Cloud computing is one of today's biggest technology trends. The promise of cloud is to bring the latest solutions to end users, continuously updated and patched at lower cost than those solutions could be delivered in house. For many government agencies, however, it can be a struggle to keep up with the rapid changes in technology and the rise of trends like cloud computing. There are numerous reasons why that is, but one of the biggest ones is that, due to the sensitive nature of information government agencies deal with, data security is of the utmost priority. Before agencies can adopt a new technology, the government must ensure that it meets their strict standards and is correctly deployed to maximize security.

When it comes to cloud, that process is being led by theFederal Risk and Authorization Management Program, otherwise known as FedRAMP. FedRAMP's goal is to provide a standard approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for government agencies who want to migrate to the cloud. It helps save agencies time and money and is critical to ensuring a successful, secure cloud deployment. Here at Cisco, we see FedRAMP as critical to ensuring the success of government agencies.

Because of that, we're working to getall of our cloud solutions FedRAMP-certifiedso that government agencies know that our solutions will work for them. Right now, agencies can start usingCisco WebEx, our cloud-based web conferencing solution, which is already FedRAMP-certified. Not only will WebEx help agencies save time and money and work more productively, but it can also serve as a great jumping off point to other cloud solutions. Additionally, ourHosted Collaboration Solution for Government(HCS for Government) is in the process of FedRAMP certification.

Anwar Mallory, one of our Cloud Collaboration Specialists, shared his thoughts over onFederal News Radioabout why WebEx is a great solution for government agencies, how it meets FedRAMP's standards for cloud security, and more.Check out the interviewto learn more, including what next steps your government agency should take as it begins the process of implementing a FedRAMP-compliant solution for cloud.