INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Data Centres
POWERED BY
Microsoft data centres to impact
local insurance market
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Locally available
The new Microsoft Cloud region will offer
the same enterprise-grade reliability and
performance as offered in, what is now, 40
cloud regions around the world with the
added benefit of data residency.
“Although some have been working with and
have embraced the cloud for a while, there
are benefits to be realised from having the
option of local data centres.” “Perceptions around the cloud are already
changing even without the local data
centres, said Kuyper. However, their arrival
will accelerate this and give South African
business an improved ability to leverage the
power of the Microsoft Cloud. Of course, the
cloud on its own will not deliver the full value
available. To really gain benefit, insurers will
need to move towards business applications
that are built for and that leverage the cloud
not just from an infrastructure perspective
but also from the wide range of services
which are available on the platform.”
South Africa’s two locations provide
geographic redundancy capability, meaning
that data replication can happen within the
country for backup and recovery purposes.
There will also be private connection
available via Azure ExpressRoute which
provides 99.95% dedicated availability. Microsoft expect that, through public cloud
services, organisations in South Africa will
be able to innovate and generate net new
revenue of R81 billion over the next three
years. They also expect that the introduction
of these data centres will create 165,000
new jobs in the country by 2022. n
“So far, the reception from our customers
to these data centres has been positive,”
added Kuyper.
Lee Kuyper, COO of SilverBridge Holdings
I
n May last year, Microsoft announced
plans to launch two data centres in
South Africa. Located in Johannesburg
and Cape Town, these see the company
targeting cloud services growth on the
continent. These data centres will deliver the
Microsoft Cloud, including Microsoft Azure,
Office 365 and Dynamics 365 to Africa.
Lee Kuyper, COO of SilverBridge Holdings,
discusses what the likely impact will be for
financial services.
“For one, the benefits of the cloud become
far more tangible for most businesses,”
said Kuyper.
Opportunity for the industry
“Insurance is an industry which is typically
risk averse and in many cases for valid
reason,” said Kuyper.
“Cloud computing has been around for
a while but has always been something
removed for most in Africa or something that
happens ‘somewhere else’. With the new
Microsoft data centre region, it becomes
something that is closer to home that can be
practically implemented.” “Insurers deal with very sensitive customer
information but also provide a critical service
which requires a high level of credibility and
trust. Having the option of local data centres
just supports these underlying fundamentals.
In addition, it also serves as a basis for the
industry to drive innovation in terms of
the way their customers interact with and
experience insurance.”
Even though financial services organisations
have become more open to move to the
cloud in recent years, there has been a
general hesitancy to fully embrace it. The Microsoft cloud provides a level of
security and compliance far beyond what
any business could invest into on their own.
Insurance is a highly regulated industry and
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INTELLIGENTCIO
by using the Microsoft cloud, insurers can
tick many of the required boxes.
CLOUD COMPUTING
HAS BEEN AROUND
FOR A WHILE
BUT HAS ALWAYS
BEEN SOMETHING
REMOVED FOR
MOST IN AFRICA
OR SOMETHING
THAT HAPPENS
‘SOMEWHERE ELSE’.
www.intelligentcio.com