3 Hybrid Cloud

But of course, for some companies it makes sense to own and operate their own server and network hardware. This is sometimes due to operational requirements, but also legal ones; in South Africa, for example, we have pending legislation called the Protection of Information act – abbreviated to POPI – which will require local companies to keep all of their data inside the country’s borders.

As cloud servers are often located in other countries, this prevents local companies from getting all of their IT services from the cloud; however, 2016 saw a significant trend towards what have become known as “hybrid cloud” solutions, which use a mix of locally-provisioned and cloud-based IT services to get things done. This is set to continue into 2017.

Benefits of this hybrid approach are maintaining legislative compliance while also allowing local businesses to take full advantage of the advanced services offered by international cloud service providers. All of the big vendors work hard to ensure cross-compatibility and easy integration of their services into datacentres based in South Africa.

Next: SA Cloud Services