Cloud computing company Salesforce.com has launched its services in East Africa, targeting regional governments, financial, manufacturing and entertainment sectors
Cloud computing is a way of delivering applications over the Internet as a service. Instead of installing and maintaining software, companies can access it via the Internet, without needing to install complex software and hardware since the solution requires no software or hardware to buy, install, maintain or upgrade.
“We are in discussions with some banks and insurance companies that are willing to take up the offer while the Kenyan government is considering our services in its push for online driven registration of its services,” said Francis Kaburu, managing partner at Blue Consulting, a certified Salesforce.com consulting company based in Kenya. Media houses are another target, Kaburu added, explaining that they seek to better relations between themselves and with advertising companies.
Salesforce.com will employ local talent that will be assisting in setting up the cloud connection for clients, providing users and enterprises with various capabilities to store and process their data.
The Kenyan government said that it was seeking public private partnerships to ensure that its initiatives, especially at the Huduma Centres, were a success.
“It is for this reason that the Ministry of ICT supports the initiative by Salesforce.com and its partners to promote an ecosystem of locally based intelligent young Kenyans to provide this kind of world class expertise. This is important, especially as the government embarks on major ICT infrastructure projects and nurturing local talent,” said Ezekiel Mutua, information secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications (ICT).
Salesforce.com said that it is using Kenya to enter into the East African market as the region adopts cloud computing to enhance safety and reliability in data transmission.
