Cloudflex: Driving Nigeria’s cloud computing sector

The Managing Director of Cloudflex Computing Services Ltd, Aderemi Adejumo discusses what inspired the creation of Nigeria’s first indigenous cloud computing company, as well as the future of cloud computing in Nigeria.

How would you describe cloud computing and how it works?

Cloud computing is the provision of computing and storage in a data centre as opposed to an on-premise server, in an office for instance. It guarantees more security as virtual spaces are provided.
It has the characteristics of a pay-as-you-go model, that is an operating expense rather than a capital expense. A popular rule of thumb is that there is a 70% cost saving on the total cost by moving to the cloud.
The cost saving is achieved by the economy of scale, shared facilities and the absence of buying and maintaining on-premise infrastructures such as a generator, UPS, or inverter, as well as supporting on-site staff.

In June 2018 Cloudflex launched a local cloud centre in Nigeria. What made Cloudflex think that the Nigerian IT ecosystem needed a local platform?

With the birth of numerous hubs, financial technologies and tech startups, the Nigerian IT ecosystem is evidently growing exponentially, and at its current rate it can handle having its own
local cloud so that these platforms can take advantage of data sovereignty and data localization, as well as enjoy reduced latency and be on a cloud that can adapt to the local environment.

What will you say is the advantage Cloudflex is offering local businesses to host their data locally instead of overseas?

Cloudflex is currently the only organisation to have two cloud platforms. We tailor our solutions to our customer’s needs and in the event of a dispute, we are subject to the same jurisdiction. We also conform to all the local laws and statutes – the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulations, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) guidelines, among
others. We are internationally certified – VMware Cloud Verified, and we work closely with all the relevant original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

How have individuals and enterprises in Nigeria engaged with the platform so far?

A lot of Nigerians are either not aware of what the cloud is or the availability of a local cloud. We have also seen a lack of faith in the competency and stability of local cloud offerings. There is a need to improve our visibility, but those customers that know have reaped the benefits of using a local cloud.

We are contributing to the economic ecosystem and laying the foundation of a local framework for growth. It can only get better.

What were and are currently the challenges faced by Cloudflex?

How were they addressed? There is a lack of favourable legislation and enforcement of data localization. Finding skilled hands is also a challenge; we have a shortage of skilled personnel. And then there is the issue of customer awareness – that we have the competence and we are secure. The slow adoption of the cloud also creates a significant challenge for the business. We expected, especially with the current challenges, that more companies would see the benefit of cloud computing and move from on-premise to cloud infrastructure. There is also a wrong perception of ‘built-in
Nigeria’, and we are always viewed with scepticism even though we are international certified and supported. Our engineers are encouraged and backed up by highly skilled Huawei, VMware, and Veeam engineers.

Along with our partners, we have invested a considerable sum in our infrastructure to provide a world-class platform. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a good test of our robust infrastructure and organisation; we have been able to continue our business uninterrupted.

 

Cloudflex makes use of a sophisticated IT infrastructure, which is expensive. How is the company able to raise capital for this?

We have a mixture of shareholders’ fund and other financings, but cashflow is very tight in Nigeria. Funding for startups is very poor in this part of the world.

Given the ever-rising cybersecurity concerns, how does Cloudflex give its clients guarantees that their data are safe on your cloud platform?

We do not take cybersecurity lightly. We have implemented several layers of security that guarantees our clients rest easy. We are also up to date with all the latest tools and strategies to ensure the highest level of security.

As the Managing Director of Cloudflex, what is it that keeps you awake?

We have an excellent team, so we do not have major concerns. However, I would love to see faster growth of tech in Nigeria. My major worry is how to grow the ecosystem of cloud computing in Nigeria and fulfil our potential as a company and a country.

Where do you see the Nigerian IT sector, and in particular cloud computing, in the next 10 years?

I expect that with the long-overdue data localization and data governance law as well as economic growth, cloud computing will grow exponentially in the near future. It is one of the four fastest-growing tech areas; the other three are machine learning, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things. If we realise our potential, we would be the hub and the leader in the West Africa region and in the continent as a whole.