Cloud Adoption Hurdles and Opportunities in the Context of Africa

Cloud computing refers to both the resources provided over the internet as services and the systems software and hardware in the data centres that provide these resources. These resources can then be used by users for various purposes and provide the benefits of low ongoing cost, more computational power, and optimization of processes of computing among others. To take advantage of these benefits, adopting the cloud and the cloud computing paradigm is a necessary step and has the potential to transform Information Technology (IT) capabilities in developing and under-developed countries. However, in these countries, currently, there are some adoption hurdles around this technology. Government agencies need to balance and regulate both hurdles and hype around the technology. Before cloud can be widely adopted, a systematic model of cloud adoption needs to be designed which can help the agencies in charge to navigate the hurdles and the hype.