An Oracle-sponsored IDC study into Software as a Service (SaaS) adoption has revealed that access to better technology is a major driver for cloud adoption in Africa.
The research relied on qualitative data from interviews with CIOs and industry decision makers from 160 organisations with 500 employees in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
According to the research, “access to better technology (58%) and faster deployment of additional IT resources (53%) are the top two drivers for SaaS adoption. Delivering more projects without recruiting additional headcount (51%) and standardization (50%) were the third and fourth key drivers. Other key reasons for adopting SaaS included access to better quality of IT skills (49%) and access to the latest software and techniques (48%).”
The research showed that many companies in the region have a “SaaS also” attitude, meaning that when they need new or replacement applications for capability, capacity and functionality, they look at SaaS-solutions at the same time as looking at other on-premise software.
The investigation found that more than 60% of all companies across major ecosystems have adopted or are in the process of implementing cloud solutions.
Some concerns were raised through the study, particularly around security. While connectivity was highlighted as a key concern, for some organisations connectivity issues were solved with the use of SaaS. Organisations that did adopt SaaS invested in network optimisation and additional security solutions to ensure overall SaaS quality.
Dana Murugan, Senior Marketing Director for Oracle said: “The results of the survey indicate that SaaS adoption is continuing to rise in [country] and we look forward to supporting our customers with the latest technology that will enable them to achieve business objectives.”
