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The journey from fast food to smart food mirrors the evolution of cloud computing to smart cloud solutions . Just as smart food leverages digital ordering , AI , automation , and IoT for a streamlined , efficient experience , smart cloud platforms offer similar advantages for enterprises . platform that supports secure APIs . Similar to smart food , a smart cloud platform provides seamless integration between all of an organisation ’ s cloud deployments to provide a level of flexibility siloed applications never could .

A smart cloud provides an Infrastructure-as-a-Service framework across the multi-cloud that creates a cloud-like selfservice portal for the request and consumption of IT resources . It also provides application automation to provision complex services and lifecycle management with day 2 operations .

Tunde Abagun , Sales Lead West , East , Central Africa , Nutanix

They provide a seamless , secure , and flexible cloud environment that integrates multiple cloud deployments , automates operations , and optimises resource management .

With self-service , sysadmins and architects can define VMs and applications via simple blueprints and control all aspects of the application lifecycle , such as provisioning , scaling , and clean-up .

By adopting smart cloud solutions , African businesses can achieve unparalleled agility , efficiency , and sustainability , transforming their IT operations to meet the demands of the modern digital landscape .

Much like fast food , in the past decade , cloud computing has gained market share largely because of its quick-to-order nature . Businesses cite speed and agility as the main factors for choosing the cloud , particularly the public cloud .

With the cloud , IT resources are only a click away , reducing the time to make those resources available to Africa ’ s developers from weeks to minutes . This results in a dramatic increase in agility for the organisation since the cost and time it takes to experiment and develop is significantly lower . In more ways than one , the basic tenet of fast food lends itself to the adoption of fast cloud .

These blueprints can be created through the user interface or via code with a Python-based DSL , including seamless conversion between the CLI and UI formats . Once created , a blueprint can be published to end users through a marketplace , transforming a complex provisioning ticket into a simple one-click request .

Now , let us look at the influence Artificial Intelligence , AI is having on the fast food scene . With AI-powered tools like chatbots and predictive analytics , fast food outlets are enhancing customer service , streamlining operations , and making decisions based on qualified data .

Chatbots are used to take charge of reservations and orders , while predictive analytics forecasts customer cravings and fine-tunes digitally served menus accordingly . Automation is also a key feature in today ’ s smart food offering .

But further change is shaking the fast food industry as it morphs into smart food .

Let ’ s look at the impact online ordering and delivery has had on fast food . Major chains will generate 60 – 70 % of their total sales through digital channels by 2025 . Why ? With a simple application , consumers can order and get food delivered from a variety of fast food outlets in record time .

In adopting a similar time-to-delivery model , enterprises can achieve true just in time requests and the delivery of computing resources with an intelligent cloud

McDonald ’ s , for example , has opened an almost entirely automated branch in Fort Worth , Texas , embracing the shift in fast food culture towards efficiency and digital interaction .

A smart cloud operating model leverages machine learning algorithms in predicting capacity trends and suggesting resource optimisations in a multicloud setup . Infrastructure anomalies automatically trigger alerts and intelligent remediation actions .

Furthermore , a smart cloud platform enables the following functions :

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