EC Calls On Europe To Board Cloud Computing Train

The technology now exists to enable governments across Europe to seize on the potential of cloud computing and develop online public services that better meet the needs of their populations, but not enough countries are taking decisive action on the issue, according to the European Commission.

In a speech this week, at the ‘Visby Agenda: Creating impact for an eUnion 2015’ conference in Sweden, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding outlined the importance of cloud computing in tackling issues such as social engagement and improving the sustainability of government IT.

Reding said that Europe’s 23 million SMEs had been slow to “jump on the ICT train” and only 9 percent of small companies use electronic invoices. She also highlighted that only 11 percent have technology-based Human Resources management systems.

“I see, therefore, great potential for cloud computing applications to help Europe’s businesses into the true ICT age, at lower costs compared to traditional IT company solutions,” said Reding. “Accessing computing power over the web instead of investing in technologies and applications would not only be cheaper, but also easier for businesses that then don’t have to buy and maintain technologies and IT applications and services.”

But according to Reding, it is not only up to business to grasp the potential of cloud computing. “This is not only an area where businesses should act, this is in particular an area where I call upon Europe’s public administrations to take the lead to deliver what citizens need today – the ‘Gov 2.0’ experience. Europe’s public services cannot escape any longer collaboration with their users! In the future, eGovernment will have to move from a ‘one size fits all’ to ‘tailor-made customised services’.”

Reding added that cloud computing would allow public services to be more inclusive and personalised. “Thanks to cloud computing, public services will have the chance to be provided anywhere, anytime and anyhow and to anybody. This means that public services will become inclusive, personalised and more user-driven than ever,” she said.

In a wide ranging speech that also touched on the importance of creating a single digital market in Europe to ease issues such as buying items online across European borders, Reding also focused on the importance of IT in meeting environmental goals laid down in the upcoming Copenhagen talks.

“Just consider the following: If businesses in Europe were to replace only 20 percent of all business trips by video conferencing, we could save more than 22 million tons of CO2 per year. And cloud computing could lead to electricity savings in computing activity of up to 80 percent,” she said.

As well as discussing the potential of IT to help Europe meet its energy efficiency targets, Reding also called on the IT industry to improve its own energy efficiency amid rising demand for ever more sophisticated technology.

“First and foremost, the ICT sector should make a collective effort to reduce its own footprint which is currently set to double by 2020 due to the increasing use of ICT,” she said. “The Recommendation therefore invites the sector to adopt, for the first time by 2010, a common measurement framework to quantify its own energy and carbon footprint, leading to energy efficiency targets that should exceed the EU 2020 targets already in 2015.”

But despite the importance of IT to meet tighter carbon targets, experts this week criticised the lack of focus on IT at the UN Copenhagen talks in December.