Cloud brings customers, innovation to Africa

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Cloud computing

by TINTSWALO BALOYI 
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – A MAJORITY of medium and large organisations across Africa have experienced an enormously positive impact on customer experience as a result of cloud computing.

Kenya and South Africa jointly lead the continent in that regard, across seven markets.

The results of the Cloud in Africa 2023 study released by World Wide Worx indicates that 63 percent of 400 information technology decision makers (respondents) in medium and large organisations across the continent had experienced an extremely positive impact.

In South Africa and Kenya, that number jumped to 71 percent.

The two countries also shared a high impact on business growth: 51 percent of South African companies and 46 percent of those in Kenya.

However, a gulf opened between the two countries when it came to the impact of cloud on innovation. In South Africa, 65 percent of respondents reported a high impact on innovation, while the proportion dropped to 36 percent in Kenya.

“Companies often move to the cloud seeking quick wins in the form of improved business efficiency or enhanced customer experience,” said Dion Harvey, regional general manager of Red Hat Sub Saharan Africa.

“However, what we tend to see at Red Hat is that true value in the form of real innovation and impact on strategic goals is only realised once they have matured their thinking and approach to cloud.”

The Cloud in Africa 2023 study has been released with support from F5, Red Hat, Dell Technologies, Intel and VMware.

Arthur Goldstuck, World Wide Worx CEO, principal analyst on the research project, calls the cloud’s “golden quartet.” This refers to improved security, better customer experience, business efficiency and scalability.

The benefits were not equally distributed. Fewer than half of South African companies, 47 percent, reported security as a major benefit, compared to an average of 59 percent. The figure leaped to 78 percent in Ghana and 63 percent in Kenya.

South Africa led the way in seeing scalability as a benefit, at 47 percent, compared to an average of 41 percent. Nigerian companies reflected the lowest response in this regard, at 29 percent.

The latest findings show that Kenya had the strongest growth in cloud computing in 2022, with 84 percent, compared to an average of 62 percent.

South Africa saw 55 percent of companies increasing their spend.

“That is partly a consequence of spending already having been high in previous years, compared to countries like Kenya,” Goldstuck explained.

Ghana and Nigeria came in just below South Africa.

Companies from Botswana, Malawi and Zambia all reported a higher level of increased spend.

– CAJ News

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