Office for National Statistics unlocked cloud migration with a workforce-first plan

The Office for National Statistics wanted to move services to the cloud so it could work more efficiently, access technology faster and scale for the 2021 Census. Its Digital Services Technology directorate tied the migration to four outcomes: a digitally skilled workforce, automated operations, leading-edge technology, and flexible delivery.

The blocker was not only infrastructure. Leaders worried that putting data in the cloud would weaken security, while staff faced capability gaps and resistance to new ways of working. The Chief Security Officer and technology leaders took the case to the board, defined eight security principles, held round tables with subject-matter experts, and secured a larger training budget.

ONS made adoption a conversation tailored to each team: security leaders and providers answered questions in open forums, communications used research and analytics to shape messages, and a technology week offered 36 targeted events. DevOps, DevSecOps, embedded agile coaches and small proof-of-concepts then made experimentation visible; the case study reports better collaboration and development processes while ONS pursued 75% online Census completion and 80% cloud infrastructure by 2023.

Turn cloud adoption into a trust-and-training program

Security objections were treated as a design and governance problem, not dismissed as resistance.

Team-specific messages and feedback addressed what cloud meant to each profession instead of broadcasting a generic transformation.

Training and embedded coaches closed capability gaps while changing tools and processes.

Small proof-of-concepts created evidence, allowed fast failure, and lowered the cost of learning before major investment.

Open forums let leaders admit uncertainty and earn trust through answers rather than slogans.

When trust blocks technical change, fund the human transition as architecture: make risks discussable, tailor the message to each team, and create small safe experiments before scaling.

By 2020, ONS had trialled census products in 2019 and was iterating the digital delivery. It aimed for 75% of the population to complete the 2021 Census online and for 80% of its infrastructure to be in the cloud by 2023. The directorate kept using a ‘Think Big, Do Small, Act Fast’ approach, testing pilots with test data before larger investments.