Questions/Answers

The Bahraini Government is committed to modernizing government information and communication technologies (ICTs) and will lead by example in using cloud computing services to reduce costs, increase security, increase productivity, and develop excellent citizen services. The Kingdom of Bahrain will adopt a Cloud-First approach with the aim of: • Reducing the cost of government ICT by eliminating duplication of solutions and fragmentation in the technology environment, and leveraging the efficiencies of on-demand provisioning of ICT services; • Increasing security by using accredited platforms; • Increasing productivity and agility, and thus improving citizen services. In order to achieve this, all government agencies of the Kingdom of Bahrain will evaluate cloud-based services when undertaking all ICT procurement. The decision on the appropriate ICT delivery model will be based on an assessment of each application, incorporating fitment of purpose, cost benefit analysis and achieving value for money over the life of the investment. This assessment is best achieved by using any of the well-established tools available in the market, either from the identified cloud service provider and/or a non-attached third party. The “cloud first” approach for government agencies to consider in adopting cloud computing solutions as a primary part of their information technology planning and procurement.

Cloud computing is an enabler of digital transformation initiative, it offers the scale and speed that is needed for businesses to focus on transformation; with a clear impact on the role of the IT department. As government executives are increasingly involved in taking IT buying decisions (cloud-based solutions) and as IT increasingly needs to enable the possibilities to develop, deploy, deliver and scale fast, cloud computing isn’t just seen as the on-demand delivery of applications (SaaS) or just a bolt-on phenomenon anymore. Cloud is for fast execution and informed decision making, building bridges for actionable intelligence on digital transformation strategy.

Bahrain Cloud initiative is contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SGGs) towards the goal on” Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure”. By which Bahrain moves towards a common operating environment for all government entities, leading to: a. Reduction in cost for both hardware and platforms. b. Improved manageability and productivity of ICT solutions. c. Operational continuity and business recovery. d. Greater budget control. e. Greater agility. f. Better integration between services. while implementing cloud services to reduce costs, improve productivity and develop efficient services, ensuring that they are assessed as per the standards.

Bahrain has taken a realistic and rational approach in taking the necessary measures towards initiating the process of incorporating cloud computing processes in its operations so that ultimately all government functions would be interlinked. Our cloud initiative entails ultimately interlinking all aspects of governmental functions, including the procurement processes of the various departments. Fundamental differences in public and private applications of cloud computing would have to be dealt with before such an initiative could practically materialize. It has been repeatedly demonstrated, there is no one-solution-fits-all approach when dealing with government applications of such vast scale. Indeed, considering the diversity and multitude of government functions, a host of cloud computing solutions could be recommended for government applications – each with its share of limitations and challenges in terms of application and performance. Government plans to gradually implement a standardized cloud computing paradigm across all levels of the government, while also ensuring that the corresponding operating and maintenance costs for the system are maintained at a reasonable level. Policy makers soon realized the inherent benefits of utilizing cloud computing programs and the fact that the benefits far outweighed the few risks associated with the applications motivated the agencies to adopt cloud initiative.

Cloud computing has been regarded as an innovative IT infrastructure for the development of public services. Forming a national level cloud computing initiative has been viewed as an important strategic movement for developing sustainable advantage for the country, hence Kingdom of Bahrain published "Cloud First Policy " strategy to lead the national level adoption and development of cloud computing and government emphasis on establishing sustainable capability to exploit and manage cloud-based public service.

Bahrain government vision is to be able to provide all necessary services to citizens and residents of Bahrain at a lightning fast pace using the fluid nature of the cloud computing business. All future government projects should have a clear direction to move to the cloud as stipulated by the approved cloud first policy for the government of Bahrain to achieve the vision it has done extensive research and study across the globe whoever has been implementing the cloud in the government sector like US, UK, Australia, Singapore, Korea etc., In 2017, Bahrain adopted the ‘Cloud First’ Policy in the public sector – becoming the first Arab country to adopt such policy and one of the first worldwide.

Bahrain Government vision is not only implementing the cloud initiatives within the country but also exchange the middle east region. Kingdom is always pleased to exchange experiences with all countries which support government direction in developing government services and accelerating eTransformation in all sectors. Bahrain’s iGA and Kuwait’s Communication & Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA) signed an MoU in the field of Cloud Computing. The MOU, following the Cabinet’s approval and in line with relationships between both countries, facilitates government processes, increases efficiency and contributes in speeding the implementation of projects while maintaining security and confidentiality of information and data.

Based on demand assessment and considering security related considerations, government engaged the services of private cloud providers: Amazon Web Service and formalized a Cloud Center of Excellence where executives and IT area experts’ authors Cloud Governance to enable Organizational Units to access a self-service model and provides a catalog of standardized and template patterns from which to select and auto-provision. - Cloud Transformation Committee - ICT Procurement Task Force - Operation, Infra Working group - Management, Legal Working group - Cloud Architecture Working group - Migration Working group - DevOps Working group Cabinet office invested $10 million for 5 years.

The cloud contributes to Sustainable Information Technology (IT) because of it across the globe more and more companies, government are shifting some, or even all, of their IT infrastructure into the cloud. They can do this because of the “as a service” paradigm that has taken hold in cloud computing. In today’s IT economy, offerings such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Storage as a Service (STaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) make it possible for businesses to receive much of the IT functionality they require through the cloud. That allows many businesses to reduce the size of their on-premises data centers, or even shut them down altogether. As more of the corporate IT workload shifts to the cloud, the overall environmental impact is substantially reduced. That’s because major cloud operators, such as AWS, Google and Microsoft, are committed to being 100 percent “green” in their own data centers. So, when a government moves its IT operations into the cloud, it makes a definite contribution to the environmental health of the planet.

Yes

Yes. It was evaluated based on Cloud Readiness and Service Value Workbook. The goal is to help the organization build a cloud strategy that includes processes for identifying and prioritizing those services that will have the most value deployed or migrated to cloud delivery. To maximize benefits while minimizing risk implementation, roadmaps must consider both the expected value and the inherent readiness of the service to move to the cloud.

There are no absolutes in assessing cloud readiness. Bahrain Cloud Initiative has chosen the following indicators are being used to evaluate during assessing the readiness of cloud: Current IT Assessment: • The current capabilities of the organization in terms of IT infrastructure, management processes, and staffing • The level of service and security available from the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) • The level of criticality of the data and processes included in the service Service Opportunities Assessment • Capital Cost Savings Opportunities • Operational Savings Opportunities • Personnel Cost Savings Opportunities • Service/Agility Opportunities

The evaluation tools to aid in making some of these determinations. • Current IT Assessment: Review current architecture processes and people to assess at a high level the effort required to move to the cloud. • Service Opportunities Assessment: What are the perceived benefits of migrating and/or deploying a given service in a cloud. • Service Readiness Assessment: Review the cloud preparedness implications of the service including security and compliance, availability and reliability, data and app integration, enabling infrastructure requirements. Evaluation results page which establishes a red/yellow/green for each risk and opportunity area.

Cloud computing is concerned with IT operations of an organization in the cloud, hence government of Bahrain is making partnership with internal and international prime expert vendor is the filed of cloud. Out of the many available options in the market, Amazon Web Services (AWS) stands as the most mature service provider in this business space. AWS is also named “as a Leader in Gartner’s Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Magic Quadrant” for the seventh consecutive year. Cloud computing is the next big trend in the IT operations of any organization, no matter how big or small, public or private, involved in day-to-day business or mission critical applications – all can benefit from cloud computing. The Government of Bahrain has contracted with AWS on a strategic level to introduce and benefit from deploying infrastructure as well as services in the AWS cloud. AWS (Amazon Web Services) has already set-up a local office in Bahrain and intend to set-up an AWS infrastructure region with three availability zones during the launch in order to attract more public/private customers from the GCC region. The role of the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) is to spear head the cloud project for the Government of Bahrain and assist to conceptualize it, plan it, develop it and form the building blocks to operate it efficiently for all governmental entities.

Existing government regulations often significantly influence how conveniently a new technology is adopted in the market, which can determine the success or failure of an initiative. Hence Government directives on egovernment initiatives have an impact on how new technologies are adopted in the public sector. Increasing the awareness of users towards the usefulness and ease of use of cloud computing will be most likely to increase the acceptance of such technology in organization. Also, the effect of factors, such as trust, privacy and cost on attitudes towards cloud is an important topic that should be considered further in the future.