silver lining?

Cloud technology in Africa: who is doing what, where? Teraco, Raxio, Rack Centre…

By Quentin Velluet

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Posted on July 26, 2021 06:40

Firefox_Screenshot_2021-07-23T14-16-56.043Z A computer technician works among servers.e © Getty
A computer technician works among servers.e © Getty

As bandwidth doubles in just a few years on the continent, companies and governments are increasingly able to rely on cloud computing to cut costs. A new wave of investment – originally centred on South Africa and now spreading across the continent – is seeing domestic African players compete with global heavyweights.

Storing company data outside company walls is not yet seen as a natural or easily accessible choice by African decision-makers.

This is the conclusion of a study conducted by the international consulting firm EY on dematerializing (or cloud computing) in Africa between September 2020 and March 2021. The study examined 89 companies that made a minimum turnover of €10m. Although 75% of the panel surveyed confirmed that they use the cloud, users are generally satisfied with just employing the basic aspects of this technology.

Office tools rather than data hosting

Using software as a service (SaaS) – such as Microsoft 365, which specialises in office tools, or the SAP customer management software – is more common than remote data hosting, which requires defining real-long term strategies. In this respect, private companies are more advanced than public administrations.

According to the

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