How companies secure their data sovereignty

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Cloud made in Europe:

How companies secure their data sovereignty

“Germany is not digitally sovereign. This increases dependencies and vulnerabilities,” explained Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst at MCSC 2025. He called on the new German government to make digital sovereignty a top priority.
But what does this mean in concrete terms?

The political developments in the USA currently show very clearly why data sovereignty in the home country is so important: due to the Cloud Act, German companies that rely on US cloud infrastructures can be asked to share their data with the US government at any time.

A renewed “America First” course, as is currently emerging, is creating additional uncertainties, for example through stricter regulations for the use of American cloud services or new export controls for digital infrastructure. To avoid becoming dependent on a small number of global providers, companies need to future-proof their IT infrastructure.

Die digitale Landschaft in Europa wird weiterhin stark von globalen Hyperscalern dominiert, was erhebliche Auswirkungen auf Kostenstrukturen, Datenschutz und Flexibilität hat – dabei gibt es auch auf europäischer Ebene gute Alternativen. Laut der Synergy Research Group dominieren AWS, Microsoft Azure und Google Cloud den Markt mit einem gemeinsamen Anteil von 67 Prozent und beherrschen den Public-Cloud-Bereich sogar mit 73 Prozent. Diese Marktdominanz zwingt Unternehmen dazu, sich intensiv mit der Frage zu beschäftigen, wie sie eine unabhängige Cloud-Strategie gestalten können.

Digital sovereignty as the key to independence

Digital sovereignty means that companies retain full control over their digital technologies and data. This includes independence from external providers and the ability to make autonomous decisions about IT systems and digital tools – a basic prerequisite for economic competitiveness.

In addition, the GDPR requires comprehensive protection against unauthorized access to data. To achieve this goal, many companies rely on EU cloud providers. Nevertheless, hyperscalers exert considerable influence on the data sovereignty of European companies due to their central market position. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe in particular are often forced to use these providers, although high, often non-transparent costs and dependencies represent a growing challenge. Globally active companies also have to deal with different jurisdictions, which does not completely rule out the risk of unauthorized data access despite EU servers.

Another problem is the so-called vendor lock-in effect: companies are tied to proprietary technologies and specific cloud services, which makes it difficult to switch to other providers or set up their own infrastructures. For example, proprietary software solutions are often not compatible with all cloud environments. If companies want to switch due to price changes, they face the problem that their systems cannot be easily migrated to another platform.

Egress costs are an important factor in cloud usage – they are incurred when data is transferred from a cloud environment, for example to another provider or location. Depending on the data volume, these fees can be significant and should therefore be taken into account in the cloud strategy.

How companies implement digital sovereignty

Many companies are rethinking their cloud strategy and opting for solutions that give them more control over their data and IT infrastructure. Here are some key measures:

  • Multi-cloud approaches use: Combining different cloud providers reduces the risk of being dependent on a single provider.
  • Data locations choose specifically: Data centers within Europe are subject to strict data protection regulations and offer more security than cloud services that are operated outside the EU.
  • Edge Computing integration: Moving computing power to the edge of the network reduces the need to store all data centrally and improves response times.
  • Open standards and open source solutions companies that rely on open source technologies retain control over their IT and avoid dependencies on proprietary systems.

The right cloud strategy ensures competitiveness

The question is not whether companies should use cloud technologies, but how they do so without entering into long-term dependencies. A well thought-out cloud strategy ensures greater security, economic predictability and long-term flexibility. Companies that invest in digital sovereignty today are better prepared for regulatory changes and can develop their IT infrastructure independently.

OVHcloud also pursues an integrated model that ensures complete control over the value chain – from designing its own servers to building and managing its own data centers and orchestrating its own fiber optic network. This approach ensures that companies retain sovereignty over their data and that it is not used without authorization.

Europe’s digital future should not be in the hands of a few providers. A well-thought-out cloud strategy can help to secure technological independence and remain competitive in the long term.

European cloud infrastructure for digital sovereignty

gridscale offers a cloud environment that is specially tailored to the requirements of European companies. With a 100% GDPR-compliant cloud infrastructure and German data center locations, gridscale gives companies full control over their data and IT resources.

  • C5-certified according to BSI standard: Highest security standards for regulated industries such as finance and healthcare that require a sovereign cloud environment.
  • High-security data centers: German and European TIER3 high-security data centers
  • No vendor lock-in: gridscale relies on open standards and supports multi-cloud strategies for maximum independence.
  • Edge computing solutions: A decentralized infrastructure guarantees compliance with all data protection requirements on site.