#AfricaCloudSummit: Has cloud made IoT better?

With all the hype surrounding IoT and the endless possibilities it offers to businesses, there is a belief that cloud computing is making a vast difference in the IoT world.

IBM East Africa COO Ben Mann, who shared that sentiment Thursday at the Africa Cloud Summit, said the cloud-based transformation in the IoT world is enormous.

“I have been involved with IoT in the pre-Cloud world and it was hard,” Mann said at the CIO East Africa-hosted event at the Radisson Blu in Nairobi.

Mann went on to list the problems encountered when using IoT during the pre-cloud era. The problems included issues relating to: ease and speed, scale and growth, security and management, analytics and cognitive and combining IoT and everything else.

He explained that these problems are now solvable thanks to cloud-based operations.

“Those were the challenges that have made it impossible for companies to use IoT better, but with cloud, IoT is here.” Mann added.

The Africa Cloud Summit was organized by CIO East Africa in partnership with; Microsoft, Access Kenya, the Government of Kenya and Little Rider (Transport Partners). It was established to help C-level executives on the continent better understand the true capabilities of cloud computing and the transformation opportunities it can bring.

Through a blend of Executive Visions panel discussions, analyst sessions, keynote presentations and networking breaks, technology executives shared insights and gained knowledge with business value.

The Africa Cloud Summit, held at Nairobi’s Radisson Blu, ran through 16 March. For more information, visit http://www.africacloudsummit.com.