Private -- Cloud Computing Risks and Challenges -- Bahrain Gov. Cloud Computing Experiences of Other Countries

Focus on Japan

Japan has in the past had the rather lousy record of being an unwilling (or late) adopted of non-Japanese technology. Indeed, as a matter of fact, most of the country's businesses were rather reluctant to embrace West-developed technological innovations including but not limited to Twitter and Facebook. It hence comes as a complete surprise that the country received an excellent BSA Global Cloud Computing Scorecard ranking. In the words of BSA (2013), "the scorecard examines major laws and regulations relevant to cloud computing in seven policy categories as well as each country's ICT-related infrastructure and broadband deployment." Some of the factors that carry significant weight in the said scoring system therefore include but they are not limited to cloud computing rules international harmonization, presence of effective anti-cyber crime penalties, intellectual property rights management structures, legislative readiness, etc. Based on this information therefore, one could reliably conclude that Japan is far much ahead of many other countries in not only the adoption of the cloud computing regime but also support for the same.

Currently, Japan does not face significant challenges as far as the adoption and support for cloud computing solutions are concerned. This is particularly the case given that the country's IT infrastructure is seen by many as being one of the most developed in the world. However, as is the case with many companies from across the world, there are still privacy and security concerns which should be addressed on this front. With regard to privacy, it is important to note that a number of enterprises have shied away from handing over critical data that to what they see as a third party (Harada, 2011). Further, just like many other countries, Japan has been grappling with persistent intrusions on its public clouds which in comparison to locally stored data have numerous entry points allowing for the said intrusions.

One success story as far as cloud computing in Japan is concerned is the Japanese Postal Service. This is one of the former state-owned corporations that have migrated to the...

It is important to note that in the year 2007, immediately after its privatization, the service came to the realization that technology was inevitable if it was to remain relevant in the new IT dispensation (Sales Force, 2013). At the time, the service was facing significant challenges with its networks which were essentially under pressure from millions of people seeking to post various items. The need for an effective fix was evident. In addition to having the corporation privatized, it was decided that the same be modernized -- by amongst other things moving to the cloud. It was at this point that Force.com was roped in (Sales Force, 2013). In a move that may have helped maintain a healthy client base growth, a SaaS/PaaS combination was used. In the end, all the post office locations offered connectivity were able to port billions of records within a relatively short period of time. As a result, service delivery levels were pushed further upwards.
Focus on Canada

Although the pace at which cloud computing has taken off in other countries is largely appealing, for a first world country, Canada has been doing poorly. Katz and Seller (2013) attribute this trend to "data security and privacy concerns in the context of Canada's strict privacy laws, coupled with the fact that many of the most cost friendly cloud computing options are based outside of Canada." Like I have pointed out elsewhere in this text, privacy and security concerns are two of the main issues keeping companies from various countries from fully embracing the cloud. It is important to note that Canada is one of the countries that has over time formulated and enacted strict data privacy laws. To realize the full benefits of the cloud, these laws and policies must not only be standardized but also updated. Companies seeking to make use of the 'power of the cloud' therefore face great challenges because of the lack of clarity as far as data privacy policies are concerned. For instance, one of the issues that could come up on this front has got to do with data ownership. It is important to note that according to the country's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, the maintenance as well as security of personal information is the responsibility of the…