Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services; including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. Rather than owning their own computing infrastructure or data centres, companies can rent access to anything from applications to storage from a cloud service provider (vendor). This has enabled several businesses, especially SMMEs, who could not afford IT Infrastructure to access these cloud services and conduct their business “virtually” anywhere.

There is a growing reliance on external sources of infrastructure, application, management and security services provided by the Cloud. The Cloud Computing industry is set to grow to $832.1 Billion (R12 502.04 Billion) by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.5%. Clearly, cloud computing has (and will have) a massive economic impact.

Currently, there are no similar qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework. Even though cloud computing is a new reality in South Africa, South African organisations are consuming significant amounts of cloud services, including software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Chief information officers (CIO) in South Africa have started adopting cloud-first strategies. This describes the need for a qualification dedicated to increasing the pool of experts who can engage with and assist companies in cloud computing.
Cloud computing specialists such as administrators, engineers and architects are responsible to migrate organisations’ (be it a company, institution, or community) systems, information and services into the cloud ensuring a seamless migration. These developments will assist society, including rural communities in expanding their data and information management to the safe environment of “the cloud”.

The Occupational Qualification: Cloud Administrator speaks to the increasingly technology-driven economy. Cloud Computing is one of the Fourth Industrial Revolution drivers of change in the economy and is also aligned to the development of human capital as described in the future of work by the Presidential Commission on the 4th Industrial Revolution (PC4IR). Furthermore, the qualification stems from the MICT SETA Sector Skills Plan (18/19) which identifies change drivers as: Digitisation and convergence, analytics and big data, Information security, cloud computing and Internet of Things.

This qualification will prepare learners to conduct administration, maintenance and monitoring of servers; configure, deploy, manage, maintain and troubleshoot cloud ecosystems, and networks services for optimal performance. With this qualification the ICT sector will be strengthened and prepared for future developments and growth in cloud computing.

Typical learners include school leavers, qualified learners from TVET colleges and those currently in employment without formal recognition of competencies. No professional registration or licensing is expected for Cloud Administrators to seek employment in the sector. Cloud Administrators can be employed across various industries that use Cloud services for their clients or for their internal operations. The Cloud Administrators can further progress their career as Cloud Specialists, Cloud Engineers and Cloud Architects as well as Managers.

1. Implement cloud solutions and services related to cloud computing, networks, security, and storage in a cloud environment.
2. Monitor and maintain servers and networks for optimal cloud performance and seamless delivery of all cloud services.
3. Monitor on-demand availability of data, data storage and storage capacity in line with the life cycle of data storage and hardware architecture.
4. Apply security configurations and compliance controls to meet cloud infrastructure requirements.