A new study by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) has shown that South Africa is doing well in preparing its legal and regulatory environment for cloud computing.
South Africa ranks 14th out of 24 leading IT economies, compared to its ranking of 20th in 2013, the BSA said on Wednesday.
“This is a sign that the legal and regulatory environment for cloud computing in the country is encouraging cloud innovation,” the organisation, whose representatives include Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Apple and Adobe, said in a statement.
In terms of overall ranking, South Africa was the biggest improver (moving up six places), followed by Canada (moving up five places), the BSA said. The 24 countries surveyed account for roughly 80% of the world’s IT markets.
Each country is graded on its strengths and weaknesses in seven key policy areas.
“The shift up to 14th place signifies that as a country we are embracing technology that helps to build our emerging economy at a most pertinent time,” said BSA South Africa chairman Billa Coetsee in the statement. “We are hopeful that the improvement we have seen this year will continue.”
The results show that almost all countries have made good improvements in their policy environments since the release of BSA’s previous scorecard in 2013. However, the “stratification” among high-, middle- and low-achieving countries has widened, with the middle-ranking countries stagnating even as the high achievers continue to refine their policy environments, the organisation said.
“It is promising that South Africa has moved up in the rankings, and shows that since 2013 the country has strengthened its commitment to cloud innovation policies. However, there is still work to be done,” said Victoria Espinel, president and CEO of the BSA.
The top five countries in the rankings are Japan, the US, Germany, Canada and France. Three of the countries that trailed in the rankings — Thailand, Brazil and Vietnam — have made significant gains and are closing their gap with mid-tier countries, the BSA said.
Not all countries are doing well, though. “Russia and China, in particular, have imposed new policies that will hinder cloud computing by limiting the ability of cloud computing service providers to adequately move data across borders.” — © 2016 NewsCentral Media
