Invisible Children: “Cloud services will see a rapid decline in opex across the continent”

Josh Parolin

Josh Parolin is the Manager & Developer at awareness organisation Invisible Children, which made headlines recently with the Kony 2012 campaign that focused on the plight of Ugandan children. He will be a speaker on Day 1 at the Cloud Africa Com at the Sandton Sun Hotel in Johannesburg on 23-24 May. In this interview he shares his views on the future of cloud services in Africa.

1)     How would you describe existing ‘’cloud services’’ in Africa?

Existing cloud services in Africa continue to drive adoption within companies and homes across the continent. These services have attracted larger companies, such as RIM and Symantec, to the market and have persuaded them to begin paying more attention to what’s happening with the cloud in Africa.

2)     How would you say cloud has impacted your company?

The cloud has allowed our offices across two different continents to connect and leverage data like never before. Tasks such as reporting and data mining which were once limited by bloated software and spreadsheets are now liberated by cloud based CRM and web tools. Communication which was once limited by lofty international fees is now possible with the click of a button. At Invisible Children we’re constantly looking to adopt the next great cloud based solution in order to maximize our efficiency.

4)     Which ‘type’ of cloud would be your choice – public or private?

In our world, the private cloud allows us to share sensitive information and construct valuable reports which without, we would have little need for the public cloud. The private cloud drives our operations.

5)      How rapidly do you think the adoption of cloud will reducing capital and operational expenditure for enterprises in Africa?

I think what we currently see in the cloud market in Africa is only a fraction of the growth that we will see over the next ten years. With that, we will continue to see a rapid decline in operational expenditure across the continent. The cloud will continue to find its place in many African companies, big and small.

7)     What do you think are the three key advantages gained by companies using cloud as part of their IT services?

The three key advantages of using cloud as part of a company’s IT services are increased efficiency, increased ability to scale, and increased innovation. Efficiency is in an instant reward when adopting cloud services because it removes the static and stagnant variables that once weighed a company down, such as servers. The ability to scale allows a company to go from catering to 100 users one day to 100,000 the next day. Finally, increased innovation is a result of the increase in collaboration and learning that becomes possible throughout a company after having adopted the cloud.

8)     Which key message do you want to highlight during your participation at Cloud Africa in Johannesburg later this year?

The cloud is what you make of it. You can use it to fuel one per cent of your company or you can use it to power 100 per cent of your company. Either way, always look for ways to be innovative with your approach to meshing together different aspects of the cloud and celebrating the outcome.

When in 2013 do you plan your cloud product or service launch?

Total Voters: 33

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