The South African government’s move to the cloud has mimicked the slow, bureaucratic processes that often plague the state.
However, the public sector is expected to increase spending on cloud services, buoyed by the influx of data centres, hyperscalers courting governments, digital transformation efforts, as well as the finalisation of the country’s National Data and Cloud Policy.
Professor Busani Ngcaweni, principal of the National School of Government, anticipates government’s next big ICT expenditure, other than software, is going to be on cloud services.
“Right now, we’ve got a cloud policy, so we can [move] to the cloud. It [cloud expenditure] will be the next big thing, as all of us move to the cloud.”
Industry analysts echo the professor’s sentiments, saying cloud adoption by government is “long overdue”.
Derrick Chikanga, IT services research manager at market analyst firm IDC, says most government departments have been slow to adopt cloud services for various reasons, including a lack of clarity on organisational requirements for cloud usage.
He believes cloud adoption will be the state’s next big IT spend, but it won’t be the only area of investment. “This is due to the emergence of artificial intelligence and cutting-edge IT security solutions, which will also be a priority for most organisations.”
Chris Geerdts, BMIT managing director, says the company’s annual research has shown, for many years now, that cloud services is the biggest growth category across all sectors, which is in line with international trends.
“As government undertakes a major digital transformation initiative, areas of focus have been digital identity, integrating database information across departments and the development of an integrated services portal. These ambitions lend themselves to greater use of cloud.”
On a global scale, Forrester states that governments across the globe continue to adopt cloud to increase digital capacity, be more responsive and meet stakeholder expectations.
The research and consulting services firm found that government leaders take multiple paths to adopting cloud. Based on its 2024 cloud survey, 80% of public cloud decision-makers at government organisations used hybrid cloud, and 71% used multiple public clouds.
Chikanga points out that a lack of strategy for cloud adoption and over-reliance on traditional IT infrastructure led to the slow move to the cloud on the local front.
“Most state institutions have been comfortable with their traditional, on-premises IT infrastructure, hence the limited need to migrate to the cloud. Also, the lack of organisational vision on cloud adoption – the lack of key objectives to be achieved through migration − has led to limited buy-in from senior executives.”
Enabling regulation
The analysts say the finalisation of the National Data and Cloud Policy bodes well for cloud adoption within government.
“This policy provides a framework for the migration and management of consumer and enterprise data in the cloud. Furthermore, it ensures consumer protection in the use of data and cloud services, thereby encouraging greater confidence in the adoption of cloud services,” comments Chikanga.
Geerdts adds: “The finalisation of this policy in 2024 was an important milestone and it established the framework of data sovereignty and the principle that government and private resources would be procured to provide cloud services.
“The policy is designed to catalyse the development of a data-driven ecosystem in South Africa, leading to improved public service delivery, increased government operational efficiency, and enhanced innovation and competitiveness through the strategic adoption and utilisation of cloud technologies.
“Government is now well-positioned to transition, supported by the National Data and Cloud Policy, and the fact that the investment by hyperscalers and other cloud service providers in local capacity means primary and backup data can be fully domiciled in South Africa.”
In addition, Chikanga says it’s possible the leeway given to government departments to bypass the State IT Agency for ICT needs may result in ramped-up cloud adoption.
Geerdts agrees this may be the case. “For BMIT, a very effective enabler of cloud adoption would be a centralised government management platform for cloud, such as that found in many other countries − including the United Kingdom, India and Estonia − which enables any government entity to gain access to relevant services on-demand from a relevant product catalogue.”
Optimised service delivery
The implementation of SA’s major digital systems will form a key pillar of the move to cloud, and the analysts note there are added benefits for public services.
Chikanga highlights: “Migrating to the cloud will greatly improve service delivery to citizens. Most government IT systems are outdated and in urgent need of upgrades. Hence cloud migration will significantly modernise government IT systems, leading to greater efficiency and better service delivery to customers.”
For Geerdts, the potential upside of cloud migration for government entities is the ability to take advantage of new functionality and rapid adoption, greater levels of on-demand self-service, widespread access, rapid elasticity (the ability to scale according to demand), resource pooling (saving costs) and paying for only what is consumed.
“These benefits also accelerate innovation. For the public, this should translate to better online self-service capabilities and potentially greater uniformity of ‘look-and-feel’ across services.
“There are substantial upsides to cloud migration, and the extent to which they are realised depends on the quality of the execution. For example, cloud can reduce CAPEX, but many customers have reported to BMIT seeing unexpected increases in OPEX. Therefore, procurement and requirement specifications need to be expertly managed.
“The management of legacy applications is also critical. The duration, cost and impact of migration of operations is often underestimated, as one is essentially ‘building a plane while flying’.
“Further, there is an overall skills shortage in the IT industry in general, and in cloud services in particular − both in South Africa and worldwide. Important skills are nevertheless required for the overall planning and procurement, and to take advantage of the services which will be available.
“However, well-executed andvmanaged shifting of most applications and significant workloads to the cloud isvthe best way forward for government.”
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