CRA Qatar has published its comprehensive set of policy and regulatory recommendations to establish the country’s cloud-friendly environment.
A solid cloud industry will enable Qatar to attract foreign and domestic investments in data centers and cloud services; support the national economy growth; enable the transition to a fully digitalized nation; and manage carbon footprint.
Moreover, Qatar has placed cloud computing at the heart of its transformative digital strategy, aligned with the Qatar National Vision 2030 and Qatar National Second Development Strategy (NDS2). In response, the Cloud Policy Framework ensures that essential requirements such as trust, security, privacy, data protection, transparency, and digital inclusion are met.
A part of CRA Qatar’s Strategic Plan 2020-2024, the official document states, “It represents an opportunity for public entities to improve the provision of high-quality services to citizens, businesses, and organizations…”
In the implementation of the Cloud Policy Framework, government entities such as the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) will play a key role. MCIT’s Cloud-First Policy is a clear commitment that support Qatar’s cloud solutions.
Overall, for the objectives to be achieved, the highest level of cooperation between the government and private stakeholders such as cloud service providers, infrastructure and connectivity providers, software developers, and cloud users must be done.
More information about data classification, data localization, cross-border access, and service level agreements (SLAs), among other aspects are disclosed within the CRA Qatar’s cloud-focused framework.
Generally speaking, cloud is a known enabler for various use cases such as AI, IoT, and 5G private networks. Apparently, businesses were known to have an average net return of 100-250% on their investments in cloud services.