EnerGov Solutions, a  provider of government applications has launched its newest cloud service, EnerGov 365™.  The application covers Permitting & Land Management, Licensing & Regulatory Management, Asset Management and Citizen Relationship Management (CRM) software suites.

The new service is pay-as-you-go and is targeted primarily at government agencies that may lack the resources to purchase traditional licenses and for agencies looking to off-premise their related IT infrastructure and related operational management to the cloud. For budgets constrained by the operating costs and upkeep of traditional on-premise environments, EnerGov 365™ provides a cost-effective and scalable solution to manage and securely maintain an off-premise environment in the cloud for governments of any size and scale.

Over the past few years, SaaS solutions have been developed for everything from word processing and spreadsheets, to replacements for traditional business and government software solutions. SaaS has many benefits over traditional in-house solutions, but there are many considerations for local and municipal governments to consider when selecting a software solution. Over the course of this series, we will review the key reasons local and municipal governments should consider SaaS solutions, as well as the key considerations that you should consider when selecting a SaaS solution.

BasicGov invites local governments and SaaS enthusiasts to read its 10 part series about Software as a Service for cities and municipalities. Read, share and participate with comments.

Cloud computing will save the U.S. government quite a bit of money and improve its efficiency, no doubt, but until government officials are convinced of its security, the migration to this new computing paradigm is likely to be a slow one. As the delayed deployment of the Los Angeles police department’s new Google (GOOG) email system illustrates, the threat of unknown security risks far outweighs the 25 to 50 percent savings in IT costs that the Brookings Institution claims U.S. agencies can save by moving to cloud computing.

So Google’s announcement Monday that its Apps for Government cloud-based productivity suite had gained certification under the Federal Information Security Management Act was quite a win for the company. In theory, that seal of approval will instill in government a modicum of confidence in the security and reliability of the cloud-computing model.