With benefits of flexibility, streamlined processes and reduced costs, cloud computing continues to be a key technology being looked into by businesses in 2014.
In fact, according to new analysis from Frost & Sullivan, overall the cloud computing market in Africa, earned revenues of $114,6-million in 2013 and is estimated to reach $288-million in 2018.
BI and IM experts PBT Group agree that the uptake and investment in cloud computing will continue in the years to come, where the company is seeing cloud computing as an enabler of technologies such as big data – a topical discussion point throughout this year.
Willem Conradie, principal BI consultant at PBT Group, who presented at the 2014 Big Data Analytics and Management Conference believes that cloud computing should be deemed a key resource for companies who want to gain value for their organisations and keep ahead of competitors, given that cloud is changing the game and is becoming a big data enabler.
Says Conradie, “This is especially true for small business owners, as utilising the cloud for big data analytics allows them to act faster on decisions, and in many cases, results in staying ahead of big established competitors – all at a reasonable cost.”
While the cloud may enable big data analytics, there still remain some concerns among businesses when it comes to the protection of data. The implementation of the Protection of Personal Information Bill (PoPI) however will assist in addressing this, and is also a topical point in the data market currently.
Considering the large amounts of data organisations are dealing with today, protecting personal information is an enterprise issue that is prevalent in all dimensions of a business (process, people, and systems), and as a result is receiving much attention.
“While the compliance rate of South African businesses to PoPI varies significantly at this stage, we believe that PoPI is in fact a valuable addition to South Africa’s legislation and one that must be understood – yet the value will be very dependent on the effective implementation and Regulation of this Act,” Conradie concludes.