The latest survey from analyst firm Gartner indicates global governmental organisations are increasingly turning away from traditional shared services, in favour of cloud computing models.

The study, entitled Government IT Sourcing Survey Highlights 2012, questioned 213 IT firms from government organisations in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific, and found there to be a "marked increase" in government IT leaders planning to adopt cloud computing services over the next year.

41 per cent of national government bodies plan to consume software from the cloud this year, in comparison to 27 per cent last year.

Greg Pearce, Finance Minister for New South Wales in Australia, told iTnews his government plans to use cloud computing to deliver "shared services more efficiently."

Gartner analyst Massimiliano Claps said "shared services risk being displaced by public cloud computing offerings that offer lower total cost of ownership and allow much leaner end-user choice."

Additionally, Gartner released research on five cloud computing 'subtrends', which included cloud-centric design in planning migration, data centre and infrastructure investments, lowering of IT costs and hybrid cloud computing.

"Cloud computing is a major technology trend that has permeated the market over the last two years. It sets the stage for a new approach to IT that enables individuals and businesses to choose how they'll acquire or deliver IT services, with reduced emphasis on the constraints of traditional software and hardware licensing models," said David Cearley, vice president at Gartner.

"Cloud computing has a significant potential impact on every aspect of IT and how users access applications, information and business services."

Written by Louise Boyd