Dark cloud over cost of service
FOR years, cost savings have topped the list of benefits offered by cloud computing.
This is one of the factors that has resulted in the massive increase in the use of cloud services across the world, with analysts showing exponential growth among the biggest vendors every year.
In Africa, cloud spending has also seen a marked increase.
The Cloud Africa 2018 report, a research project conducted by World Wide Worx for F5 Networks, came to this conclusion after researching the innovation in three of the continent’s major economies – South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.
The research found that in 2013, fewer than 50% of the companies surveyed used cloud computing, but now it’s pervasive in the surveyed countries.
Despite this growth in cloud usage and investment, Richard Firth, chief executive of MIP Holdings, says that far fewer South African – and African – companies are moving to the cloud compared to their international counterparts. This, he believes, is because the cost of cloud locally is far more expensive than most people realise.
He said that for those companies without legacy environments, the cloud was a more cost-effective option, but all those businesses that have existing investments into their own infrastructure will find that the cloud doesn’t save them as much money as they thought it would.
The factor that makes the biggest impact – and the primary reason local companies do not see the savings businesses in other countries do – is the exchange rate, said Firth.