry sensi- tive information, such as personal, customer, financial, and payroll infor- mation, subjecting organizations to embarrassment and financial risk if important information is exposed. We know that secure cloud environments can eliminate those concerns, and actually increase security by storing encrypted data remotely in cloud servers. The laptop or mobile device no longer needs to store data; rather, it becomes the instrument by which to access it. Cloud services enable agencies to: Simplify Access: The cloud can help caseworkers access any type of data regardless of location; this results in caseworkers spending more time in the field working with families and children. As the millennial genera- tion continues to enter the workforce, they expect technology to enable their work—anywhere and from any device. Cloud services allow CW agencies to keep this next generation of case- workers engaged and motivated. No longer will caseworkers have to spend time in the office researching the history of a case and keying in redundant data. They can capture assessment data, notes, and informa- tion in real time and can access, edit,

Ruthie Seale is the director of HHS Strategic

Programs—East at Oracle Corporation.

William Saunders is the director of Government Cloud at Oracle Corporation.

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Policy&Practice   August 2015