Government CloudsLessons from International Experience and Implications for
World Bank Projects
John WilleInvestment Climate Department
September 2010
THE WORLD BANKWorld Bank Group Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency2
Opportunities Offered by Government Clouds
Shared services across government
Common G2B and G2C service delivery platforms (e.g., shared business licensing applications)
Shared ancillary applications (citizen/business authentication, online payments)
Increased sustainability of G2B and G2C service delivery
Reduced need for technology staff at the agency level (more superusers)
Secure, redundant and professional application hosting at reduced cost
Can move to “pay-as-you-go” model for technology services
Cost-effective approach for small states and local governments
Improved ability to implement eGovernment principles and standards
Less incentive for “go it alone” approaches to implementing G2B and G2C applications
Ability to align data standards and achieve interoperability
THE WORLD BANKWorld Bank Group Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
Kenya – implementing shared services framework across national and local governments, hosted in a national data center
Includes license administration, payments, authentication
Mauritius – implemented shared platform for business registration and licensing
Singapore – has consolidated both hosting and back-office processing for many G2B and G2C services
More infrastructure-as-a-service than SaaS at present
Examples from WBG clients
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THE WORLD BANKWorld Bank Group Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
Conceptual Design for Transactional Licensing
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Business clients
e-Licensing Portal Site
Directory of all licenses
Ministry of Tourism
Hotel license application
form
RegulatorWeb sites
Environmental Protection
AgencyEnvironmental
Permit Online Form
Regulator Back OfficeWorkflow
Processors
Approvers
License Issuance
Processors
Inspectors
Approvers
Permit Issuance
New applications
New applications
Periodic reports
License Permit
Legacy Systems
Legacy Systems
Renewals
E-Payment Gateway
Existing e-Registry
Proposed transactional system
THE WORLD BANKWorld Bank Group Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
Where are the SaaS applications? Not a lot of product development yet in the G2B space… Is this a chicken and egg problem? Can donors aggregate demand to stimulate market forces?
Data standards and portability – how can governments migrate seamlessly to new application vendors? Can the development community and trade associations work together to promote data standards for G2B apps?
Data standards also important for regional integration efforts in trade, financial services, etc. (e.g., OHADA, EAC)
Data sovereignty remains an issue – even at the ministry level. Cultural shifts required in government in order to successfully implement shared applications.
Effective use of the cloud calls for a new, integrated WBG approach to implementing sectoral applications, particularly in providing connectivity
In many IDA and conflict-affected countries, we implement connectivity (e.g., VSATs) at the project level rather than on a government-wide basis
New approaches to WBG financing of ICT needed if clients are renting applications from the cloud instead of buying hardware and software
Mobile cloud solutions require an integrated infrastructure for authentication, payments, etc. to minimize redundant data input by users.
Challenges of Cloud and SaaS
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