According to CII's latest report "Cloud based services can be leveraged by the Government to launch new e-Governance initiatives quicker and with lower overhead costs. A common Cloud platform will also enable local Governments and other public agencies to adopt e-Governance for better citizen services, without requiring the setting up of significant IT infrastructure."
The whitepaper emphasizes that any Cloud Policy will have to take into account the data sovereignty and governance considerations and study the worldwide global practices relating to resolving jurisdictional conflicts. It highlights that from the data security perspective, the cloud's fluid architecture presents the biggest challenge and may require an amendment in the current laws to harmonize jurisdictional conflict issues and may provide clear prescriptions on the security measures to be adopted. It also highlights that changes will also be required in the organizational security practices that provide for regular review/audit of critical cloud infrastructure.
"Globally, the adoption of cloud has increased over the years, and growing at a rapid pace. Cloud can drive the inclusive growth agenda by providing platform to scale the reach of education, healthcare, financial services, entrepreneurship and governance among other areas. This whitepaper evaluates the opportunities and challenges that is faced in India's roadmap for cloud adoption," said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII. He adds "CII believes that Cloud Computing as a disruptive technology and business model offers an accelerator approach for economic growth as it connects people to data, information and computing resources anywhere and anytime".
The Cloud provides public agencies with distinct advantages to meet new 'open' Government requirements. Cloud services make available an environment that provides Government agencies with access to a shared pool of easily usable computing resources (such as hardware and software). Government bodies across India currently operate with moderate to low level of IT involvement - many departments having undertaken computerization in the past decade.
The Cloud has potential to transform not only business ecosystem but also day to day challenges of Indian citizens including necessary services such as Healthcare and Education. The initiatives by Government with the enabling support by industry will facilitate cloud adoption in India as per this report.
The policy will also have to reconcile the most suitable mechanism to enable law enforcement agencies' to collect and analyze personal and electronic data as per the existing laws. The manner of access, format of storing and providing information, retention period, content regulation and regular reporting will all have to be considered within such policy.
Infrastructure development will be a key Government initiative that will provide the land, power, technology and human resource to establish India as a data management hub. Currently, India lags behind developed countries in terms of established data centers operating in the country. Economic benefits of having data management centers in the country are huge and the Cloud Policy will have to provide a clear vision to enable such an outcome.
Cloud not only addresses reach as well as quality issues in the education sector by low cost implementation of IT tools leading to qualitative improvement in educational content and delivery and by enabling remote education, Cloud can also enable services such as telemedicine to remote areas and can make healthcare affordable for masses in India, the CII report has aid.
The Cloud unlike previous technology shifts is not a mere collection of technologies but a transformational concept which requires the ecosystem to be developed. Power, Connectivity & Bandwidth, Real Estate, Technology enablers, Awareness and Local language support make the base of the cloud computing pyramid. While the Government is one of the primary pillars to help overcome these challenges, involvement of the private sector is also equally important for swift and effective enablement. In addition, special financial provisions in-terms of Cloud Infrastructure ,Loans, Tax incentives & Land should be made available by the Indian Government for the private players who wish to build infrastructure for cloud computing - the CII report has recommended.
The primary step towards enabling Cloud computing in Government is the formulation of a Cloud Policy. A Cloud policy will lay a foundation for a large scale adoption of the Cloud by various Government entities. Existing regulators such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA), and Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will have to be directed to develop guidelines keeping in mind how the Cloud can potentially affect the entities they regulate.
In essence, the Government needs to play a pivotal role in ensuring that Indian entities can take advantage of the Cloud revolution for economic growth without being encumbered by the challenges and risks arising from the Cloud. The Government needs to work on dual goals of, protecting interests of Indian entities in relation to risks from Cloud adoption and accelerating the adoption of Cloud in India. This will be possible only with cooperation between various government agencies and departments anchored by key ministries said the report.
With growing population, growth of entrepreneurship and the SME sector is a key to generate employment. Cloud with its ability to provide quick and easy provisioning of IT resources will only help accelerate the growth in the SME segment and setting up of new businesses. The key proposition of the Cloud is to transform the current IT infrastructure model from CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) based into a 'Pay-as-you-go' or OPEX (Operational Expenditure) based. This makes setting up IT infrastructure easier for statups and provides flexibility, scalability and ease of implementation to SMEs in particular according to the report.
Highlights of the CII Whitepaper "The Indian Cloud Revolution"
- Any Cloud Policy will have to take into account the data sovereignty and governance considerations and study the worldwide global practices relating to resolving jurisdictional conflicts.
- The policy will also have to reconcile the most suitable mechanism to enable law enforcement agencies' to collect and analyze personal and electronic data as per the existing laws. The manner of access, format of storing and providing information, retention period, content regulation and regular reporting will all have to considered within such policy.
- Infrastructure development will be a key Government initiative that will provide the land, power, technology and human resource to establish India as a data management hub. Currently, India lags behind developed countries in terms of established data centers operating in the country.
- Economic benefits of having data management centers in the country are huge and the Cloud Policy will have to provide a clear vision to enable such an outcome.
- Private sector initiatives will be required to adopt cloud computing at an organizational level and remove any skepticism associated with the technological and data management issues.
- Cost-benefit analysis, supply chain management issues and business risks will have to be discussed, debated and adopted at an organizational level in the private sector. Industry associations will have to play a leading role in order to convince the players, especially SME's of the financial and technological benefits associated with cloud computing.
- From a data security perspective, the cloud's fluid architecture presents the biggest challenge. It may require an amendment in the current laws to harmonize jurisdictional conflict issues and provide clear prescriptions on the security measures to be adopted. Changes will also be required in organizational security practices that provide for regular review/audit of critical cloud infrastructure.
- The Government may consider conducting awareness programs through the consumer bides in raising awareness about data security issues among the consumers and end users when migrating the cloud service platforms.
- Exponential technology development around the world has catalysed globalization. Technology will become key enabler and business models will be driven by the technology. If there is one technological change which can have an encompassing effect on Technology, education, healthcare and productive skills - it is the Cloud.
- Government can leverage Cloud based services to launch new e-Governance initiatives quicker and with lower overhead costs. A common Cloud platform will also enable local Governments and other public agencies to adopt e-Governance for better citizen services, without requiring the setting up of significant IT infrastructure.
- The IT/ITeS sector has an opportunity to enhance their current offerings and reach a Global market by making them Cloud ready. They can also use remote testing and prototyping services in addition to remote application hosting services such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS). On one hand where Cloud promises to change the way Indian businesses and Government leverage technology to their benefit, on the other hand it also presents significant challenges relating to security and privacy of information.
- Cloud also provides public agencies with distinct advantages to meet new 'open' Government requirements. These directly impact the effectiveness of governance, by allowing Governments to quickly deploy IT resources for new eGovernment initiatives. Cloud presents an opportunity for Government bodies to leapfrog the IT enablement and set up infrastructure for the next wave of eGovernance in India. Government fulfill the above promise by migrating and adopting appropriate Cloud infrastructure for widespread implementation of e-Governance services by Government agencies.
- With growing population, growth of entrepreneurship and the SME sector is a key to generate employment. Cloud with its ability to provide quick and easy provisioning of IT resources will only help accelerate the growth in the SME segment and setting up of new businesses. The key proposition of the Cloud is to transform the current IT infrastructure model from CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) based into a 'Pay-as-you-go' or OPEX (Operational Expenditure) based. This makes setting up IT infrastructure easier for statups and provides flexibility, scalability and ease of implementation to small, medium and large enterprises.
- Literacy must be considered the minimum right and requirement of every Indian citizen. The Educational sector is one of the cornerstones of socio-economic development. Cloud not only addresses reach as well as quality issues marring the education sector by low cost implementation of IT tools leading to qualitative improvement in educational content and delivery and by enabling remote education. At the same time, it will help in standardizing the content and delivery methods of education. Cloud can benefit the education sector providing Standardized Content, Administrative efficiency; Universal access to educational information and create an Environment of collaboration.
- Unlike the healthcare sector in developed economies, the Indian healthcare ecosystem is at a nascent stage of adopting technology. India which is yet to develop a national electronic health record management system should utilize the Cloud to set up a common Cloud based database for health records for the Healthcare sector to utilize. Cloud can also enable services such as telemedicine to remote areas of the country. Specific segments of the Healthcare industry can be benefited from Cloud. Hospitals, Physicians, Pharmacies, Laboratories, Pharmaceuticals/Drug manufacturers, Application Providers, Device manufacturers and Insurance Companies making healthcare affordable for masses in India..
- Resources required for establishing Cloud services in India need to be understood from supply and demand perspectives. The Cloud unlike previous technology shifts is not a mere collection of technologies but a transformational concept which requires the ecosystem to be developed. Power, Connectivity & Bandwidth, Real Estate, Technology enablers, Awareness and Local language support make the base of the cloud computing pyramid. While the Government is one of the primary pillars to help overcome these challenges, involvement of the private sector is also equally important for swift and effective enablement. In addition, special financial provisions in-terms of Cloud Infrastructure ,Loans, Tax incentives & Land should be made available by the Indian Government for the private players who wish to build infrastructure for cloud computing.
- Western Countries are already leading the way in Cloud adoption. The primary step towards enabling Cloud computing in India is the formulation of a Cloud Policy which will lay a foundation for a large scale adoption of the Cloud by various Government entities. Existing regulators such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA), and Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will have to be directed to develop guidelines keeping in mind how the Cloud can potentially affect the entities they regulate.
- In essence, the Government needs to play a pivotal role in ensuring that Indian entities can take advantage of the Cloud revolution for economic growth without being encumbered by the challenges and risks arising from the Cloud. The Government needs to work on dual goals of (1) protecting interests of Indian entities in relation to risks from Cloud adoption and (2) accelerating the adoption of Cloud in India. This will be possible only with cooperation between various government agencies and departments anchored by key ministries and the private sector.
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Quelle/Source: Confederation of Indian Industry, 09.07.2012
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