The journey to cloud sovereignty – Assessing cloud potential to drive transformation and build trust
Cloud sovereignty is falling under increasing scrutiny as organizations and governments strive to limit their external exposure and retain control over critical assets in the wake of rising geopolitical tensions, shifting data privacy laws, and the dominance of select cloud players. But what are organizations’ key priorities when it comes to cloud sovereignty, what role does it play in organizations’ overall cloud strategy, and where should they focus their efforts for maximum potential? We wanted to find out.
Our research report, The journey to cloud sovereignty – Assessing cloud potential to drive transformation and build trust, we surveyed executives from different organizations and analyzed more than 50 cloud sovereignty use cases, assessing their growth potential, complexity, and the benefits they offer.
We found that both organizations and governments are focusing on cloud sovereignty issues. In fact, over 80% of organizations believe it will continue to gain prominence in the coming years. However, while more than half (52%) of organizations plan to include sovereignty in their overall cloud strategy in the next year, many are focusing mainly on data localization. Finally, a majority (60%) of organizations believe that cloud sovereignty will make it easier to share data with trusted partners while 55% believe it will offer more opportunities for collaboration and 63% believe that it will provide them with a secure, trustworthy environment for data storage.
To formulate their sovereignty strategy, organizations must first define their cloud sovereignty objectives and ensure an “enterprise view” of their data. They must then assess cloud providers through a sovereignty lens including data sovereignty, operational sovereignty, and technical sovereignty. They must align for a flexible cloud architecture and develop the potential of sovereign cloud. Firms that proactively define, assess, align, and develop these elements of cloud sovereignty into their cloud infrastructure will successfully manage regulatory risk and build trust and a competitive advantage in the digital age.