DQ DigiGov Conference Deliberates on Trusted Cloud for Govt

While cloud is taking every business by storm globally, governments are also deploying it to become efficient and transparent. In India, the government has been focusing a lot on Digital India which encompasses the use of cloud computing for various government services. The issue of cloud being used in the government was widely debated at the Dataquest DigiGov Conference on 'Building Trusted Cloud for the Government' at the Hotel Taj Mansingh, New Delhi on 13 May, 2016. The conference was organized in association with Microsoft where challenges and opportunities related to deploying clouds were discussed.

At the conference experts and speakers tried to address questions around building a secure, robust and reliable cloud platform to enable government and public sector organizations to function in a seamless and transparent manner. Setting the context for the conference, Neeraj Gill, PS, Microsoft India, stressed upon the need for cloud-based governance so that efficiency of various departments could be improved.

The benefits of cloud help government organizations better understand the critical considerations and how to leverage the power of the intelligent cloud. The key speaker for the evening was Takeshi Numoto, Corporate VP (Cloud & Enterprise), Microsoft Corporation who stressed upon the usage of trusted cloud in the government. “Microsoft Trusted Cloud promises security, privacy, transparency and compliance for its customers unlike any other players. Microsoft has tried to address the data residency issues with its three local data centers,” said Numoto, while addressing the audience which were from various government departments.

The highlight of the conference was an engaging and thought-provoking panel discussion moderated by Ibrahim Ahmed, Group Editor, CyberMedia. In the panel discussion on 'Building Trusted Cloud to Transform Public Sector', Sanjiv Mittal, CEO, NISG, Prof. SC Gupta, IIT Delhi and Cmdr Manish Tiwari, CISO, Microsoft India, shared their thought on how government and public sector companies use cloud. Sanjiv Mittal threw light on the cloud cases in the government and how it is helping various departments. “The government is aggressive as far as cloud is concerned. The proof lies in the government's attempt to empanel cloud providers in India,” said Mittal.

Security in the cloud also engaged a few audience members in a constructive argument with panelists such as Cmdr Manish Tiwari, CISO, Microsoft India. “Microsoft Trusted Cloud allows users to safely use cloud. Because of the four pillars – security, privacy, transparency and compliance – Microsoft Trusted Cloud addresses all concerns related to cloud,” said Cmdr Tiwari.

During the conference, many use cases for hyperscale, secure, agile, cost effective cloud in Public Sector for citizen services, e-governance, healthcare, education, smart cities, digitization, etc. also surfaced. This conference actively explored the ways in which the government organizations can benefit from trusted cloud.