ABSTRACT
This chapter explores cloud and shared services, and shows there are many types and variations of cloud services. Technology can help avoid duplication and save resources through centralized systems, such as eliminating administrative support services that are redundant, and that can be better executed on an enterprise-wide scale. Some cloud service providers offer assurances that their cloud facilities are located within the continental United States as opposed to being located in just about any place in the world. The cloud in an IT setting can significantly alter the government technology enterprise as well as just about every government program, service, and office operation. The move toward virtualization consolidation began with reducing costs and wasteful redundancy. From a government organization's perspective, public cloud services generate even greater economies of scale and sharing of resources than virtualization, reducing costs and increasing choices of technologies.
