Cloud service models and what route to take

The cloud computing paradigm is transforming how NHS trusts approach IT services and infrastructure. By adopting cloud, trusts can reduce the burden of procuring, maintaining, and planning capacity for local hardware and data centres. Instead, on-demand services provided by cloud platforms allow staff to focus on core healthcare delivery.

As cloud adoption has matured, different service models have emerged to meet varying organisational needs.

This provides basic building blocks of computing like processing, storage, and networking over the internet. NHS trusts can rapidly scale resources without investing in hardware. However, trusts remain responsible for all configuration, security, and governance tasks.

This offers a managed runtime environment for applications without the need to install servers or operating systems. Trusts avoid low-level admin but must still handle application code, security, and availability,

This model allows trusts to leverage cloud applications without any underlying infrastructure or platform management. But trusts give up control over software customisation and rely on vendor security and reliability.

One of the proven ways of successfully migrating to the cloud, whether that be wholly or arriving at a hybrid model, is to do so in stages. Initial steps on a roadmap deliver incremental benefits until an acceptable end point is reached.

Ensuring that at each stage, risk is minimised and benefits maximised is a tricky balance. Capital investments in assets must be fully utilised and depreciated, critical IT services maintained and service to consumers seamlessly provided.

How then might NHS organisations embark on a journey to cloud whilst mitigating not insignificant risks whilst gaining significant benefits?

The answer is to analyse each component of the enterprise architecture and formulate a roadmap which delivers early benefits whilst mitigating risk, provides a route-map to the cloud model end-point, implementation programme to maximise benefits.