Europe slips in the cloud-readiness rankings, according to the 2013 BSA Global Cloud Computing Scorecard, as ongoing debates within the EU over privacy laws prove to be an obstacle for the cloud in the continent and beyond.
Compared with the 2012 scorecard, Germany is down to 4th place (from the 3rd), France is 6th (from 5th), Italy 10th (from 6th), Spain 11th (from 9th) and Poland 12th (from 11th). Only the UK retains the 7th place.
“We’re seeing patchy progress in the policy landscape for cloud computing,” BSA says. “Mismatched privacy and security rules are making it hard for data to flow across borders. Too many countries are chopping off pieces of the cloud for themselves. This undercuts economies of scale that can benefit everyone. To have a cohesive global marketplace, we need more bridges and fewer barriers.”
Japan dominates the top spot, followed by Australia and a Germany-beating US. Singapore makes the biggest cloud-based improvements, leaping from 10th to 5th place, while Russia makes improvements (from 16th to 14th place) through international IP agreements.
In the meantime a number of Asian countries-- namely Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam-- have effectively unplugged themselves from the global market via unproductive policies and reams of red tape.
“In the global economy, companies should be able to do business wherever they find a market — and customers should have access to the best the world has to offer,” BSA continues. “Everyone’s policies affect the global cloud marketplace. We don’t need identical laws across every country, but they all should promote good data stewardship while enabling business innovation in a fast-moving marketplace.”
- The organisation uses the scorecard to present 7-point policy proposal on the creation of environments more conductive to cloud growth and innovation:
- Ensuring privacy: Users must have faith information will be treated carefully, and providers must have freedom to move data efficiently in the cloud.
- Promoting security: Effective risk management requires flexibility to implement cutting-edge security solutions.
- Battling cybercrime: Law enforcement and cloud providers alike need effective legal mechanisms to combat illicit data access.
- Protecting IP: Laws should provide clear protection and enforcement against infringement of underlying cloud innovations.
- Ensuring data portability and harmonizing global rules: Governments should work with industry to develop standards that facilitate data flows while minimizing conflicting legal obligations.
- Promoting free trade: Eliminate barriers such as preferences for particular products or service providers.
- Bolster IT infrastructure: Provide incentives for investment in broadband and promote universal access.
The full report is available in the link below.