Can Africa Land into the ‘Cloud’?
Last month, a LinkedIn blog post on “Why the Silence on Big Data in Africa” stirred up hot discussion and debate on LinkedIn special interest groups and LinkedIn Pulse. Let’s dig deeper to explore the flavor of the discourse…
To some extent, the LinkedIn commentary and discourse have been doubtful and uncertain — some would even say offering ‘a glass half empty’ viewpoint on big data, technology and infrastructure in Africa. The sentiment in the comments perhaps underscores a general lack of confidence in big data in Africa.
Chairwoman and CEO of IBM, Ginni Rometty, along with growing evidence and data, however, are telling a different story. A recent 2014 report from the IBM Research Laboratory-Kenya on big data utilization in Nigeria and Kenya reveals that 40 percent of [aforementioned] businesses are in the planning stages of a big data project, in comparison with the global average of 51 percent. [1]
Is the secret sauce in mobile technology?
On a country level, the Pew Research Center on Global Attitudes and Trends reveals that in 2002, only 8% of Ghanaians said they owned a mobile phone, while that figure stands at 83% today, a more than tenfold increase….By comparison, as of December 2014, 89% of Americans owned a cell phone, up from 64% ownership in 2002. [2]
Likewise, a 2015 Gallup international research poll on attitudes and behaviors of 23 selected African Sub-Saharan countries concludes that mobile technology is rapidly changing lives in Africa. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of households in Sub-Saharan Africa had at least one mobile phone in 2013, with median growth of 27% since 2008 and median annual growth of 5%.” [3]
Nonetheless, a strong majority of LinkedIn commentators remain skeptical about the topic of big data in Africa. This may reveal the need for our perceptions to evolve. I’m challenging myself daily to update my understanding of the technological infrastructure that is NOT needed in Africa.
“Fixed line telephony, legacy systems, land lines and internet are simply not needed for digital innovation in Africa.”
In my population management work, what I indeed hope to further harness is a distinct attachment and commitment to handwritten recordkeeping, particularly in field experiences across Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Mozambique. It is also fair to note that there still exists a deficiency in real-time analysis, interpretation of recorded data, standardization of forms and inconsistent manual data collection practices.
But we are all in the struggle.
The year 2015 marks the first year that the United States will mandate the use of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, promoted by the Obama administration. [4] This nation-wide mandated transformation will be a long and arduous journey due to legacy systems.
For Africa, there is potential for a different story.
Using the ‘glass half full’ perspective, there is a potential to leapfrog this handwritten recordkeeping culture straight into the digital innovation space — skipping legacy IT infrastructure and landing into the ‘cloud’.
Please read a few anonymous thoughts from LinkedIn contributors and continue to share your viewpoints.
“Looking at the data collection and preservation history in Africa shows it’s a culture that we don’t have and have failed to imbibe. We don’t seem to inherently believe lessons can be learnt from history or the future can be predicted from ‘mere’ data, record keeping is not a paramount skill in homes and it has extended into the larger scale of things. All of these are my strong opinion based on my many years of living in Nigeria and then a comparison with the different way of life observed during my stay so far in the UK.”
“Absolutely! Having spent more than a few years in various African countries I agree with your basic premise. Challenges are the credibility of data collected and well trained human resources to oversee the whole process. Statistics are often dubious and especially in rural areas births and deaths are often not registered. However these challenges do not rule out the possibility of behaviour change in these countries and this is a process that does not happen overnight. In the meantime we can only work with what we have and view the results of any study with a very discerning eye.”
“In as much as I completely agree with lack of data, I’d also like to say that it has brought out the best in our managers and helped us to use other means to speculate and predict future trends. We do hope data collection will get better with technological improvements.”
“Well, there is a deficient system of collation of data in Africa as well as documentation. Until there is an improvement in that regards there might [be] very little data gathering in Africa.”
“Thank you for your insights. The exclusion of big data from countries throughout the Global South can have devastating impact. In many cases, many ‘solutions’ are applied without quantitative or qualitative basis, leaving countries with well-begun and half-done projects that lead to no useful outcome. I completely agree that big data matters and is key to identifying long term local solutions for global problems.”
[1] https://www.thisisafricaonline.com/News/Big-Data-comes-to-Africa?ct=true
[2] https://www.pewglobal.org/2015/04/15/cell-phones-in-africa-communication-lifeline/
[3] https://www.gallup.com/poll/168797/africa-continues-going-mobile.aspx
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