Information technology (IT) has led to another civilizational revolution, the information revolution, following the industrial revolution. This information revolution has thus brought us into the realm of the Cloud, which has radically changed the game at every level — economic, social, political, and strategic. As an extension of this revolution, it has stimulated the creation of new business models, while enabling several companies, in less than a decade, to transition from unknown ideas to indispensable powerhouses in the economic landscape.
However, Africa in general, and Francophone Africa in particular, appear to be significantly lagging behind in this domain. This situation raises concerns and questions; it has even been the subject of numerous research topics and theses.
In reality, Cloud services rely on the superpower of computers, which are the pillar of this incredibly dynamic industry that accounts for nearly 10% of the gross domestic product of certain countries such as the United States, and on which their economies have become partly dependent, driven by the rapid improvements in information technology promised by Moore's Law*.
Thus, the need for high-speed, high-end computing power continues to grow, rendering the traditional way of doing IT obsolete. Indeed, the need for power and execution speed of IT systems grows proportionally to the investments required to meet expected power demands. Moreover, in practice, investment is generally ten, or even twenty times higher than the expected need, thereby introducing enormous losses in terms of return on investment.
If one considers things rationally, the Cloud aims to provide utility computing. Utility computing describes a commercial model for delivering computing resources on demand; consumers pay providers based on their usage ("pay as you go"), in the same way that we currently obtain services from traditional public utilities such as water, electricity, gas, and telephony.
The advent of the Cloud has not only revolutionized the way IT is done, but has also opened up a market with enormous potential on the African continent. Thus, the cloud computing technology market in Africa is generating significant interest and transactions, with players positioning themselves for the data services boom. Over the past four years, cloud computing leaders have rushed to develop data centers on the African continent. This interest in the African market is marked by the fact that not only has Africa not yet taken full flight in this domain, but also that, day after day, data is being generated, needs are being created, and decision-makers are increasingly questioning the traditional way in which IT has been done until now. This more than sufficiently demonstrates the importance of Cloud services, but also shows that those who have not prepared for it risk being compelled by the force of circumstances.
As for Francophone African countries in particular, the cloud should enable these countries to boost not only their economies, but also their technological development. However, it must be acknowledged that some, if not the majority of these countries, display signals that reveal two analytical perspectives on the situation.
- A lack of understanding and interest from those in power: In this regard, very few Francophone African nations have put in place regulatory tools to prepare the ground for Cloud adoption. Among these regulatory tools, we can cite the laws, jurisdictions, and normative frameworks necessary to prepare a conducive environment for cloud services.
- Fear or a lack of security (trust) with regard to the cloud. Many people, rightly or wrongly, believe that hosting providers consult their data without their knowledge. Many fear that the cloud is a means of control. On this subject, examples abound from everywhere, notably with the NSA's communications surveillance in the USA, laws on the internet and social networks in China, and many others in various other countries.
Observing this gap, forward-thinking entrepreneurs have made efforts in this environment to address the lack of Data Centers in Francophone Africa. This is the case, for example, of ST Digital, which opened its Tier 3 Data Center in Cameroun in 2020, becoming on that occasion the first neutral Data Center in the sub-region.
The deployment of the 100% African Local Cloud thus makes it possible to:
- Address concerns related to the storage of data abroad and by private actors with financial means far superior to those of many states.
- Ensure proximity to clients in specialized and sensitive areas (data, security, BCP).
- Ensure the independence of states with regard to data-related issues.
If Francophone Africa is lagging behind, it is worth saying here that if we do not go towards the cloud, it will come to us, or at least, the cloud will impose itself upon us, and certainly in a very unexpected manner.
*Moore's Law (which is in fact a simple extrapolation) implies that computers become smaller, faster, and cheaper over time, as transistors on integrated circuits become more efficient.
Ernest POLA FOKO
Senior Consultant at ST DIGITAL