Layer3Cloud, a Nigerian-based indigenous cloud service provider is set to solve organizations’ need to source for foreign exchange which has been a major issue facing the country.
Nigeria loses up to N60 billion worth of foreign exchange to other countries annually in payments for web hosting alone, according to the Nigeria Internet Registration Association(NIRA).
However, the company disclosed that it will achieve this through its ongoing cloud project, which it referred to as the most robust cloud platform in Africa.
According to the service provider, the platform will serve as a local vendor which will enable organisations in Nigeria to pay for cloud services in Naira.
The platform will deliver fast, secure and scalable cloud solutions to individuals, corporates, and public sector bodies within Nigeria and on the continent and its current offerings range from Virtual Data Centers and Virtual Servers, to Disaster Recovery as a Service and Backup, according to Layer3Cloud.
Similarly, the company noted in a statement that the platform also provides colocation services and helps companies to migrate to the cloud.
Layer3Cloud stated that, “Organizations in Nigeria do not have to go through the stress of sourcing foreign exchange just to pay for the cloud resources they use. They can save themselves millions of naira by working with a local cloud services provider. This step could also enable them to plan their operating expenditure budgets with a lot more certainty.”
Read also: Layer3 charts course for data localization and cloud adoption in Nigeria
However, Cloud computing is transforming the way people and organizations communicate and engage digital content. With it, users can access, share, store, and secure information from wherever they are, and organizations across the world have found many use cases for this technology, according to experts.
A large number of businesses in Nigeria also use cloud-based tools on a daily basis from in-house communications to data backup, Human Resource management and accounting, these organizations are utilizing the cloud in numerous ways that benefit them.
According to the Cloud computing company, most cloud resources used in Nigeria and other African countries are provided by foreign vendors which requires payment in foreign currency and pose as challenge for organizations in Nigeria
These challenges according to the platform emerged because of the unstable nature of foreign exchange which makes it difficult for businesses to plan their spending on cloud resources.
“As Nigeria continues to battle an ongoing scarcity of foreign exchange, the resulting restrictions on the allocation of FOREX makes it difficult for organizations to find the dollars they need to meet their financial obligations to foreign cloud service providers.
“On the whole, a widespread switch to cloud services based in Nigeria will save the country a fair amount of foreign exchange—something that will benefit both public and private sector concerns. Billions of naira worth of FOREX will be kept within the country’s borders, and may help to reduce the prevailing exchange rate volatility,” Layer3Cloud stated.
Similarly, the company also explained that businesses will be informed by their local vendor about any upward or downward review of prices which will typically happen in a manner that allows the businesses concerned to budget accordingly.
