In the SJUK exclusive, Martin Hosken, Field CTO at Broadcom explores why more organisations are moving towards sovereign cloud.
Cloud sovereignty has shifted from a compliance concern to a defining factor in competitiveness and trust. Across Europe, governments and enterprises are realising that control over data is control over innovation.
The European Commission’s €180 million tender under its Cloud III Dynamic Purchasing System to procure sovereign cloud services for EU institutions signals a new phase of digital self-determination, one where agility and compliance must co-exist.
Yet the transition from public, private or hybrid cloud set-ups to a sovereign environment requires planning.
Good planning includes knowing where data resides, how it moves and who controls it.
Successfully navigating these questions requires a clear strategy for aligning workloads, managing data and designing flexible, compliant cloud architectures with the help of partners.
At the heart of a successful sovereign cloud strategy lies a simple principle: Placing the right workload in the right environment. There is no single solution that fits all applications.
Enterprises must align each workload with the cloud environment that best meets its compliance, operational and performance requirements to determine whether it belongs in a public, private or sovereign cloud.
Some applications may thrive in a hyperscaler environment, while others require the control and security of a sovereign setup.
This reality has made hybrid cloud strategies the norm.
Over the past decade, many organisations initially committed to a single hyperscaler for all workloads only to realise that different applications have different requirements.
Today, IT leaders increasingly need to adopt a ‘right workload, right place’ mindset, recognising that some applications may remain on-premises, others run optimally in public clouds and some require sovereign environments for regulatory or operational reasons.
This hybrid approach enables organisations to balance innovation with control, while avoiding vendor lock-in and making more effective use of the strengths of different cloud ecosystems.
Organisations cannot secure or govern what they do not fully understand. Comprehensive data classification is a critical first step.
Misclassified data is a frequent source of compliance risk and over-classification, often a product of risk aversion, can create extra operational complexity and cost.
Many organisations treat all data as highly classified simply to be safe, but this can lead to overinvestment in secure infrastructure where it is not needed.
Mapping data flows across borders and providers is equally important.
Compliance blind spots often appear when data is inadvertently stored or processed in jurisdictions with restrictive data laws.
Understanding where sensitive data resides, how it moves and which regulations apply is essential to reducing risk, demonstrating accountability and maintaining trust with partners and customers.
Retrofitting compliance into existing infrastructure is costly and complex, embedding that understanding into cloud architecture from the outset is far more efficient.
Flexibility is the cornerstone of effective sovereign cloud implementations.
Architectures built for interoperability and portability allow workloads to move seamlessly across private, public and sovereign clouds.
This adaptability is vital for risks posed by geopolitical or regulatory change.
Hyperscalers cannot always guarantee sovereignty due to extraterritorial legislation such as the US CLOUD Act, which permits government access to data held by American companies abroad.
By contrast, working with local cloud operators enables enterprises to maintain jurisdictional control over their data while still leveraging the latest technology.
In addition, working with local cloud operators can provide additional technological sovereignty benefits ranging from the investment to the local ecosystem and industrial base, all the way to addressing supply chain concerns, promoting interoperability, avoiding vendor lock-in, having stronger operational control and managing dependency concerns.
Sovereignty should be viewed not as a constraint but as a design principle guiding infrastructure, data placement and application deployment.
Organisations that prioritise adaptability can balance regulatory compliance with innovation and long-term strategic growth.
Partnerships also play a pivotal role.
No single vendor or platform can solve sovereignty challenges by themselves and in the current interconnect supply chain there does not exist a perfect vertical integration of suppliers within one region.
Open source is often presented as a solution to more autonomy, the reality however is that open source solutions create questions on code providence, reliability of a solution when deployed at scale and different dependencies on support.
The most successful sovereign cloud environments combine global technology providers, local operators and trusted EMEA partners, such as evoila and Arvato.
This collaborative approach not only strengthens compliance and transparency but also accelerates innovation by ensuring that governance does not become a barrier to progress while the presence of a local ecosystem guarantees the ability to operate and support solutions with a high degree of autonomy.
As regulatory and geopolitical landscapes evolve, organisations that foster open dialogue across their supply chain and internal teams will be best placed to adapt.
Sovereignty is as much about alignment, strategic choices and accountability as it is about infrastructure.
Sovereign cloud is no longer just a compliance exercise; it is a strategic differentiator.
Organisations that understand their data, architect for adaptability and choose interoperable, open platforms gain flexibility, choice and operational control.
They are better positioned to scale globally, respond to regulatory or geopolitical changes and innovate confidently.
In the end, sovereignty is not a constraint on innovation; it is the framework that makes sustainable innovation possible.
The enterprises that succeed will be those that treat sovereignty as a catalyst for smarter architecture, operational clarity and long-term resilience.
By mastering the principle of ‘right workload in the right place’, they will not only meet regulatory expectations but also define the next generation of cloud agility and competitive advantage.
This article was originally published in the April edition of Security Journal UK. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.
