Page 1104 - Cloud computing: From paradigm to operation

8 Assisting developing countries

The questionnaires covered the following main axes:

a) availability of reliable internet services over which the cloud services may be accessed;
b) deployment and usage of cloud based services;
c) degree of implementation of standards and service level agreements;
d) degree of infrastructure deployment;
e) levels of data privacy and cloud security;
f) cloud computing training requirements;

g) factors that affect the deployment and usage of cloud computing services; and
h) factors that may motivate the uptake of cloud computing services in developing countries.

7.1 Questionnaire respondents
Of the respondents under CSCs:

• seventy five per cent (75%) were government institutions;
• thirteen per cent (13%) were corporate intuitions; and
• thirteen per cent (13%) were multinational companies.
On the other hand respondents under CSPs:

• thirty three per cent (33%) of CSP respondents also provided mobile services and fixed services; and
• twenty eight per cent (28%) also provided Internet services.

7.2 Deployment of cloud computing in developing countries
The main motivation for most CSCs to migrate to the cloud is the increase in operational efficiency.
Furthermore, cloud computing services free them from the need to acquire expensive hardware and to
deploy information technology (IT) infrastructure ultimately ensuring cost optimization.
The deployment requirements for customers to access cloud services from the CSPs are relatively simple as
customers are only required to pay for licence fees, where applicable, as well as to have a reliable internet
connection. It is also imperative that customers have a resilient power supply for the cloud computing
services to be provided with minimum disruption.

Figure 7-1 – Motivation to migrate to the cloud

In addition to the aforementioned motivations, respondents indicated the following motivations for
migrating to the cloud:
• scalability in an instance;
• flexibility to switch vendors and platforms with minimal notice without cost overruns;

• resilience and an overwhelming degree of reliability;

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