Training of civil servants in Cloud Computing Technologies- Greece

Training of civil servants in Cloud Computing Technologies is a skilling and upskilling initiative which was launched in Greece in December 2021. It is coordinated by the Ministry of Digital Governance, in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior, the National Centre for Public Administration and Local Government and Microsoft, in the framework of the activities of the Greek National Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs. The initiative aims to train public civil servants on topics related to cloud technologies and digital literacy.

These training programmes primarily adress executive managers in Public Administration and Local Government, who have an educational background related to ICT. The training programmes cover a variety of topics, involving mainly the use of Azure (e.g. Azure Data Fundamentals, Azure AI Fundamentals, Azure Security Technologies, Azure Engineer Associates, and many more), as well as courses about security and internet protection (e.g. Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals, Security Operations Analyst Associate, Information Protection Administrator Associate).

From June 2021, more than 73 training courses have been completed and over 2.000 Greek public sector executives have been trained. The long-term goal of this initiative is to train more than 20,000 civil servants in basic and specialised digital skills in cloud technologies, by the end of 2025.

The outcomes of this initiative have direct impact on many aspects of the involved publication administrations in Greece. On one hand, for the first time civil servants have access to specific training in cutting edge technologies, such as cloud computing as a strategic choice for the country’s digital transformation. As cloud services are continuously developing, Microsoft’s role in this partnership ensures that civil servants are continuously updated on cloud technologies. This wa cloud technology literacy will be accessible to all civil servants, since the courses are open also to regional and local authorities’ employees. Furthermore, this programme supports the adoption of cloud technologies in the Greek public sector. Cloud technologies offer unlimited opportunities for data savings and public bodies do not have to purchase software or expensive servers and data storage facilities, therefore, as a result, operational costs and bureaucratic burdens can be reduced. Finally, the adoption of cloud technologies promotes the digitisation of public administration and contributes to digital governance.

There are numerous factors that guarantee the sustainability of this initiative. There is a variety of actors (three from the public sector and one from the private sector) coming together to implement a long-term public policy, and there is a central planning with specific targets. Each partner brings in their own remit and expertise. The Ministry of Digital Governance is the authority in charge for the digital transformation strategy in Greece; the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for human resources development in the Greek public sector; and the National Centre for Public Administration and Local Government is the strategic training agency for civil servants and employees of regional and local administrative authorities. Furthermore, Microsoft’s participation,  through its corporate initiative ‘GR for Growth’, ensures that the training courses are aligned with the latest digital technology. Microsoft is a pioneer in cloud technologies and offers a number of digital business tools that help users improve their digital literacy, better organise their work, be interactive and create. In conclusion, this initiative has great potential for success an it can be used as a good example of synergies between the public and private sector.

Finally, this initiative is aligned with the Digital Transformation Bible 2020-2025, the national strategic document for the digital transformation of Greece for the period 2020-2025, as one of the objectives of the strategic pillar “Digital skills and competences”. One of the objectives of this pillar is to improve civil servants certified digital skills.