Cloudy Tait moves to private sector

The Cabinet Office is on the hunt for a successor to Andy Tait as Deputy Director for the G-Cloud, Data Centre Consolidation and Application Store Programme.

Earlier this week PublicTechnology.net revealed that Tait had left the role to join VMWare as Head of UK Public Services Strategy at the company.

in the short term, Tait's responsibilities have moved back to Chris Chant who remains Director for DirectGov and Digital Engagement, operating from the Cabinet Office. But with the publication of the government's Cloud Computing strategy due in the autumn, the Cabinet Office is now looking for a full time successor. 

A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office said: "The Government is progressing work on cloud computing. The Foundation Delivery Partners are forging ahead and we fully expect to deliver the actions related to Cloud Computing in the ICT Strategy.

"We are very grateful to Andy for the work he did during his year's secondment to the team. We will announce who will take this work forward in due course."

Tait's move from the Cabinet Office came just days after the government published its long-awaited ICT Strategy, which failed to give any mention of the G-Cloud initiative, a key part of the previous strategy drawn up in the final months of the Labour administration.

Instead, the new strategy confirmed a separate Cloud Computing strategy would be published within the next six months.

Dr Katy Ring of K2 Advisory said Tait's move may give further insight into the coalition's ICT priorities: "Cloud Computing and the much talked about App Store for Government were not given a lot of airplay in the most recent ICT strategy document. And almost simultaneously the Deputy Director of G-Cloud, Apps Store and Data Centre Consolidation leaves his post to join VMware."

"In the meantime Andy Tait's responsibilities are moved back to Chris Chant.  There is a logic to Chant being in charge of all these areas as they are, arguably, interconnected. But, in reality, I think G-Cloud is evaporating as a key Government ICT strategy," she added.

Tait's key responsibility at VMWare will be to drive through efficiencies throughout organisations in the public sector.

In his first comments since the departure, Andy Tait said he believes there is "an enormous opportunity" for organisations in the public sector to leverage virtualization and cloud technologies, and "achieve dramatic savings without impacting front-line services".

"Through my work on the G-Cloud programme, I've been impressed with the many examples of public sector organisations using VMware technology to make a genuine difference to the services they can deliver and the cost efficiencies they have achieved. I look forward to applying my knowledge of the public sector to help organisations realise the full potential of cloud and virtualization technologies in driving their services. IT should be at the forefront of delivering the efficiencies and savings required by government."

Mark Newton, VMware Regional Director for UK & Ireland, said, "This is a very important and strategic appointment for VMware and it gives me great pleasure to welcome Andy to our team. With his experience in the public sector, Andy will play a major role in ensuring we continue to innovate and enhance our offering to deliver the technologies and services that make a real difference to our customers."