The African continent is set for significant cloud adoption, according to a new study from SAP and IDG, with similar hopes and concerns about the technologies as more established technology centers – and some concerns and potential advantages unique to the region.
Mobility is a significant driver of cloud implementations in Africa, according to Lise Tcheng, SVP and global head of strategic engagements for the telco industry at SAP. Tcheng added that mobile networks in African countries are often more pervasive and robust than wireline connectivity, and many multinational companies have far-flung operations that can benefit from closer digital ties across the continent in industries such as mining, oil and gas. Tcheng, who participated in last week’s ITU Telecom World event in Budapest, Hungary, said although a wide range of broadband and mobile initiatives under the information and communication technology umbrella have momentum in developed markets, emerging markets are ripe for ICT as well. And those markets have the potential to be enormous; Tcheng noted that according to World Economic Forum predictions, Africa’s population is expected to double to 1 billion by 2050.
In looking at attitudes and expectations for cloud computing in Africa, IDG surveyed organizations in Algeria, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa.
The majority of organizations in those countries “have either already moved some virtual workloads, applications or services into cloud hosted infrastructure, platform or software-as-a-service environments, or are preparing to do so,” IDG said. “Yet a sizable minority have yet to engage in cloud migration strategy on any meaningful scale. Whilst this suggests a relative immaturity of the wider African market for cloud services compared to Europe, it also highlights the scope of the commercial opportunity for cloud service providers in the region looking for potential customers.”
Among IDG’s findings:
- Security and data protection concerns are the biggest deterrent to cloud deployments.
- There are also external barriers to be surmounted, from fluctuating power availability at data centers and lack of mature regulatory frameworks for data protection and storage. Tcheng also said that some potential cloud customers worry that cloud service providers could go bankrupt, putting business operations at substantial risk.
- Internet connectivity and WAN access is still considered a significant barrier by 39% of those surveyed in all five countries.
- Respondents expect to benefit from improved access to applications and services for mobile devices, and the ability to speed up application and service delivery.
- Forty-seven percent expected to make significant progress on cloud adoption within the next 12 to 24 months.
Another survey, conducted by SAP and Oxford Economics in 2012 and again in late 2014 among 200 senior business and IT executives around the world, shows the evolution of attitudes of global companies toward the cloud: by 2014, respondents were “comparatively reserved about the extent of future benefits like revenue growth, cost cutting and productivity from their use of cloud … [and] more likely than they were in 2012 to say they are using cloud to develop new business models”, as well as develop new apps and adjust to meet changing market conditions.
Tcheng said that new business models are precisely what can be enabled by the intersection of mobile and cloud computing Africa – as an example she pointed to SAP’s work with Standard Bank of South Africa, which relies on SAP’s banking and mobile solutions to open up banking access to millions of people who do not have physical addresses.
For some of SAP’s large customers in emerging markets, she said, “people expect to develop an app in weeks, and those new apps have a lifetime of months – I expect the whole speed of that to continue.”
Tcheng also said cloud usage and “bring-your-own-device” are already in heavy usage, if not necessarily with corporate blessings (or control). IDG found 43% of respondents said employees were already using public cloud services for work-related tasks, without IT department approval. Meanwhile, 34% of respondents were using private cloud solutions already.
Also in the Oxford Economics survey, there was a significant distinction in how different regions handle cloud risk management – with more developed market such as North America and Latin America shifting responsibility to their operations and risk/legal departments, and Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific respondents more likely to say that job lies with IT departments.
IDG concluded that although “cloud providers must be aware of … regional [network connectivity, reliability and security] limitations and tailor their services to accommodate them. They should place particular focus on embracing the growing use of smartphones, tablets and other portable devices for application and service access by workers for both personal and business use, likely to emerge as a key sales strategy for winning corporate contracts.”
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