Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 51 | Page 28

EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
OSAMA AL-ZOUBI , CTO , CISCO MEA
CIOs must also ensure that they make the right decision when it comes to the speed of cloud migration . For some , it makes sense to migrate entire applications at once .

Businesses across the MEA are increasingly recognising the potential of cloud to streamline processes and are investing in cloud solutions to help properly structure and store their data . This is something we are witnessing across both the public and private sector , as businesses of all sizes focus on cloud deployment within their personal digitisation agendas .

The ultimate catalyst for accelerated cloud adoption has been the COVID-19 pandemic , which caused decision makers to implement more robust digital solutions in today ’ s world of remote and agile working .
There are a few major drivers of cloud adoption in the region : scalability , agility and security . Cloud-based solutions are working to enhance overall productivity and visibility for organisations across industries . IT teams can automate management and provisioning of cloud-based services to simplify operations , save time and help reduce costs . High scalability eliminates the time needed for purchasing and deploying additional infrastructure . in companies ’ own data centres and some data and apps reside in public clouds . Sectors such as oil and gas are seeing increasing prevalence of cloud solutions , to remotely observe and maintain fields and production units .
In healthcare , cloud adoption is helping to future-proof hospital infrastructures , where the rapid uptake of bandwidth-rich clinical applications , such as telehealth , digital imaging and remote monitoring require agile digital systems to enable secure sharing and storage of data , as well as greater operational efficiencies .
In education , cloud services are empowering educators to create connected classrooms , quickly deploy virtual learning applications that enhance engagement and enable teachers to individualise learning , based on performance data and each student ’ s personal learning style .
CIOs must first determine their level of cloud integration – whether this involves ‘ shallow ’ or ‘ deep ’ cloud integration and a single cloud provider or multicloud environment , depending on the needs of the business . Crucially , CIOs must also ensure that they make the right decision when it comes to the speed of cloud migration . For some , it makes sense to migrate entire applications at once – for others , it may be more sustainable to migrate to the cloud component by component . This is especially important if you have one service or component inherently reliant on the operational ability of another .
Enterprises that need to innovate and pivot quickly often turn to cloud services . At the same time , some companies have data centre assets and applications which cannot be easily migrated . Other data may be subject to regulatory requirements that prevent that data from residing in public clouds .
As a result , companies often pursue a hybrid cloud architecture , where some data and applications reside
The CIO and wider leadership , as well as IT teams must be heavily involved in the development of cloud strategy and the deployment of solutions to ensure that services are not over-provisioned simply for the sake of investing . Working with multiple cloud providers can also be a common pitfall , as a lack of vendor consolidation causes information to be spread across a host of solutions and difficult to interpret into one , cohesive message and call-to-action .
28 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com