Can Africa benefit from Cloud Computing? Andrew Stott Senior Consultant, TWICT formerly Deputy UK Gov CIO Washington 09 Jul 2012

What is Cloud Computing? 2

Cloud Computing 3 “Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” NIST, US

Cloud Computing 4 “Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” NIST, US

Cloud Computing 5 “A standardised IT capability delivered via Internet technologies in a pay-per-use, self- service way.” Forrester Research

Cloud Computing: Essential Characteristics On-demand self-service Broad network access Resource pooling Rapid elasticity Measured service 6

Cloud Computing: Service Models 7 ModelApplication Software Middleware (eg integration libraries, database s/w) Servers & Storage Examples Infrastructure As A Service Consumer ProviderAmazon EC2/S3 Rackspace Platform As A Service ConsumerProvider Google App Engine Microsoft Azure Software As A Service Provider Google Apps Salesforce

Cloud Computing: Deployment Models 8 ModelLocationInfrastructurePlatformApplication Public Cloud Off premises Community Cloud Off premises ?( ) Private Cloud On or off customer premises ?  Hybrid On and off customer premises 

Benefits and Risks 9

Cloud Computing: Benefits 10 Benefit Stream Cost Saving Utilisation 10-20%  80-90% Commoditisation Use of capital “Scale down” as well as “scale up” Staff savings Automated management User-led provisioning Leveraging of skills Resilience Uptime Disaster Recovery Surge Capacity Business Flexibility Better lead-time Fewer infrastructure constraints Greater standardisation Variable business geometry

Issues Requires always-on broadband (Perceptions of) Security (Perceptions of) loss of control Legal/regulatory framework Languages Territoriality Vendor Lock-in Adapting the business to the IT Migration costs and staff adaptation Business continuity 11

SME users disproportionately benefit Access to enterprise-class software as a service Better security and resilience at lower cost No premises costs Fewer skills requirements Easier access to business building blocks (eg e-commerce, payment systems, CRM, ERP) 12

The Cloud Market 13

What parts of the ICT market are affected? 14 Market size data: Forrester Research Low High Medium Impact

IT Market changes New entrants in Infrastructure, Platform and Software Traditional IT players highly conflicted Telcos familiar with cloud infrastructure model For G-Clouds, PPP is a feasible model Lower barriers to entry for software providers ‒ Lower upfront capex by using cloud infrastructure ‒ Lower marketing and distribution costs ‒ Easy access to international markets 15

SAAS is predicted to dominate long-term 16 Source: Forrester Research

SAAS on IAAS 17

Implications for Procurement 18

Cloud: implications for procurement Providers tend to shape the market Requirements-led specifications may not give optimal solutions Capability-led specifications raise new issues Prime Contractor model needs to be adapted Client side integration skills important Risk allocation, not simple risk transfer Low-cost, commodity, model makes high bid costs untenable for some vendors “Thick” integration layer absorbs most/all of financial and non financial benefits 19

Can Africa benefit from Cloud Computing? 20

Can Africa benefit from Cloud Computing? Opportunity to leverage current broadband investment programmes Proven platform for fast deployment of innovative services Gives SMEs and entrepreneurs access to high- quality IT services Leverages available skills towards adding value Allows “leap-frogging” of legacy IT dead-ends Established model for private capital investment 21

Cloud-ready: national level Always-on megabit-class broadband? 80%+ coverage of system users? Good low-latency international connectivity? Trusted payment mechanisms? Standards-based regulatory framework? Sufficient potential market for localisation? Integration skills? Telco or cloud/data centre specialist with access to investment capital? 22

Cloud-ready: Government Effective cross-government ICT leadership? Effective ICT governance? Full ICT cost awareness? Standards-based approach to ICT security? Results not inputs culture? Suitable Ministry to be “G-Cloud broker”? 23

Cloud opportunities in current ICT portfolio US$250m of telecoms infrastructure ‒ cloud enabling, but not itself cloud US$15m of specialist IT – not cloud-suitable US$235 of projects worth asking the question ‒ Transformational opportunities ‒ Whole-of-Government ICT infrastructure ‒ Whole Ministry technology upgrade ‒ e-Government platform ‒ Efficiency and time-to-value opportunities ‒ Finance and HR systems ‒ Line of business apps with dispersed users 24

Discussion 25

End 26