COUNTRY FOCUS: KENYA
This is the mindset that is crucial for
technology to make an impact in lifting
people out of poverty. It requires an
education system that has a focus on
entrepreneurship to change the mentality of
expecting others to do things for us.
Wealth should be created in Africa without
expecting investment and donations from
anywhere else in the world.
Apart from employment creation, the other
way that the cloud can narrow the rich–poor
gap is in helping to tackle corruption.
A survey by Transparency International in
2015 estimated that 75 million Africans had
paid a bribe over the last year.
The long-term effects of corruption are
numbing. It has been found to exacerbate
poverty, as resources that had been meant
to improve the common good are diverted
to line pockets of individuals.
Rampant corruption also makes a country
unconducive for doing business.
By having as less human intervention in
systems and processes through technology
as possible, they become seamless, leaving
no loopholes that can be explored by
unscrupulous individuals to loot public
resources. So far, some countries have already
seized the opportunities presented by cloud
computing and emerging technologies
and are riding the technological wave. This
includes South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.
More countries need to realise that
technology should be the strongest pillar of
their development plans. The absence of a
technology heritage might just be the silver
lining for Africa.
Cloud is here to solve specific
business challenges
The biggest advantage on the continent is
a limited legacy with technology. African
businesses are just beginning to move from
a manual way of doing things. This means
that the continent can easily implement
even the simplest of technologies with
fantastic results.
There is a huge opportunity in the
adoption of the cloud, backed by the
50
INTELLIGENTCIO
“
WHEREAS THERE
IS EXCITEMENT
AROUND A
RESURGENT
ECONOMIC
ENVIRONMENT
IN AFRICA, IT IS
IMPORTANT THAT
THE BENEFITS
OF FUTURE
ECONOMIC
FORTUNES ARE
INCLUSIVE.
scale of markets and a largely untouched
youthful population.
However, adoption is often slowed down by
the fact that many African economies are not
private sector driven, with the public sector
serving as an important engine for growth.
It is encouraging that every city in Africa
has access to the Internet. In fact, countries
with a strong private sector such as South
Africa, Morocco and Kenya have made a big
difference in cloud adaptation.
Those that are heavily dependent on the
public sector need to borrow a leaf and
take advantage of the Internet and mobile
penetration. Surprisingly, war-torn Somalia
has some of the fastest Internet speeds.
It is through strategic investments and policy
directions that countries will be able to fast-
track roll-out of technologies such as fibre to
ensure stable in-country networks.
There is also the critical role of public-private
partnerships in technological investments.
This is the only way that individuals and firms
will be able to adapt to evolving technologies.
What has changed is the capability to be
focused and address specific challenges.
Over time, solutions to tackle exact business
problems are increasingly becoming more
affordable, besides being backed by more
refined data that give better outputs.
Benefits accruing for companies are
two-fold: the huge cost saving and the
elimination of the need to make upfront
investments in technology.
With the cloud, companies do not need to
invest in acquiring and maintaining their
own data centres. The savings in running
costs can be passed onto consumers through
lower prices that attract customers.
Technology firms must demonstrate to
customers the value that they bring to
business processes to accelerate adoption.
Driving education and awareness is key,
particularly in building an understanding of
the offerings available to customers.
Cloud adoption must be on a mass scale
as opposed to how it has been perceived
historically: as an enterprise solution.
Customers need to know that they can decide
on the unique path their cloud journey will
take and where they want to invest first,
whether it is in human resources, customer
experience or disaster management.
The continent is well positioned to ride the
technological wave to transform businesses,
governments and citizens. The cloud must be
impactful in Africa. n
“
IN KENYA, WHERE
MOBILE MONEY
IS THRIVING,
A WHOLE
ECOSYSTEM
IS EMERGING
AROUND THIS
BUDDING
INDUSTRY.
www.intelligentcio.com