We cannot afford another digital divide

Cloud computing is one of the most important transformations of our time. Although when you think of it, you probably think of entertainment, gaming and messaging apps, it also has significant applications to health, education and development.

But what if only wealthy societies have access to the data, intelligence, analytics and insights that come from the power of mobile and cloud computing? If we are not to be left facing a digital divide between those with access to rich data intelligence and those without, we must find ways to spread the benefits of cloud computing to all.

The term “public cloud” refers to massive privacy-protected data and storage services rendered over a network for public use. Cloud computing makes it possible to analyse large quantities of data to produce specific insights and intelligence. It converts guesswork and speculation into predictive and analytical power.

In September last year, the UN adopted 17 sustainable development goals to tackle some of the toughest global problems by 2030, including poverty, hunger, health and education. Data and cloud computing will play a central role in realising those goals.

What would a coherent policy framework with cloud computing at its heart look like? There are four elements.

The first is investment in infrastructure that provides low-cost broadband offering rural areas access to the cloud. Second, we should build the next generation of skills to ensure data does not just sit in the cloud. Data are little more than exhaust without coders to write algorithms that extract insights from it.

Third, governments need to lead by example. As holders of public data and the largest consumers of IT services, government agencies should make data accessible to the public and encourage people to use the cloud by doing so themselves.

The final element is a balanced regulatory environment that protects both security and privacy while enabling data to flow freely across borders. Protection of freedom of expression and the right to privacy are vital. In the future we need not just an agreement to replace the longstanding “safe harbour” deal, struck down by the European Court of Justice last year, to protect privacy while enabling companies to transmit personal data across the Atlantic. We will need additional agreements, that enable privacy rights to follow data around the world.

Such a framework would encourage widespread use of the public cloud for public good. This is already happening. For example, in states as diverse as Kentucky in the US and Andhra Pradesh in India, intelligence from public cloud data is predicting which students are likely to drop out of school.

Thanks to a mobile-first and cloud-first company, M-Kopa, Kenyans living on less than $2 a day can have access to low-cost solar lighting. An innovative mobile phone payment system enables the poor living in slums to make daily payments of 40 US cents for solar light.

The University of the Aegean in Greece, using cloud data, is working with fire fighters to predict and prevent wildfires like the one in 2007 that killed 84 people. In Sweden researchers are using cloud technologies to ensure that children are screened earlier and more accurately for dyslexia.

These should not be isolated examples. To that end, Microsoft will donate $1bn in cloud computing resources over the next three years to serve 70,000 non-profit and non-government organisations worldwide. Philanthropy is a start. But businesses, governments and NGOs must come together to harness the public cloud for public good and ensure that the benefits of technology are shared as widely as possible.

The writer is chief executive of Microsoft and a co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s 2016 annual meeting

Letter in response to this article:

Techie folk’s kindness is surplus to requirements / From R Vijayaraghavan