Amazon Web Services (AWS) believes cloud computing is on the road to becoming the new norm in Africa and it wants to increase its footprint on the continent.
This was revealed by Attila Narin, head of EMEA solutions architecture at AWS, in a recent interview with ITWeb.
"The reason organisations in Africa are moving to the cloud are much the same as other parts of the world," says Narin. "They like the idea of not having to invest vast amounts of capital upfront in technology infrastructure and the ability to only pay for what they consume, which allows them to save money on their technology investments."
However, he points out that although cost saving is a reason that always comes up when discussing cloud adoption, it isn't the main driver.
He believes the main drivers for cloud computing in Africa are agility and innovation, as the cloud enables these in a significant way.
"In the old world, when you asked engineering teams how long it might take them to get a server to try and experiment, you got answers like 10 to 18 weeks. In this new world, not only can a company spin up thousands of servers in minutes and pay only for what they use, but they have access to a very robust, full-featured technology platform that lets them go from idea to launch in record time."
This totally changes an organisation, impacting the amount of cycles employees spend thinking about innovation because they know if they have an idea, they have a chance to see if it works, Narin explains.
"So it totally changes how companies think about innovation and it expands the group of people inside a company that are thinking about new ideas. If you think about what's happened in the past few years, we have started to see many long-standing businesses and industries that have been completely disrupted by new companies in a very quick amount of time."
They have been disrupted by newcomers who have built on top of the cloud, he notes, citing how accommodation Web site Airbnb has challenged the hotels, or how Spotify has transformed the music industry.
These are businesses that are built on top of the cloud and they have disrupted long-standing, existing businesses, says Narin.
"This means, as an enterprise, you don't have the option of moving slow anymore. If you want to remain competitive in the long-term, you have to be able to move fast, and be agile and innovate which is possible with the cloud."
He notes Amazon is witnessing many local organisations looking to further accelerate their innovation by adopting the cloud. "The fact that anyone with an idea and a credit card can now get access to the same amount of technology resources as the world's largest companies is creating tremendous opportunity for developers and business in Africa."
To increase the company's footprint in Africa, AWS is looking to boost its partner network, Narin says.
"Early on, at AWS, we determined that the partner ecosystem was critical to the success of our customers and to our business. Since we launched the business over nine years ago, the AWS partner ecosystem has been evolving well, and quickly. We now have thousands of consulting/systems integrator partners helping companies in Africa, and around the world, move to the cloud.
"These include global companies such as Capgemini and Accenture, as well as partners like Kenya-based eMomentum or South African-based Sahara Systems," he concludes.
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