Is cloud infrastructure really a magic wand to speed up government’s frustrating, slow-motion pace? Wouldn’t that require a cultural change as well?

Never mind; cloud by itself transforms culture, according to Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio. (* Disclosure below.) 

“I think what people miss on why cloud is so important is it changes people’s behavior; it changes innovation strategies,” he told John Furrier (@furrier) (pictured, right) and John Walls (@JohnWalls21) (pictured, left), co-hosts theCUBE, at AWS Public Sector Summit in Washington, D.C. 

“It’s really a cultural change; and it’s grabbing speed as your most important thing you want to maximize,” he said, noting the growing importance of speed and agility for companies making the digital transformation.

This has special significance for government agencies for which moving at the speed of a pre-digital enterprise would be an accomplishment. The irony of this was not lost on Furrier. “Their goal is to serve. Public service, public sector, we serve the public — so what’s in it for the public?” he asked.

CIA brand ambassador

Well-known government agencies like the US Central Intelligence Agency moving to Amazon Web Services Inc. may set an example for other public agencies weighing the pros and cons of cloud and on-premise.

“The CIA guy saying we go to the cloud because it’s more secure — I mean, wow, can you imagine that a couple, two, three, four years ago?” Frick asked.

This precedent coupled with a public spoiled by super fast, on-demand interfaces in their consumer lives are propelling agile cloud development in government, Walls explained.

“I think as citizens have demands, regional, local government, whatever, they’re trying to respond to those demands in a faster way, a more agile way, and the cloud’s the way for them to that,” he said.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s independent editorial coverage of the AWS Public Sector Summit.

Photo: SiliconANGLE