What Factors Determine if Asia is Ready for Cloud Computing?
For cloud-services providers and businesses interested in integrating cloud technology into their business practices, it is necessary to understand if the required environment for cloud technology is available in their target market, specifically, what are the Asian cloud computing factors? In this article we will take a general look at some of Asia’s biggest markets to estimate if the conditions and infrastructure exist to establish high-quality cloud services. There is no question that cloud computing has become an important development in the Asian market and, according to experts, it will be one of the most important forces driving the market in the coming years. Between now and 2020, many experts predict that the value of the cloud market will double, reaching as much as $206 billion in value.
Mapping the readiness of the region
There are already organizations out there which are measuring the readiness of the Asian Market for cloud computing. One of these, the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA) publishes yearly reports on the state of this market and its potential for development. The main purpose of these surveys is to find out whether there are bottlenecks that could hinder development in the future and to work towards fixing them to prevent rising costs as well as performance and implementation problems. Often, the obstacles that could limit the adoption of cloud technology in Asia are not merely technological. Legal and commercial bottlenecks may also exist and it is also possible for specific government policies to hinder development too.
To establish an effective measurement of a region’s readiness for cloud computing technology, we need to gauge several factors:
1. Reliability of access
2. Government policies and access to legislation
3. Data and physical security
4. Availability of intellectual property law enforcement and protection
Some other issues that can effect technological costs include data portability, interoperability, and regional vendors. Trust is also a very big issue which often comes into play. Customers need to be able to trust their service provider and the security measures in place to protect their data. Likewise, service providers need to be able to trust the government as well as the network’s infrastructure. Building that trust will be a very important part of the development of the Asian cloud market. Consider GMO Cloud for example, as a trusted hosting brand in Japan. It goes without saying that the company puts great leverage on its security and the quality of the service that it provides.
Cloud readiness by country
Although there is no question that Singapore has the infrastructure needed to support a booming cloud market, data privacy has become an issue for many investors in this region. In fact, globalization has meant that data privacy has become more important for most businesses using cloud technology. In the Asian market, South Korea has the best data privacy measures, but there is room for improvement in data sovereignty and IP protection.
The main obstacle for Australia and New Zealand and their ability to join the global cloud computing market is their limited international connectivity, which results in problems with speed and data flows. Another issue for these two island nations is the relative risk of their data centers, which are currently comparable with lower ranked countries like Vietnam, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Another point of interest include Thailand’s lack of specific government regulation on incoming and outgoing data. While most countries in the region have been making great strides forward in their cloud computing regulations and infrastructure, but Thailand seems to be taking steps back in comparison.
Meanwhile, India has advanced considerably in the last year but still needs to catch up when it comes to basic infrastructure and connectivity. Hopefully, the increased scrutiny on the Asian market will enable an open discussion between cloud providers and governments in the region in order to allow investors to fully tap the region’s enormous economic potential.
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About the Guest Author:
Nida Rasheed is a freelance writer and owner of an outsourcing company, Nida often finds herself wanting to write about the subjects that are closest to her heart. She lives in Islamabad, Pakistan and can be found on Twitter @nidarasheed.
