UKCloud reveals new suite of G-Cloud 12 services designed to remove the blockers to legacy IT modernisation

UKCloud underscores its status as a Strategic Cloud Provider by expanding its range of services via the G-Cloud 12 framework to help public sector organisations bridge the gap between legacy IT systems and digitally enabled services.

London – 22^nd September 2020 – UKCloud, the multi-cloud experts dedicated to making transformation happen across UK public sector, has today announced the availability of its expanded portfolio of services on the G-Cloud 12 framework, building on their recent announcement as a key strategic cloud supplier to UK government. This portfolio is designed to accelerate the government’s legacy IT transformation programme by overcoming the resource, assurance, availability and commercial constraints that often stop public sector organisations reaching their digital transformation objectives.

“We have always been committed to doing the right thing to deliver better services to citizens and better value to taxpayers. Through G-Cloud 12, we have built on our status as a key Strategic Supplier to government by investing further in our portfolio of services that help customers at every stage of their journey. We have reduced the gap between legacy and digital to provide customers a more actionable and affordable route to modernise their IT environment in preparation for wider adoption of transformative digital technologies like IoT, AI and automation.” said Simon Hansford, Chief Executive Officer at UKCloud.

Supporting customers at all stages of their legacy IT modernisation

Political uncertainty, economic challenges and rapidly changing policies have accelerated the modernisation of legacy IT infrastructure to support new working practices, reduce cost and improve the security of online services. Organisations can achieve this modernisation in a variety of ways, utilising private, public or hybrid cloud. However, according to UKCloud’s recent State of Cloud Adoption Report, organisations have identified significant blockers in the lack of key skills to build (78.3%) and manage (77.31%) applications on the cloud.

In addition to its range of cloud platforms, UKCloud is building on its award-winning customer service (evidenced through NPS of +55) and established suite of Professional Services by announcing a new Managed IT Operations capability. This supports customers with the inherent challenges of running IT estates in transition, allowing UKCloud to provide tailored support for government organisations from their initial strategy development, right through to day-to-day operations.

Providing uncompromising assurance to enable IT modernisation

COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of digital solutions, such as digital workplaces, demonstrating the genuine value of transformation. As some of these temporary solutions become permanent arrangements, there are new challenges to be considered such as the need for greater cyber security. The NCSC have reported a significant rise in the amount of hostile state-sponsored cyber-attacks, and the speed at which cybercriminals adapted their approach to utilise COVID19 targeted at those working remotely. To counter this threat, organisations must secure both the remote working endpoints and the applications being used.

UKCloud has always focused on providing the highest level of assurance around its multi-classification cloud platforms, enabling our customers to achieve the high levels of compliance required for even the most secure and sensitive government data. In G-Cloud 12, the Security Operations Service has evolved to improve the manned 24/7 security protection offered through UKCloud’s multi-cloud platforms, supporting all customer environments, providing an end to end cyber security service.

To support the emerging requirements for secure remote working, UKCloud has also announced the general availability of its Desktop as a Service (DaaS) offering. This enables all remote end users, including those hosted on government networks or operating in higher security trust domains, to securely access the applications and services they require.

Enabling outcome-based innovation for all

Organisations often procure specialist SaaS solutions to quickly deliver an outcome to their end users, evidenced by historic G-Cloud transactions confirming the predominant preference to consume SaaS over other services. However, these solutions are not always immediately available for organisations operating at a higher classification level with more stringent assurance requirements.

In response to this requirement, UKCloud has enabled scores of specialist partners to develop innovative software solutions in G-Cloud 12, powered by the UKCloudX platform, so that they are capable of operating even above the OFFICIAL classification level.

“Allevate offers Tygart’s MXSERVER to the UK intelligence, counter-terrorism (CT) and policing communities. Given the high security and classification levels required by these communities, the availability of MXSERVER, powered by UKCloudX through the G-Cloud framework, provides the perfect marriage of high assurance with ease of procurement. We look forward to working with UKCloudX to help fulfil our vision of a safer environment for all.” said Carl Gohringer, Founder and Managing Director at Allevate.

Removing commercial barriers to IT modernisation

The State of Cloud Adoption report identified a number of commercial barriers to IT modernisation, and UKCloud has taken steps to address these via the new range of services on G-Cloud 12.

For example, IT modernisation projects are hindered by the inflexibility of traditional software licencing and support agreements. To overcome this challenge, UKCloud has introduced a new VMware Licence Service (VLS) that enables organisations to start moving to a cloud commercial model, realising flexibility through consumption-based billing at the early stages of legacy modernisation. This service has saved organisations on average up to 20% in licensing costs, enabling adoption of cloud technologies at their own pace.

Secondly, there are clear value for money drives across the entire public sector which are likely to become more onerous as a result of the comprehensive spending review. UKCloud has responded with a range of changes to its pricing which gives customers better value and enhanced commercial flexibility. These changes are consistent with the many other commercial innovations formalised in the recent Memorandum of Understanding between UKCloud and the UK government.

To find out more about how UKCloud’s new and established services can support you to overcome your IT modernisation challenges, register for the upcoming webinar -
G-Cloud 12: Transforming legacy environments and delivering customer outcomes.