A TECHNOLOGY and IT partnership between a number of Gwent public bodies is to move its data to a cloud-based system.
The services are currently hosted on site at the SRS, or Shared Resource Service, which has a base at the Gilchrist Thomas Industrial Estate in Blaenavon.
But the service which supports Monmouthshire, Newport, Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent councils as well as Gwent Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office will move to a cloud-based system that will cost around £475,000 a year which can be achieved with no increase to the overall budget.
The move comes after the six partners consolidated their data centres at a cost of £1.44m when that project was completed in January 2023.
Continuing with on-premises infrastructure would likely require a significant future capital investment and a cloud-based system will also help the service reduce its carbon emissions as there will be a reduction in energy use with it no longer operating its own data centre.
The SRS will transfer to the cloud-based service over the next 15 to 18 months with a three to five year contract at £475,000 a year but will also reduce its annual capital budget to £169,000, a saving on the current £244,000 put aside annually for periodic hardware refreshes. The total annual budget will remain at around £644,000.
Staff will also be able to access systems and data from anywhere, which will support more agile and remote working, while the partner bodies will no longer be at risk of relying on ageing or unsupported hardware.
IT staff could also have to upskill to handle the cloud technologies but will receive training and the change is described, in a decision report, as providing an opportunity for more “interesting and strategic work”.
It also says “careful planning” and contractual safeguards will manage potential risks around data security, regulatory compliance, service outages, or vendor lock-in.
