Cloud Migration for Government Agencies: What’s Holding You Back?

Most public agencies aren’t built for cyberattacks, ransomware, and natural disasters that take entire networks offline. But those are the threats facing local governments today.

Many agencies still run critical operations on aging on-premises servers, disconnected records systems, and legacy software. It’s the norm, not the exception. And this infrastructure was never designed for today’s threat environment.

As more agencies realize this, cloud adoption continues to accelerate. According to the 2025 Public Sector Cloud Adoption Report, commissioned by CentralSquare and AWS, 94% of local government and public safety leaders view cloud adoption as “at least somewhat important” to their future.

Yet hesitation remains. Security risks, data loss, downtime, and budget constraints are the four objections agencies raise most often. This article addresses each one directly, with data and real-world proof points from agencies already in the cloud.

Key Takeaways

When evaluating cloud solutions, it’s normal to have concerns. Security, data loss, downtime, and budget are the four most common and may resonate with you.

Fortunately, each of these obstacles can be addressed. The proof points below summarize what agencies are actually experiencing. They’re worth keeping in mind as you read through each objection.

• Cloud environments managed by a dedicated provider reduce the security burden on agency IT teams. Providers like CentralSquare maintain CJIS compliance, monitor threats 24/7, and push automatic updates so your team doesn’t have to.
• A well-executed migration runs in parallel with the live system. No data moves until it’s fully validated. Downtime is planned, minimal, and communicated well in advance.
• Agencies on CentralSquare cloud report 69% fewer unplanned outages and up to $246k in annual IT savings. Both are measurable returns that show up in the first year.
• CentralSquare works within existing contracts, so agencies don’t have to wait for a procurement window to start modernizing.

Is Cloud Secure for Government Agencies?

Public sector cloud security is one of the most common worries, and worth examining closely.

In 2025, cybercrime cost U.S. organizations over $20 billion. According to IBM’s 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average ransomware or extortion incident costs $5.08 million, and government facilities are among the top targeted sectors.

As a result, ransomware remains one of the most persistent threats for public agencies. Every deferred patch, delayed hardware refresh, and unaddressed vulnerability is an open door for attackers. Agencies with aging infrastructure and lean IT staffing are specifically in their sights.

On-premises infrastructure puts the security burden on your team. That means your staff is responsible for patching, monitoring, and responding to threats—around the clock, with whatever resources they have.

Moving to the cloud shifts that burden to a dedicated team. CentralSquare’s cloud runs on AWS with security as a full-time function, including 24/7 monitoring, automatic patches, third-party penetration testing, and vulnerability scanning. In other words, your team is no longer responsible for infrastructure security or the associated costs.

“I don’t have to worry about the operation, data backup, hardware or the infrastructure. I can really spend all my resources and focus on how I can streamline our business process.”

— Ocean Sun, Controller Information System Manager, San Mateo County

What Happens to Agency Data During Cloud Migration?

When agencies think about moving to the cloud, data loss is another major concern. It’s also one of the most manageable.

Behind every case file, financial record, and system configuration is years of operational history that can’t be recreated. Losing or corrupting that data isn’t an acceptable outcome. Neither is going dark during the transition.

The good news is CentralSquare’s migration process is designed with those risks in mind. Your data doesn’t move until everything is verified.

CentralSquare builds and tests the cloud environment in parallel with your live system, so operations continue uninterrupted throughout the process. All applications, interfaces, and integrations are fully validated before anything switches over. The agency sets the go-live date and signs off before a single change is made. And CentralSquare Edge maintains connectivity throughout, so there’s no service gap during the transition.

“Moving to the cloud is not a simple technology upgrade; it’s a way to literally keep our data dry and ensure uninterrupted access to our critical systems.”

— Colonel John Ostrander, Chief Jailer, Albany/Dougherty County, GA

Cloud vs On-Premises for Government: Which Is More Reliable?

For 911 centers and finance departments alike, downtime isn’t just an inconvenience. It’s a public safety and service failure. The stakes are real, and the infrastructure supporting these systems needs to be reliable.

On-premises systems have a fundamental vulnerability. They’re tied to a single building and a single set of hardware. When something goes wrong, recovery falls to a short-staffed internal IT team.

Cloud infrastructure works differently. CentralSquare’s cloud runs on AWS with a 99.99% uptime SLA and active-active architecture with automatic failover. That means there’s no downtime during switchovers. It also supports multi-region data replication and built-in disaster recovery. A 24/7 team of dedicated DBAs, Site Reliability Engineers, and network specialists monitors the environment so your team can focus elsewhere.

The proof is in the outcomes. Agencies report 69% fewer unplanned outages after migrating to CentralSquare’s cloud—a meaningful improvement in cloud uptime for public safety and government operations.

How Much Do Government Agencies Save by Moving to the Cloud?

Budget constraints are the number one barrier to efficiency for government agency leaders, according to an EY survey. But legacy infrastructure isn’t free simply because you already own it.

Legacy systems carry hidden costs. Examples include hardware refresh cycles, energy expenses, emergency maintenance, and IT staff hours diverted from mission-critical work. The total cost of keeping aging on-premises systems running is rarely captured in a single budget line, but it shows up everywhere else.

For agencies that have already migrated, the savings are concrete. Agencies with CentralSquare are seeing measurable returns:

• Up to $246k in annual IT expense savings
• $15k in annual energy cost reductions
• 40% improvement in data accessibility after integrating with CentralSquare

These aren’t projections. They’re outcomes reported by agencies already in the cloud—agencies that made the same budget argument your team is making now, and found the math worked in their favor.

Where Government Cloud Migration Stands Today

More than 1,000 agencies are already running on CentralSquare cloud. Increasingly, agencies recognize the cloud is good for government. The question is how to migrate without disrupting operations or exceeding the budget.

CentralSquare has answered that question for agencies of every size, from small county operations to large multi-jurisdiction systems.

Ready to see what government cloud adoption looks like for your agency? In a 30-minute conversation, we can walk through your current infrastructure, your migration timeline, and expected benefits. Schedule a demo today.