Public sector CIOs are more proactive and positive about cloud computing in the short term than their private sector peers, according to the latest research from Xantus Consulting.

According to the research, the public sector is currently ahead of the private sector in adopting cloud solutions, with a third already actively using cloud, against just 19 per cent of private sector organisations. Looking five years ahead, almost two thirds of all organisations are likely to spend between 40 per cent and 80 per cent of their budget on cloud services, but the public sector is again set to dedicate higher levels of expenditure to cloud-based computing than private counterparts.

The Xantus report, "A Clearer Horizon? Do CIOs have more clarity about cloud computing", also reveals that 98 per cent of the those from UK companies and public sector organisations have investigated the use of cloud services, almost a quarter are already using them, with a further third planning to join them within the next six months, rising to 73 per cent within the next two years.

Although agility, flexibility and business continuity were all seen as major benefits of cloud computing, for the public sector more than half (55 per cent) of CIOs put cost benefits on their list, as against 35 per cent in the private sector.

More importantly, when it comes to overcoming major internal implementation and IT management hurdles to cloud computing, the public sector is bullish. For example, compliance far outweighs any other obstacles for the public sector (70 per cent) yet, when asked how long it would take for internal blocks such as this to clear, two thirds believe the issues will be resolved quickly.

Xantus Associate Director and Head of Architecture, Mac Scott, shared the overall positive view of the direction cloud computing is taking. He said: "What is clear is that everyone is looking to use cloud in at least part of their IT estate and that part is planned to grow over time. In essence, it's good news for cloud computing and it would appear that the public sector is currently leading the vanguard."

With further cuts to government spending yet to come, the focus on cost reduction in public sector IT is greater than ever. Peter Scott, Head of Information and Technology Architecture at the Ministry of Justice and a member of the Xantus expert panel who contributed to the research, was positive about the collaborative benefits of cloud. He said: "My personal opinion is that a push on shared services would be productive for the public sector and there are several that exist in government today. There are a number of common, business-focused services that could be consolidated and would take cost out of government, but arguably the discussion and hype to date around G-cloud has taken our eye off that ball."

Scott continued: "What we should be focused on is what are we actually spending our money on and how do we do that in a more effective way?"

The report, "A Clearer Horizon? Do CIOs have more clarity about cloud computing?" is available here...