The uptake and full adoption of cloud computing in South Africa could take up to ten years as uncertainty surrounding the industry is ironed-out, said information and communications technology group Gijima technology strategy executive Annalie Spickett.

The current lack of principles and standards on cloud technology, as well as limited broadband facilities and security concerns, had hampered the conservative nation’s adoption of the latest information technology development.

Increased pressure from international partners to transition to cloud technology, the need to reduce costs and integrated data storage requirements, besides others, drive the need for cloud computing; however, the technology remained open to interpretation and there were no clear answers on, for instance, accountability in the case of a security break.

However, with an imminent malicious breakdown in the system forecast for this year, the global development of principles and standards outlining and addressing uncertainties was expected within the next one to five years.

“Somewhere, somehow, there will be a great malicious attack on one of these data centres and a lot of data will be lost…it will happen eventually,” she said, adding that some standards on security would be reset.

Following the “big scare”, she said, the country and the world would fast-track the uptake of cloud computing to the point where it became the “norm” in five to ten years.

Vendors and government would establish standards for cloud computing that would accelerate the understanding of how different industries should adopt the technology.

Meanwhile, another trend expected for the year was mobility, as smartphone and tablet use in South Africa was increasing significantly. Mobile, Gijima noted, would be a “key battleground” in 2013, despite lagging network speed and latency and insufficient broadband to allow for complete mobile computing.

The development of enterprise mobile applications to solve specific challenges were expected to increase, while companies continued their search for sustainable, cost-effective and innovative solutions for high-volume information processing.

Further, service providers, telecommunications operators, data centres, and application vendors were expected to form ecosystems to extend their reach and deliver more cost-effective and fit-for-purpose services to customers.

Organisations would also realise the benefits of using social media to engage with customers and develop and use formal tools to manage its social media platforms, clarify its business value, and measure its impact on the bottom line.