THE NEW CLOUD MAP OF AFRICA
Africa’ s cloud market is entering a new phase as enterprises move beyond migration towards AI, analytics and business transformation, while sovereignty and infrastructure investment reshape the continent’ s cloud landscape. loud adoption across Africa is
C gathering pace as enterprises move beyond basic infrastructure migration towards AI, analytics, cybersecurity and industry-specific applications. While South Africa remains the continent’ s most mature cloud market, investment in local infrastructure, changing data sovereignty requirements and growing enterprise demand are creating new cloud hubs across East, West and North Africa.
Africa’ s cloud story is increasingly one of ambition tempered by infrastructure realities. Organisations across the continent recognise cloud as a foundation for digital transformation, but the maturity of individual markets varies considerably.
According to Abdelaziz Saidu, Country General Manager, West Africa at Cisco, South Africa continues to lead, while Nigeria and Kenya are emerging as important regional hubs. Morocco, Egypt and Ghana are also gaining momentum.
The more significant change, however, is in how organisations perceive cloud.
“ The bigger shift is that cloud is no longer just about moving workloads off-premises. It is increasingly becoming the foundation for AI, cybersecurity, data sovereignty and digital transformation,” said Saidu.
Cisco’ s AI Readiness Index 2025 found that only around 13 % of organisations globally are among the most AI-ready, highlighting continuing gaps in infrastructure, data, governance and skills. Its cybersecurity research similarly indicates that only a small percentage of organisations have reached mature levels of security readiness.
24
INTELLIGENT CIO AFRICA www. intelligentcio. com