While information and communication technology (ICT) resources in Africa are scarce and expensive, the development of cloud and public ICT infrastructure systems will enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to compete on an equal footing with large corporations, says multinational IT firm NEC chief engineer Shinya Kukita.

With the advent of systems and technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud services, three-dimensional (3D) printing and distributed renewable energy, the scale of companies will be irrelevant in future, he says.

Currently, cloud computing and services is the most mature of the technologies, and enables SMEs to access enterprise-grade services and capabilities.

Network security and performance multinational Juniper sub-Saharan Africa sales director Dale Miller notes that cloud systems open opportunities for SMEs to access compute and storage resources, and this reduces the problems of geographical access and availability, though access remains constrained by connectivity and the need for expensive equipment on site.

However, he emphasises that customer premise equipment (CPE) is increasingly being delivered as virtual systems, called virtual CPE. This circumvents the need to ship the equipment to site. By next year, virtual CPE provision will surpass physical CPE and is as a result of network function virtualisation (NFV) established as a mature technology.

The cessation of the need to spend large sums on hardware, specifically for SMEs, means that NFV represents an opportunity for service providers to acquire new clients, grow revenue and profits, and reduce the costs of doing business for themselves and SMEs.

Cloud service provider Wingu GM Thomas Lee highlights that SMEs accessing cloud systems provides new opportunities for service providers to provide connectivity and access to cloud systems and services. Similarly, the continuing dramatic changes to the ICT industry, services and uses will also boost service providers, as more companies and clients will be able to afford and access the services.

Significantly, IoT is affecting the way service providers build infrastructure, as the core requirements are that networks elements must be programmable and scalable. He notes that, regarding changes in operating systems and open source-based systems, many of the operating systems can be embedded within cloud processes.

“These changes will benefit SMEs. Many of the cloud-based IoT applications are small, but will be able to scale on demand as and when required, which will benefit businesses of all sizes,” says Lee.

Kukita says service providers can offer cloud computing services to make up for voice revenue lost and data revenue not growing enough to replace it. Cloud computing based on NFV is a “natural extension” to service providers’ environments and services, he adds.

“The next step is to provide more industry-specific cloud computing services, and this is where a cloud-based IoT platform-as-a-service can be offered for the relevant industry, such as the automotive and manufacturing industries. The assets can be managed on such platforms.”

However, he concludes that to rapidly develop and deliver these services to SMEs, cloud service providers should partner with companies with significant experience in industrial automation and IoT.