Cloud computing has become a critical part of government IT infrastructure. In fact, a recent survey found that 95% of state and local governments are using cloud services in some capacity. The move to the cloud has many benefits for governments, including cost savings, increased agility, and improved security. However, cloud procurement can be a complex and time-consuming process. Streamlining, by definition, is the act of altering a process to make it simpler or more efficient. That’s where StateRAMP comes in.
StateRAMP is a shared service resource that provides a standardized cloud security assessment and compliance program that helps governments streamline their cloud procurement process. There are several ways in which StateRAMP can help the cloud procurement process:
Objective Standard
StateRAMP provides a single, standardized assessment that can be used to evaluate cloud service providers, limiting the time and resources necessary to verify cloud security packages or relying on self-attestation. This helps governments to quickly and easily identify cloud providers that follow industry best practices and ensures an “apples-to-apples” comparison of providers during the procurement process.
Cost-Savings
The StateRAMP program also greatly accelerates the acquisition process by creating a common language around procurement to guide decision-makers and procurement teams through the complex matrix of cloud and cyber. This process can often be fragmented between state and local government. The cloud procurement toolkit that StateRAMP provides includes templates for contracts, RFPs, and other procurement documents. This helps governments to save time and money on their cloud procurement process.
Increased Competition
StateRAMP’s process ensures that all vendors are receiving the same information and are on a level playing field, which increases competition. StateRAMP allows for cyber policies to be met from the beginning with clear terms and expectations through to the contracting process and may reduce the incidence of protests based on subjective security assessment reviews.
Improved Security
StateRAMP’s cloud security assessment provides a comprehensive view of a cloud provider’s security posture. This information can be used to make informed decisions about which cloud providers to use and prevents the need to “rip and replace” systems down the road.
StateRAMP is a valuable resource for governments that are looking to address the security risk from cloud environments. Through the program, state and local governments receive unbiased validation that StateRAMP-authorized cloud solutions are secure and capable of safely storing government and citizen data. For resource-strapped public sector organizations, the program can help streamline modernization and cloud decision-making, allowing previously overwhelming decisions to become achievable. If you are interested in learning more about how StateRAMP can streamline your cloud procurement process, please reach out to get@stateramp.org.