Government innovation through cloud computing provides several advantages for developing countries according to the document. Key benefits include lower upfront costs than maintaining own data centers, easy scalability with increased usage, and eliminating hardware refreshes and infrastructure planning. The document discusses how cloud computing can enable efficient eGovernment services, mobility initiatives, document management, and email/collaboration for governments. However, it notes some legal issues around data sovereignty and jurisdiction need to be considered when using public clouds.

1. Government Innovation Through
Cloud Computing
Advantages for developing countries
Arthur Riel
February 14, 2013
This material is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this presentation do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or
the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. This material should not be reproduced or distributed without The World Bank's prior consent.

2. Cloud: The Sweet Spot
 The virtualization and commoditization of
infrastructure has benefited numerous
organizations
 Data center decentralization has become very
inexpensive, benefiting larger countries
 Data center centralization has become very
inexpensive (e.g. Indonesia)
 Servers, storage and bandwidth are now priced
like electricity
 Many large organizations are effectively using
cloud to run 100% of their operations: Netflix,
Four Square.

3. Cloud: Benefits to Government
 Pay as you go servers can be cheaper than
providing data centers, especially in countries
with poor infrastructure
 Hosting mobile applications in the cloud can
eliminate the need for intermediate servers, e.g.
cloud to smart phone.
 No large capital upfront fee
 No hardware/technology refresh to strategize
 As businesses and citizens increase usage there
is no extensibility planning required

4. eGovernment in the Cloud
 eGovernment services are ideally hosted in the
cloud
 The EU is benchmarking member countries as
part of the EU2020 Digital Agenda on
eGovernment services
 Hosting in the cloud allows for countries to focus
on data cleanup (always a big problem) and
service implementation solely
 As the number of services is increased (and the
associated added transactions) the cloud allows
for nearly infinite scale at a linear or better cost
model

5. 20 Basic Public eGovernment Services
Business Community
Citizen Based
Based
• Income taxes • Social contributions
• Job search • Corporate tax
• Social security contributions (3 • VAT
out of 4) • Company Registration
• Personal documents • Statistical data
• Car registration • Customs declarations
• Application for building • Environment-related permits
permission • Public procurement
• Declaration to the police
• Public libraries
• Certificates
• Enrolment in higher education
• Announcement of moving
• Health related services

6. eGoverment Maturity Model: Four
Stage Framework
4. Full on-
line
3. Two-Way transactions
Interaction including
delivery and
payment
2. One Way
Interaction
1: Posting
of
Information
On-Line

7. eGovernment in the Cloud
 eGovernment services provide better service to
clients, e.g. birth/death/move reporting, tax
payments, building permits
 eGovernment services provide better service to
business, e.g. company registration, tax
payments, permit requests, building permits
 eGovernment services provide for more
productive and efficient government agencies
through streamlined, automated processes.

8. Mobility in the Cloud
 By implementing the mobility infrastructure in
the cloud we achieve all the benefits of
scalability, decentralization and technology
independence.
 Mobility can be exploited for a number of
purposes for developing countries
 Agricultural Extension Services
 Educational Services
 Crowd Sourcing, e.g. healthcare issues, project
management, corruption monitoring

9. Document Management in the Cloud
 By managing government documents in a public
cloud they are highly accessible at much lower
cost (one popular vendor offers a low end
solution at 18 cents per GB/year and high end at
less than 90 cents per GB/year)
 Sensitive documents can be stored in a virtual
private cloud for not much higher costs
 Scalability, backup and technology replacement
are no longer government issues
 What about security?

10. Email and Collaboration in the Cloud
 There are many vendors offering collaboration
solutions that are cloud-based
 No need for capital upfront expenditures
 Fast initiation and setup
 Scalability, backup and technology replacement
are no longer government issues

11. A Caveat for the Cloud
 There is little case law in cross border cloud disputes
and issues
 As the cloud obscures where data and solutions exist,
as well as the number of instances and jurisdictions,
there are possible complexities
 Some governments implement their own internal
cloud to avoid these legal issues
 Others use a virtual private cloud with encryption at
rest technologies
 The World Bank has an issue on privileges in the cloud
 These types of issues are not new to the cloud, US/EU
email case study

12. Questions and Comments?