Are You Ready to Consider Cloud Computing to Reduce Your City’s IT Budget? By Dave Mims, President, Sophicity While cloud computing has been generating buzz for the past several years, this technology will continue to gain in popularity – especially among city/town governments. Leveraging cloud-based technology eliminates capital and operational expenses associated with servers, software licenses, maintenance fees, project labor for software upgrades, and more. Other benefits of the cloud include: 1. Lower, affordable, monthly costs for exactly what is needed. Pay monthly for needed hardware, software, and services. Information Technology (IT) is scalable – add or subtract users as necessary, and the cost is adjusted on the fly. 2. Clear, transparent ROI. Information technology has matured into a transparent reportable investment. A cost analysis of the money spent for traditional hardware, software, and services can be outlined and compared against a flat monthly operational-cost
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model. When this cost analysis is performed, many cities/towns often uncover an opportunity for instant cost savings. 3. Included, no-cost hardware and software upgrades. With “pay as you go” IT service models, there is no longer any worry about upgrading hardware or software. With a municipality’s monthly costs, all upgrades are included. 4. Minimized risk of data loss and security breaches. With an IT environment that is monitored and maintained with consistent, upgraded, quality hardware, software, and services at a monthly cost, the burden of data retention, security, and maintenance falls upon the service provider. Recovering from theft or a disaster can be much quicker and more cost effective for the city/town.
SOUTH DAKOTA MUNICIPALITIES
