Continuing with current cloud adoption plans is a hazardous strategy because managing and securing sensitive data is becoming increasingly difficult. In light of escalating sovereignty concerns, businesses cannot afford to maintain the status quo.
According to a VMware-sponsored IDC InfoBrief, approximately 90% of organizations in Europe and 88% in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META) now use cloud technology, a keystone for digital transformation. As it becomes the predominant IT operating paradigm, crucial data is increasingly being stored in the cloud. Almost half of European businesses store sensitive information in the public cloud.
While private on-premises cloud remains the primary cloud environment for storing sensitive data, 23% of respondents chose public cloud for this data type. Some 32% of companies use global public cloud providers to store confidential data.
Increasing quantities of sensitive data in the public cloud make sovereignty a necessity.
To ensure resilience in the face of growing geopolitical and economic unpredictability, organizations are beginning to value strategic autonomy. Digital sovereignty begins with data sovereignty, which provides organizations with the legal foundation necessary to ensure regulatory compliance.
Data sovereignty entails ensuring that data is subject to the laws and governance structures of the nation to which it pertains. With a large quantity of sensitive data now hosted in the cloud, an organization’s future cloud strategy should be influenced by sovereignty. As the volume of sensitive data grows exponentially, this is becoming a priority.
The significance of sovereignty for EMEA businesses
Customers can only obtain sovereign cloud security by partnering with cloud providers that are well-positioned in their respective local markets.
Motives for examining sovereignty:
- 88% of very large organizations (5,000 FTEs) and 63% of all EMEA organizations rated the significance of data sovereignty as “very important” or “extremely important.”
- In Europe, the need for continuous compliance, regulations, and legal obligations drives organizations.
- In META, the introduction of internal/corporate policies drives organizations.
Business motivations for data sovereignty:
- Customer privacy and confidentiality expectations
- Need to safeguard future data investments
- Persistent macroeconomic volatility, ambiguity, and unpredictability heighten interest in sovereign solutions.
- Protection against prospective EU rulings that may affect your company
Why VMware can assist
Sovereign Cloud is centered on choice and command. VMware’s solution addresses the strategic imperatives for data sovereignty regarding data security, protection, domicile, interoperability, and portability:
- Utilizing VMware’s Multicloud Foundation
- (Tanzu, Aria, and open ecosystem solutions)
- Utilizing a vast ecosystem of sovereign cloud service providers
VMware is well-recognized for its reliability and several data sovereignty-related capabilities, including: flexibility and choice, data security and privacy, control of data access, multicloud, and data residency. It has already been implemented with over 20 Sovereign Cloud Providers.
VMware’s Head of Sovereign Cloud, Laurent Allard, states, “To ensure success in their sovereign journey, organizations must collaborate with partners they can rely on and who are capable of hosting authentic and autonomous sovereign cloud platforms.
VMware Sovereign Cloud initiative-recognized VMware Cloud Providers commit to designing and operating cloud solutions based on modern, software-defined architectures that embody important data sovereignty principles and best practices. More than 36 global and 14 EU VMware Sovereign Cloud Partners can provide cloud services to clients in accordance with security and local regulations, while also enabling sovereign innovation.”