Tom Padgett and Laura Grant of SAP (NYSE: SAP) have said agencies should partner with a cloud service provider with a capability to innovate and offer security.
Grant and Padgett wrote about the potential benefits to agencies of handing the responsibility to innovate to cloud providers.
By shifting that responsibility to a cloud service provider, agencies dont need to be concerned about networks and infrastructure as long as they are making sure that the cloud vendors are meeting their service-level agreements, they noted.
The cloud frees agencies to focus on mission-critical activities and other projects they couldnt do before because they didnt have the time or capability from a technology perspective.
Grant and Padgett called on agencies to find a cloud vendor that considers user-centered design and could integrate natural language processing and other tech advances into systems without interrupting daily operations and missions.
Agencies should collaborate with their cloud providers security professionals especially if they plan to adopt services through the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program.
When theyre considering partners or services through FedRAMP, agencies should carefully consider what impact level they need for a particular activity in order to ensure security and flexibility in their operations, they noted.
Padgett is a senior vice president at SAP and Grant is head of the companys digital innovation.