Digital sovereignty is often viewed in too narrow a sense
When people talk about digital sovereignty, their first thoughts tend to be of data centres, cloud providers or the question of which country a service is operated from. These aspects are undoubtedly important, but they address only part of the actual challenge.
Organisations today must do much more: they are expected to meet regulatory requirements, reliably secure their business processes, assess risks and, at the same time, be able to respond flexibly to change. Added to this are new demands arising from cyber security requirements, increasing compliance obligations and the growing interconnection of business and IT processes.
In our view, digital sovereignty is therefore not determined solely by the choice of platform. It is equally evident in whether organisations maintain long-term control over their processes, responsibilities and risks.
The right operating model rather than a one-size-fits-all solution
The path to greater digital sovereignty does not look the same for every organisation, as security needs, regulatory requirements and established IT landscapes vary considerably.
OpenText supports various deployment models, including cloud, private cloud and on-premises scenarios. Furthermore, solutions can also be deployed in an environment operated by Materna. This allows technical and organisational requirements to be aligned with the relevant governance and compliance guidelines.
What matters most here is not so much the choice of a specific operating model as the ability to further develop one’s own IT landscape in line with individual requirements. Ultimately, digital sovereignty means being able to determine for oneself what form of control and management is required.
Transparency enables effective action
The real test of digital sovereignty rarely occurs during normal operations. Rather, it becomes apparent when new regulatory requirements must be implemented, security incidents occur or critical business processes are at risk.
In such situations, those in charge need reliable information: Which services are affected? What dependencies exist? What would be the consequences of a failure? And what measures need to be taken?
Service management platforms help to map out processes, services and responsibilities in a traceable manner, thereby laying the foundation for well-informed decisions. Transparency thus becomes a key component in maintaining the ability to act within complex IT and process landscapes.
Risks and resilience are integral to digital sovereignty
The more organisations rely on digital processes, the more important risk and business continuity management become. Anyone wishing to achieve digital sovereignty must not only know where data is located, but also have the ability to identify risks at an early stage and be prepared for disruptions.
This is precisely where another key focus of OpenText’s solutions comes into play. Based on OpenText Service Management, Materna has developed its own extensions to support organisations in areas such as risk management and business continuity management. These include functions that enable organisations to record risks, identify critical processes and structure measures for emergency and crisis situations.
The added value here does not lie in isolated individual tools. What is crucial is linking these areas to operational service management processes. This enables risks, governance requirements and operational workflows to be considered as a whole.
Thinking about technology and processes together
Digital sovereignty cannot be achieved through technology alone. Equally important are clear responsibilities, robust processes and an operating model that suits the organisation in question.
Materna has been supporting companies and public authorities for many years in the implementation and further development of service management solutions. The award of OpenText’s ‘Partner of the Year’ in the field of Observability & Service Management underlines this expertise. According to Materna, the award specifically recognised the company’s long-standing experience in the service management field, as well as the development of innovative extensions to meet regulatory requirements.
For organisations, this means that the focus is not solely on implementing a platform. Rather, the key lies in designing an overarching concept that sensibly combines technology, processes and governance.
Digital sovereignty means remaining capable of acting
The posts in this blog series have shown that digital sovereignty has many facets. Data sovereignty, suitable cloud models and regulatory compliance remain key prerequisites. However, organisations can only maintain their ability to act in the long term if they also manage their processes, risks and dependencies effectively.
This is precisely where the integration of OpenText Service Management and the complementary Materna solutions for risk management, business continuity and regulatory requirements comes into play. It helps organisations to view operational processes and governance requirements as a unified whole and to strengthen their ability to act in the long term.
In doing so, the OpenText approach builds on a theme that runs throughout the entire blog series: digital sovereignty is not a state that is achieved once and for all. It is the ongoing ability to shape technological, organisational and regulatory changes in a self-determined manner and to remain capable of acting even under challenging conditions.
Further posts in the blog series
Part 1: Cloud sovereignty – a key success factor for modern IT and enterprise service platforms
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
OpenText
OpenText – Service Management
