INDUSTRY VIEW

ANDREW NGUNJIRI , PRACTICE MANAGER : INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE , DIMENSION DATA EAST AFRICA

As a new wave of investments is spreading across Africa centred on companies migrating to the cloud , Andrew Ngunjiri , Practice Manager : Intelligent Infrastructure at Dimension Data East Africa , discusses the state of the cloud market on the continent and how channel partners need to be preparing for mass adoption of hybrid cloud .

An EY study has highlighted a new wave of investments spreading across Africa centred on companies migrating to the cloud as they look at becoming more efficient while reducing their operational costs . Closer to home , the Kenyan market has always been one of the largest adopters of technology in the region .

Therefore , it is not surprising that there has been a significant interest in cloud services by both the public and private sectors here . Additionally , the public sector and the financial services industry have been vocal about investing in the private cloud to cater to their specific requirements .

This has provided the impetus for many hyper-scalers to look at opening operations in Kenya instead of purely relying on their regional offices in South Africa , the United States , and Europe to service the region ’ s demands for cloud computing services .

Cloud-enabled

Events of the past two years have made it virtually impossible for people to move around . The cloud has therefore become an essential tool for businesses to survive .

Beyond this , there are three reasons why the cloud has become a critical building block for the region . Firstly , it provides the business agility necessary to remain competitive . Secondly , the cloud helps to address any security and compliance concerns resulting from a rapidly evolving regulatory environment . And thirdly , the cloud injects a level of performance and operational efficiency not previously possible .

Even though public and private cloud models provide benefits , we anticipate the hybrid cloud model to win the race for massive adoption . We are already seeing hybrid becoming the natural progression of cloud adoption in the region , with many organisations and governments opting for this model .

It comes down to a simple matter of practicality . When one looks at the cloud , applications are a massive driver behind its adoption . However , not every application is optimised for the cloud . This means companies must carefully review which ones make sense to move to the cloud and which ones must be kept on-premises .

The public sector and the financial services industry have been vocal about investing in the private cloud to cater to their specific requirements .

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