TRENDING
USING CLOUD TO REINVENT THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN AFRICA
One of the challenges identified in the Auditor-General ’ s annual reports is that of unused software , or so-called shelfware , which through cloud licensing can be eliminated says Faith Dombo at SAP Africa .
It is hard to argue with the fact that the future of computing for most public sector organisations lies in the cloud . The scalability , agility and innovation unlocked by cloud solutions simply offer an unbeatable value proposition that on-premises solutions cannot match .
As was proven during the pandemic , modern governments need the capability to continue service delivery even amidst widespread disruption . Considering the pace of change in what citizens and other stakeholders expect from their governments , public sector organisations also need access to the latest innovations to ensure they meet expectations and deliver a positive citizen experience .
Despite persistent challenges that include concerns over data sovereignty , the need for new budget models and a pervasive tech skills challenge , most public sector organisations will certainly shift some or most of their processes to cloud environments .
The South African government , for example , published a draft national policy on data and cloud adoption in 2021 . The policy noted the importance of harnessing the social potential of data and cloud computing and provided several proposals for accelerating cloud adoption in the public sector .
The policy provides guidelines for cloud adoption , covering important aspects that include digital infrastructure , data protection , localisation , cybersecurity , governance , skills , and innovation . And while policy interventions may take a few years to implement , there is no reason organisations cannot start moving at least some of their processes to the cloud .
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