Despite being in its infancy in South Africa, there is a resounding appetite for cloud computing services.

Various market leaders have invested heavily in their migration to the cloud, particularly in fintech, and the needle is moving ever quicker for SMEs and large businesses alike. This is echoed by the expansive investment that global cloud giants like Amazon Web Services (AWS) are funnelling into grassroots cloud service providers through its equity equivalent investment programme (EEIP).

According to Jonathan Oaker, founder and CEO at CloudZA, the utilisation of cloud computing has allowed businesses to scale and increase efficiency while providing access to innovative technologies that were previously unavailable.

As a result, South African companies are becoming more competitive and innovative, positioning themselves for growth in the global economy. Oaker says demand is growing so fast that opportunities are becoming abundant for cloud-focussed service providers – which is going to prove one of South Africa’s greatest ICT win-wins from an economic perspective.

“Cloud adoption is particularly important in South Africa because access to this kind of infrastructure on-premises is difficult. By utilising cloud, businesses can access technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics, which were previously only available to larger corporations,” says Oaker.

Founded in 2015, and collaborator in the AWS EEIP network, CloudZA has been at the forefront of championing cloud computing in South Africa from the very beginning. “Although cloud computing is still in its early days in our market, more and more industry leaders are recognising the importance and value of cloud capabilities. This has created massive growth opportunities for our business.”

Changed the game

Speaking to what running a cloud computing company in a country with low cloud adoption is like, Oaker says the journey has been challenging, but one collaboration changed the game for CloudZA. “Our collaboration and advanced tier attainment with AWS solidified our position in the market, giving us more credibility and numerous opportunities to grow our capabilities.”

Oaker says one of the main benefits of cloud is that it allows businesses to be more agile and responsive to market demands. This is particularly important in South Africa, where companies face increasing competition from domestic and international players. Cloud computing allows businesses to scale up or down their operations quickly, allowing them to respond to changes in market conditions.

“AWS is an important driver of cloud in South Africa as it provides exclusive training and support resources, co-marketing opportunities, and eligibility for specialised programmes,” says Oaker.

CloudZA’s Advanced Tier status with AWS means the business demonstrates a high level of technical proficiency and customer success in delivering AWS solutions, which Oaker says changed the conversation he could have with customers, opening more opportunities for the business.

So high is the demand for pure cloud services in South Africa that Oaker believes skills are now the only barrier holding more businesses back from success. “Cloud is now an incredible driver of economic opportunity, but skills development is not happening rapidly enough. We will see more businesses needing skilled cloud professionals and we will need to look to businesses like AWS to provide a foundation for this.”

However, it is also up to the local cloud service providers to lead the charge into this cloud-centric future. “At CloudZA, skills development and employment opportunities lie at the heart of our business. We are actively investing in the cloud practitioners of tomorrow through our collaboration with non-profit organisations that work through programmes implemented by Yes4Youth, where we are helping to grow a cloud skills base within our communities,” says Oaker.

Overall, Oaker believes, just like the virtual world, the power of cloud computing is limitless, and we should tap into this power sooner rather than later to empower and enhance our businesses, communities and country.

“Together with the likes of AWS, we can bridge the skills gap and providing exclusive resources to help businesses grow in the industry. With continued efforts to bring education to everywhere and develop a community of skilled workers, the cloud industry in South Africa will be driven by the hunger and skills of our people,” Oaker concludes.