Embracing The Cloud

SYED ASAD ABBASThere’s a lot of hype about the cloud in the technology sphere, but what comes to mind when one hears that a certain software will sit in the cloud is that it sounds positively intangible, and that like a cloud, it can fall apart anytime.

Making it seem like something one has no control over, it may just disappear like smoke. Many people think this, but it is a misconception.

The information, communications and technology industry should have used another word to describe it, as the name cloud certainly created misunderstandings, and the intangible nature of clouds created a negative perception when it came to ‘Cloud Technology’. However, the name stuck, and we’ve been playing catch-up as a sector ever since.

The cloud is actually a set of technologies which are rented out to multiple tenants, anywhere in the world and at a low cost, hosted by a company which specialises in hosting, managing and delivering them.

Keeping them operational 24/7 and 365 days a year, some servers use computing power to run applications, or “deliver a service”. Almost everyone who uses any form of technology already uses cloud services, often without knowing it. If you use any services of Google or Apple, you are using and accessing cloud technology.

Cloud, as we know it, is not something new. It existed as far back as the first Industrial Revolution. Cloud was there when people started depositing their money in a bank instead of their personal vaults. Money is valued above all else, and yet we don’t even know where exactly our money is stored; we just access it via an ATM, online, or via a speedpoint.

When it comes to selecting a cloud-based solution, more often than not people think about where our data will be stored. But actually what’s important is, who will have access to the data? Will it be available whenever we need it? So, it does not matter where our data sits. What matters is how secure the access is, and how durable the service availability too.

Cloud-based solutions and software as a service are almost without exception part of every country’s overall development plan in terms of public service infrastructure, economic outlook, and investment environment. This is through developing ICT infrastructure in both the public and private sectors.

If Namibia does nothing but just stands by and watches this new revolution pass by, it will cause long-term damage, and will create an unbridgeable digital divide, compared to other nations which are adapting to this trend proactively.

It really makes sense for every business and organisation to use cloud services. There’s no need to be cautious or doubtful regarding cloud technology; the technology is proven. We need to adopt and embrace strategies which enable us to utilise cloud computing, and deliver effective and efficient e-governance and cloud services and software to companies and organisations, no matter their size.

* Syed Asad Abbas is the head of software services at Green Enterprise Solutions (Pty) Ltd.

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