Are We Moving To the Cloud Yet?

Is it a good idea for you to shift your business to the cloud? Depends on which country you're talking about. Business Software Alliance (BSA), a global association of the software industry, has come out with a report on the adoption of cloud computing. While Japan and the US ranked at the top, India has been found to have a better regulatory environment for cloud computing. A host of parameters, from data privacy to privacy laws, have been used to arrive at the rankings.

Japan

1

Scored high across most parameters, like cyber security, laws for data privacy, support for intellectual property rights, and controlling cyber-crime. In the next three years, it aims to provide broadband to each household, which will make it easier to collaborate over cloud computing.

India

19

Scored ahead of China and Brazil, due to a more liberal environment, and because its industry-led standards were found to be world class. India scored low on broadband deployment (which had the highest weightage in the report) and on lack of adequate clarity on intellectual property rights protection.

China

21

Has no proper data protection laws, and high degree of information filtering. Its ranking is not about to go up, as there are no signs of reducing restrictions on flow of information, or action related to piracy and intellectual property rights. The only redeemable aspect was its fast spread of broadband.

Brazil

24

Got the last rank in the study. Brazil was found to have no clear framework or industry standard for its internet/broadband expansion, leading to ad-hoc decisions. Brazil also scored the lowest in promoting free trade, as its government clearly provides preferential treatment for domestic suppliers when it comes to government procurement. As such, it faces major challenges in utilising the economic benefits of cloud computing.

Germany

3

Scored high on a good industry standard for internet policies, spread of broadband, and privacy and intellectual property laws. Lost out to Japan and Australia because of its restrictive laws which are designed to keep some data within national borders, hence hindering free flow of information.

South Korea

8

It scored the highest among all in the privacy section thanks to comprehensive legislation enacted in 2011, which replaced the patchy set of laws earlier. It also scored high on broadband penetration, with an impressive network that has faster speeds than in most developed countries.