Digital Sovereignty Readiness & EU Cloud Assessment Guide
Hosting data in Frankfurt or Paris does not make it sovereign. If your provider can be compelled by a foreign authority, or if logs, backups and support access sit outside the EU, your data is resident in Europe but not under European control. This guide helps you find out which applies to you.
A practical framework for evaluating cloud sovereignty, compliance, and EU-native cloud provider fit.
This guide provides a practical, non-technical framework to:
- understand the pillars of digital sovereignty
- assess your organization’s current sovereignty posture
- identify risks related to jurisdiction, data residency, and cloud vendor lock-in
- navigate the EU regulatory landscape
- build a modern, sovereignty-by-design cloud strategy
- evaluate EU-native cloud providers
- prepare for NIS2, Data Governance Act, Data Act, and the EU AI Act
Use this document as an internal assessment tool, a management briefing, or a checklist for cloud strategy decisions.
Who it is for: CIOs, CTOs, DPOs and compliance leads in regulated organisations (financial services, healthcare, public sector and SaaS companies selling to them) that need to show where their data sits, who controls it and how they would exit a provider.
In 2026 this is no longer only a policy question. The European Commission now scores cloud services for sovereignty under its Cloud Sovereignty Framework and used it to award its own sovereign cloud contract. For the background, read our guide to digital sovereignty in Europe and sovereign cloud requirements, and see how we help clients plan cloud independence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a sovereignty assessment?
A review of where your data, metadata and operations sit, which laws can reach them, who holds the encryption keys and how easily you could move to another provider.
Is data residency the same as data sovereignty?
No. Residency is about where data is stored; sovereignty is about which jurisdiction controls it and who can compel access.
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