The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has pushed for mass deployment of cloud computing technologies to improve the global competitiveness and export earnings of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) under the 12th Five Year Plan.

The department plans to work closely with the MSME Ministry for the deployment of cloud computing applications in key business processes and production lines across 1800-plus MSMEs. The project approved by the Planning Commission is pegged at Rs 823.3 million.

According to DoT, MSMEs have access to limited resources and in such a scenario, adoption of cloud computing applications can prove to be an alternative to costly investments in IT infrastructure. Further, a cost-effective cloud computing infrastructure will also enable MSMEs to withstand the challenges of globalisation.

DoT’s focus on cloud computing comes at a time when a large number of organisations are migrating their traditional enterprise applications on to the cloud to reduce operating costs. Going forward, the adoption of cloud computing services would reduce MSME’s dependence on IT teams to maintain active infrastructure and provide them an opportunity to focus resources on strategy and product innovation.