The C3 club seminar series, which started last November with around 30 interested participants, has gained about twenty additional attendees with each subsequent meeting. According to Taavi Viilukas, Head of Government Cloud and one of the leaders of C3, the club now has about a hundred members who meet regularly to share best practices and experiences related to cloud services. "The shared knowledge helps the public sector make more informed IT decisions, thereby optimizing costs and resource use," Viilukas explained the purpose of the C3 club.
Leading global cloud service providers such as Google, AWS, and Microsoft have shared their expert knowledge at C3 club seminars. The fact that it is a private club, with no name tags and no recordings of the meetings for later viewing, encourages participants to ask questions openly and share their experiences transparently. "The seminar format and relaxed atmosphere allow participants to ask speakers about even the most pressing topics," Viilukas explained.
Siim Vene, Project Manager of Government Cloud, believes that the value of these meetings lies in sharing real experiences. "The most successful event for me was the seminar on service risk analysis, which brought together a record number of people and sparked a lively discussion among the participants," noted Vene, adding that the topic of risk management emerged organically from a previous presentation by the Health Insurance Fund.
Although it is a private club for the public sector, according to Vene, due to the high interest from the private sector, there are plans to organize a seminar day in the future where participants from the private sector will also be welcome to attend.
"The C3 seminar season will continue in the autumn, and we plan to cover the most relevant topics. For example, a discussion on artificial intelligence is on the agenda," Vene shared regarding the club’s upcoming plans. He added that gathering feedback from participants has helped in planning even more interesting and effective meetings. In the upcoming season, there are also plans to introduce more Estonian contributors and service providers as speakers.
The Estonian Government Cloud Project Manager acknowledges that the seminar series is only a part of the club’s broader goal. "We want to create a larger community and establish a network among contacts from different institutions, who can exchange ideas or seek assistance from one another," Vene explained.
"The fact that more participants have joined with each meeting suggests that we are doing something right," Vene concludes, summarizing the success of the club established to discuss public cloud services.
The Clear Cloud Club (C3) is co-financed by the European Union’s Cohesion Policy funds for the period 2021-2027. The purpose of this support is to secure the foundation of the digital state, accelerate its development, and ensure cybersecurity.
