Cloud Computing in Developing Economies: Opportunities and Challenges

As with most technological developments, the rise of cloud computing accrues benefits in different forms and at different rates for early and late adopters. The developing world has benefitted at times from the “leap-frogging” effect of skipping earlier generations of technologies and moving straight to a more mature, sustainable form. Notable examples to date include the widespread adoption of the mobile phone without widely established landline networks in many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia and the adoption of scalable solar technologies and other forms of renewable energy without a preexisting fossil fuel energy system currently underway in many areas. Cloud computing provides a number of clear benefits for the developing world, however the widespread adoption of the technology is not without its risks.

Widespread Opportunity

The ongoing adoption of cloud services and the potential for the future will have significant impacts on wide-ranging aspects of developing economies:

1. Entrepreneurial Applications- Utilizing the cloud significantly reduces the barriers to entry for entrepreneurs in the developing world by providing customized and scalable computing, storage, and development solutions without the need for significant capital outlays. Developing businesses can purchase only what they need at the time while being able to accurately forecast future costs in the face of growth. Similarly, developers and software engineers in these regions benefit from access to the same computing power availability as those they are competing with in the West, allowing them to produce applications and services that are better tailored to their local and regional market due to their increased understanding of the cultural and economic needs of the area. They are also able to compete against developers from developed areas for shares of the global marketplace due to their lower operating costs in other areas, which ultimately lowers the price of applications and services worldwide.
2. Health Applications– Cloud technologies are able to match patients with medical providers in ways that were previously impossible at the turn of the millennium. In areas that are often underserved by qualified medical facilities and providers, the future potential of the cloud to jumpstart the implementation of telemedicine is enormous. Effective telemedicine would allow providers to access remote patients, track disease outbreaks, and reduce the burden on physical hospital resources by prioritizing care. Finally, the storage and management of medical records in the cloud would streamline recordkeeping and reduce overall operating costs.
3. Government Applications- The most striking example of the benefits of cloud technology is the reduction in infrastructure required, including electrical, computing, storage requirements. Similar to applications in healthcare record management, the utilization of cloud computing and storage could greatly expand the quality, reliability, and affordability of government services. This would also greatly improve the redundancy of record keeping in areas prone to conflict, reducing the time required to return to normalcy following fighting. Municipal governments in the Balkans are still dealing with the effects of the targeted destruction of land records during conflicts in the area over two decades ago, and cloud storage provides a method for avoiding this fate in the future.

Challenges and Risks

The adoption of this technology is not without its challenges and risks:

1. Data Security- Many developing countries are equally worried about the risks to cloud based storage of data. India is one several countries with strict data sovereignty laws that require all data centers handling Indian data to be located within the country’s borders. Similar decisions will severely limit the access and application of cloud services in poorer countries, but storing a country’s data offshore exposes the data to increased risk of theft from cybercriminals, snooping from larger nations’ intelligence services, and improves the leverage of the large data companies themselves as well as the governments that support them over the developing economies.
2. Privacy- Individual citizens in these areas also face risks from their own governments. If users believe their own governments will be observing their activity and storing their data, they will be less likely to utilize the technology for critical activities.
3. Economic Dependence- The advantages in infrastructure development accrued through early adoption in the developed world has the potential to further increase the dependence of developing economies on these resources, which will ultimately constrain their development. This could take the form of decreased opportunity for home grown professionals that can be replaced by remote operators from areas with a better economy of scale, restricting native workers to low-skilled positions. Other examples include the challenges of vendor lock-in and the rise of proprietary software that will force those in developing areas to remain with whatever large providers are able to service their location due to the barriers to entry for providers in these areas.

Despite these challenges, the cloud presents an incredible opportunity for developing economies to integrate with the networked economy.

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