Why Ireland is the perfect place to harness cloud computing tech
Ireland is one of the world's most advanced digital economies – so it's no wonder that it's a great place to harness cloud technology. Find out more.
Over the last few years, cloud computing has gone from a relatively niche concern to an essential part of our daily lives. Whether it's cloud-based streaming services like Spotify and Netflix or critical software for daily business operations, the cloud is here to stay.
The transformation was already underway when lockdown measures sent it into overdrive. Many enterprises chose to turn the necessity of remote working into a hybrid form that's flexible, cost-effective and, some would argue, good for staff morale and well-being.
The change has been global – so it will come as no surprise that Ireland is a country with its head in the cloud. But what you may not realise is that it's the perfect place to harness cloud computing tech – whether as an SME getting ready to migrate or as a cloud consultancy firm making it happen.
The figures speak for themselves. The public cloud market is expected to grow by 97.78% over the next few years. In monetary terms, that's $2.4 billion.
In this article, we take a look at how cloud solutions have evolved in Ireland and why it's an ideal location to harness cloud computing.
Progress so far
According to the European Commission's DESI Index, Ireland was the fifth most advanced digital economy in 2021 and 2022. It's no surprise that Dublin is an epicentre of colocation for businesses across Europe.
Global cloud players have seen the potential and got involved, with AWS opening a Direct Connection location in Dublin and Huawei set to create up to 200 jobs.
This reflects the mood of businesses across the country. An EY Tech Horizon report revealed that half of respondents in Ireland saw cloud technology to be the "number one driver of added value for their businesses".
The same study found that a fifth of respondents had achieved their digital transformation objectives. In this respect, Ireland is beating the global average.
So what next for Ireland and the cloud? The answer seems to be "more and better".
The next frontier: Harnessing Digital
In 2022, the Irish government launched a digital strategy called "Harnessing Digital – The Digital Ireland Framework".
This strategy emphasised four things: the digital transformation of business, digital skills development, the digitalisation of public services and investment in digital infrastructure. More particularly, it focused on a range of industries including construction, agriculture, financial services, healthcare, transportation and manufacturing.
Part of the government's stated intention is to bridge digital gaps – between small and larger businesses as well as between rural and urban areas.
When it comes to SMEs, for instance, the government will provide financial assistance, with the aim of getting 90% of SMEs in the cloud by 2030.
The digital divide between urban and rural areas is an issue across the world. The
European Network for Rural Development, for instance, has warned of a "double digital divide":
"On the supply side, [rural areas] are still lagging behind in terms of the provision of Next generation access (NGA) infrastructure – so closing this gap has to be a continued investment priority.
"On the demand side, many rural areas lack the basic skills and knowledge of the potential of digital technology so that even if the 'digital highways' are in place, they may remain under-exploited in terms of service provision, business use or customer take up."
The Irish government's report seeks to address this by implementing nationwide connectivity. They aim to cover all Irish households and businesses with the Gigabit network by 2028 – and introduce 5G coverage to the whole country by 2030.
They've also shared a target for digital skills development, with 80% of adults to have basic digital skills by 2030. This is to help implement the digitalisation of public sector services.
If all goes to plan, this programme of change could reap big economic rewards. One report claims that just ten percent more cloud adoption in the public sector could unlock €473 million a year.
What challenges are there?
The challenges facing cloud adoption in Ireland will be familiar to tech leaders and management teams across the world. Any rapid change in the way we work necessitates a dramatic learning curve – and often teams struggle to bridge this skills gap.
Businesses need cloud-literate workforces to help navigate the changes in motion. Existing IT departments need to be augmented, retrained or even replaced. This is perhaps why over half of the respondents in the survey we mentioned cited "job retention" as a challenge of digital transformation.
As so often in the world of enterprise, this is tied up with the question of leadership. Eoin O'Reilly, head of data and analytics at EY Ireland, puts it like this:
"Given data is central to digital transformation plans in meeting changing customer demands and reducing costs, leadership from the top down [needs] to back data initiatives.
"Organisations seeking to reap the rewards of data centricity must develop a vision and strategy that aligns with the [business's] overall strategic goals and which everyone in the organisation from the board and C-suite down can buy into. Being a data-led organisation that embraces digital transformation may also help attract and retain existing talent which we know is so important."
Finally, there are security and privacy concerns that can become a roadblock to change. Robust cyber security is needed to keep people and data safe – and to ensure that the newly cloud-based organisation is compliant with data protection rules and regulations.
About us
At Ascend Cloud Solutions, we work with people all across the world – but we have deep roots here in Ireland. It's an exciting place to be when it comes to cloud technology and we can't wait to see what the future holds.
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