Cloud Computing and E-Governance: Advances, Opportunities and Challenges

Cloud computing provides a new service consumption and delivery model inspired by Consumer Internet Services. Cloud computing drives down costs and accelerates cost reduction benefit. Cloud is making rapid inroads in several sectors and e-Governance is the latest in this direction. e-Governance with cloud computing offers integration management with automated problem resolution, manages security end to end, and helps budget based on actual usage of data. At a global level, Cloud architectures can benefit government to reduce duplicate efforts and increase effective utilization of resources, helping the government go green and reducing pollution and effective waste management. In this paper, the authors describe how this newly emerged paradigm of cloud computing can be helpful for e-Governance. It also describes the role of cloud computing standards and architectures in framing a good e-Governance strategy to realize e-Government. Governments have been slower in realizing the potential benefits of the Information Technology to provide e-services. E-services are delivering cost-effective services, which can drive the growth of the economy and government productivity.