Why digital sovereignty is reshaping cloud strategy
The reasons for this are obvious: cloud services have become an integral part of corporate IT. They enable flexible operating models, accelerate innovation and lay the foundations for the deployment of new technologies such as artificial intelligence. At the same time, however, there is a growing awareness that not every application meets the same requirements for data storage, data processing and control.
This development is also reflected in the latest Lünendonk study, ‘Digital Sovereignty – From Risk to Resilience’, which identifies digital sovereignty as a key success factor for resilient and future-proof cloud strategies. This shift is particularly evident in service management platforms. They form the central nervous system of modern organisations and control numerous business-critical processes – from handling incidents and service requests to managing IT assets, workflows and company-wide service processes.
Whilst ITSM supports traditional IT processes, Enterprise Service Management extends these principles to functional areas such as Human Resources, Finance, Procurement, Legal, Production (OTSM) and Facility Management. As a result, an increasing number of sensitive business processes are being mapped onto a shared platform, and the demands on security, availability and compliance are rising accordingly.
From the cloud question to the sovereignty question
For a long time, the main focus of cloud projects was on how IT infrastructures could be operated more efficiently and cost-effectively. Today, many organisations are asking another question: where is my data processed, who has access to it, and what regulatory requirements must be met?
Drivers of this development include the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), sector-specific regulations and new requirements regarding digital sovereignty. Companies and public sector organisations wish to harness the benefits of modern cloud platforms whilst retaining control over business-critical data and processes. Particularly in regulated sectors such as finance, insurance, healthcare and public administration, this has now become an essential component of any cloud strategy.
With the expansion of ITSM to ESM, this issue now affects almost all areas of a business. This is because, in addition to technical information, personal data, contractual information, procurement processes and internal approval workflows are also handled via central service platforms.
Why IT and Enterprise Service Management are particularly sensitive
Service management solutions contain far more than just ticket data. They often map out a company’s entire service landscape and contain information on:
- IT assets and configurations
- Infrastructure and network structures
- Authorisations and responsibilities
- Service dependencies
- Vulnerability and compliance information
- HR and personnel data
- Procurement, contract and approval processes
- Information from finance, facilities, production or legal services
This information is essential for the secure operation of the entire organisation. The requirements regarding data availability, integrity and protection are correspondingly high. At the same time, the platforms are evolving rapidly from a technological perspective. Artificial intelligence, automation and self-service offerings are creating new opportunities to streamline processes and reduce the workload on support organisations and specialist departments. This presents companies with a dilemma: how can innovation be reconciled with regulatory requirements?
Putting cloud sovereignty into practice
Cloud sovereignty does not necessarily mean doing without modern SaaS solutions or innovations. Rather, it is about consciously shaping the framework conditions for operations, data management and support.
Key questions include, for example:
- Where are the data centres located?
- Who operates the platform?
- Which individuals and organisations have access to the data?
- How are compliance requirements demonstrated?
- What options are available if you switch providers?
- How can the differing protection requirements of individual departments be implemented within a shared ESM platform?
Alongside established standards such as ISO 27001 or the BSI C5 catalogue, new assessment models for digital sovereignty are becoming increasingly important. These include, amongst others, the Criteria enabling Cloud Computing Autonomy (BSI C3A), which specifically define requirements for sovereign cloud usage, and the EU SEAL Framework, which establishes Europe-wide criteria for trustworthy digital services. These models help organisations to assess cloud offerings holistically – not only from a technical perspective, but also from regulatory and organisational standpoints.
A holistic view of technology, operations and compliance
Experience from numerous transformation projects shows that the success of a service management platform does not depend solely on the software used. Issues relating to the operating model, governance and organisational integration are equally important. These include, amongst other things:
- secure operational processes
- Vulnerability and patch management
- Monitoring and incident management
- Disaster recovery strategies
- documented compliance processes
- Transparent service levels and responsibilities
- Governance for enterprise-wide ESM processes across different departments
Consistent governance is particularly important in Enterprise Service Management projects. Different departments work on a shared platform, yet are often subject to differing regulatory requirements and security needs. A robust operational model provides the necessary transparency and security in this context.
It is precisely at this interface that Materna supports organisations in modernising their service management landscapes. The range of services extends from consultancy and design, through migration and implementation, to the operation of regulated ITSM and ESM platforms. The focus is not solely on the technology, but on how modern cloud services can be reconciled with individual requirements for security, compliance and digital sovereignty.
Digital sovereignty as an integral part of cloud strategy
In future, cloud projects will no longer be assessed solely on the basis of functionality, costs or scalability. The ability to meet regulatory requirements whilst simultaneously harnessing innovation potential is increasingly becoming a decisive competitive factor.
Companies should therefore regularly review their cloud strategy and, particularly in the case of business-critical service platforms, take issues such as data sovereignty, compliance and operating models into account at an early stage. This applies not only to IT, but increasingly to all areas of the organisation that provide their services digitally via enterprise service management platforms. This is because modern cloud solutions only realise their full potential when innovation, digital sovereignty and company-wide service processes are considered as a unified whole.
Further articles in this series:
Part 2: From ‘Cloud First’ to ‘Sovereignty First’: The rules of the cloud are changing
Part 3: From Strategy to Implementation: How Sovereign Cloud Platforms Enable Digital Independence
Further information:
Lünendonk study ‘Digital Sovereignty – From Risk to Resilience’
Enterprise Service Management
Cloud Strategy
