South African businesses are poised for adopt cloud computing in a massive way, according to cloud computing services specialist Alto Africa, with 75 per cent of all applications set to be in the cloud within two years.
Alto said the promises made by the IT industry for cloud will ring true after years of serving itself rather than businesses.
“For decades, IT has served its own interests and not that of the business. With cloud computing, a corner is turned. Cloud delivers. It is secure, it is flexible, it scales – and South African companies, like those in developed countries, are ready to take to the cloud en masse,” said Alto Africa director Oliver Potgieter.
Potgieter currently places cloud penetration at 10-15 per cent of applications.
“Use of cloud services is low in some areas, such as infrastructure solutions, and high in others, such as email security and continuity services. But it is set for rapid growth, driven by the presence of experienced vendors in the local market, backed with the right Service Level Agreements [SLA], good technical skills, redundant connectivity and ample evidence of the value that cloud delivers,” he said.
He said cloud growth can be expected across the board, led by big business but also involving smaller firms.
“The local environment for cloud has already dramatically changed in the past two years, moving rapidly towards a state of maturity. When Alto entered the market, it was almost impossible to find a vendor with a credit-backed SLA; we even helped some to write their SLAs for cloud services provision. However, that’s turned around completely. Today, a good SLA is the rule rather than the exception,” he said.
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