98%
Prioritize digital sovereignty today — with more than half now taking action
StrategyNavigating
Digital Resilience
Challenges, priorities and investments shaping infrastructure.
Table of contents:
Audience Surveyed ↓
5 Countries
Region Balance:
By Country:
United States: 100
France: 55
Germany 51
Japan: 51
India: 52
309IT Leaders
Job Responsibility:
165 Executive Leadership CxO VP
95 Function Leadership Director Senior Director
49 Senior Practitioners Chief Architect Head Engineering
Responsibility for decisions:
13 Industries
Employee Range:
Industry:
Key Findings
94%
Consider open source either very or extremely important to ensuring digital resilience
Sovereignty51%
Confirm a foreign entity has previously breached their company's privacy or data regulations
CybersecuritySurvey Question:
In your own words, what does it mean to be digitally resilient?
CxO, Finance Industry, JapanMaintaining control over infrastructure while adapting
to constant technological and geopolitical change
Artificial Intelligence
Driving new investment and surfacing the need for resilience
IT Leaders would spend additional budget on implementing AI, data security, and resilience.
Interestingly, AI transparency concerns are pushing the digital resilience topic further:
Manufacturing Industry, USAOur investment in AI fraud tools are drifting, ignoring new patterns that were previously easily detected by simple criteria.
Survey Question:
If your organization received an unexpected 20% increase in IT budget, where would you most likely invest it? Select all
Cybersecurity
Half of all respondents have already experienced a breach
51%
Say that a foreign entity has previously breached their company's privacy or data regulations.
Almost one quarter of respondents (23%) say it was a major incident.
Telecommunications Industry, USAIt’s the shift from “How do we stay up?” to “How do we keep working” while we are being hit?
Professional Services, USAOnly a matter of time before we get hit.
Survey Question:
To the best of your knowledge, has a foreign entity ever breached your company's privacy or data regulations?
Financial Services, GermanyRansomware has become smarter with AI attacking our supply chain data harder and faster than the clumsy attacks we saw three years ago.
Those that have already been breached feel more confident today →
Very Confident
Confident
Somewhat Confident
Not Confident
Breached
Not Breached
Sovereignty
The ultimate goal towards digital resilience
Open source is key
Open source is fundamental to digital resilience. A remarkable 94% of respondents rate it as very or extremely important, with only 6% viewing it as at least a moderate priority.
For today’s leaders, Digital Sovereignty is non-negotiable. Only a tiny fraction (under 2%) see it as a low priority, while “not a priority” received zero votes.
Sovereignty prioritised
Less than 2% say Digital Sovereignty is a low priority.
No single response said it wasn't a priority at all.
94%
Open source is very or extremely important
Survey Question:
In your opinion how important is open source software to ensuring digital resilience?
Investing in infrastructure
In fact, "Digital Sovereignty Expertise" is listed as a 'top 3' factor when evaluating a new cloud or infrastructure provider:
Survey Question:
When evaluating a new cloud or infrastructure provider, which factors matter most? Select all
- Regulatory compliance
- Technical independence
- Digital Sovereignty expertise
Looking ahead:
Perspectives come together when asked what matters
most over the next 5 years
Survey Question:
Looking ahead five years, which of the following do you think will matter most for digital resilience across the industry? Select all
- AI transparency
- Trusted global hyperscalers
- Operational autonomy
- Sovereign national platforms
- Open ecosystems
It's clear, an enormous shift towards Digital Sovereignty is already underway, with only 3% disclosing sovereignty wasn't a consideration in most recent decision making.
Manufacturing Industry, IndiaIt's more about people being unprepared than the technology itself
Telco, FranceThe talent drain …
Executive, IndiaWithout awareness & good habits even strong systems can fail.
Professional ServicesSupply chain attacks
Countries
How IT Leaders from each country feel their company is operationalizing sovereignty
Germany
Formalized and criteria driven43% with a formal strategy
Germany values and requires sovereignty expertise.
- 69%
digital sovereignty expertise matters when evaluating providers (v. 51% total pop)
Survey Question:
When evaluating a new cloud or infrastructure provider, which factors matter most?
- 61%
include digital sovereignty as a requirement in their RFPs (v. 45% total pop)
Survey Question:
Thinking about your most recent major infrastructure purchase or renewal, how did digital sovereignty factor into the decision?
- 51%
digital sovereignty is a top resilience priority (vs. 43% total pop)
Survey Question:
What are your organization’s top priorities in order to be more digitally resilient?
- 31%
associate open source with long-term survival (vs. 22% total pop)
Survey Question:
In general, what does open source represent to you today?
Japan
Operationalized and risk averse49% with a formal strategy
Japan has growing concerns about resilience, responding with structure & planning.
- 51%
more worried about digital resilience now than they were 3 years ago (v. 29% total pop)
Survey Question:
Compared to three years ago, how have your feelings changed about how your organization manages digital resilience?
- 35%
very confident in ability to maintain operations if a primary provider were restricted (v. 45% total pop)
Survey Question:
How confident are you that your organization could maintain core operations if your primary cloud provider was suddenly restricted by a foreign government?
- 60%
developed a digital sovereignty roadmap (v. 49% total pop)
Survey Question:
What are the steps toward digital sovereignty your organization has taken?
- 56%
created internal sovereignty policies (v. 40% total pop)
Survey Question:
What are the steps toward digital sovereignty your organization has taken?
United States
Engaged and practical41% with a formal strategy
The U.S. is optimistic about the future of digital resilience and is comfortable today.
- 72%
public cloud hyperscalers are relevant for sovereign workloads (v. 65% total pop)
Survey Question:
Which types of IT vendors does your organization consider relevant to supporting sovereign workloads?
- 77%
use of AI infrastructure (v. 71% total pop)
Survey Question:
Which best describes your organization's approach to infrastructure and cloud solutions?
- 61%
very optimistic about the future of digital resilience in their country (v. 48% total pop)
Survey Question:
When you think about the future of digital resilience in your country, how do you feel?
- 67%
associate open source with flexibility (vs. 60% total pop)
Survey Question:
In general, what does open source represent to you today?
India
Most likely to claim they are active58% with a formal strategy
India is optimistic with momentum around sovereignty and AI.
- 71%
digital sovereignty is a high priority (v. 57% total pop)
Survey Question:
How much of a priority is digital sovereignty for your organization today?
- 62%
actively investing in digital sovereignty (v. 52% total pop)
Survey Question:
Be candid: Is digital sovereignty a genuine strategic priority that you are actively investing in?
- 90%
willing to invest more budget in AI (v. 70% total pop)
Survey Question:
If your organization received an unexpected 20% increase in IT budget, where would you most likely invest it?
- 65%
very optimistic about the future of digital resilience in your country (v. 48% total pop)
Survey Question:
When you think about the future of digital resilience in your country, how do you feel?
France
Aware but not as fully operationalized25% with a formal strategy
France is still building toward operational maturity.
- 65%
are still developing a digital sovereignty strategy (vs. 50% total pop)
Survey Question:
Does your organization currently have a formal strategy for digital sovereignty?
- 39%
actively investing in digital sovereignty (v. 52% total pop)
Survey Question:
Is digital sovereignty a genuine strategic priority that you are actively investing in?
- 45%
associate open source with control (v. 39% total pop)
Survey Question:
In general, what does open source represent to you today?
- 56%
operational autonomy will matter most for digital resilience over the next 5 years (v. 47% total pop)
Survey Question:
Looking ahead five years, which of the following do you think will matter most for digital resilience across the industry?
Strategy
Findings set a high bar for those not yet developing or having established a formal strategy
93% of IT leaders either have already put a formal strategy in place or are developing one.
Less than 1% say it's not a priority, only .06% to be exact.
Survey Question:
Does your organization currently have a formal strategy for digital sovereignty?
There are those among this audience facing genuine hurdles:
1 in every 4 know digital sovereignty is something they should care about. For them, it simply hasn't been resourced.
With a lack of expertise described as the leading reason.
Consulting Industry, USAI'm increasingly concerned about our reliance on a small number of cloud providers and the risk that creates.
pursued digital sovereignty
- Lack of internal expertise or resources
- Waiting for the market to mature
- Migration complexity and risk too high
- Too expensive or unclear ROI
- Alternatives lack features/maturity needed
Cost of the challenge
With ROI or cost stated as the fourth leading obstacle, reliance on single points of failure and the cost of redundancy are influencing organizations without a formal strategy
Financial Services, JapanSingle points of failure are more significant than ever. Post inflation budgets are squeezed thin, we cannot afford the redundancy required.
Making a move...
Despite some barriers, the vast majority surveyed are taking action with their vendors. With a growing number (51%) including digital sovereignty as a formal requirement when purchasing technology and services.
They also believe sovereign national platforms are part of the future solution, including sovereign-specific offerings from hyperscalers.
Summary
Interest is high, but organizations are still wrapping their heads around how to best move forward
Resilience built through experience
Organizations that experienced a major breach are actually the most confident that they can survive a disruption. Getting hit seems to build resilience more so than fear.Building the rocket at launch
Half of respondents are still developing a digital sovereignty strategy despite many of those people calling it a "high priority." There is a tension between this sense of urgency and actual readiness.AI demands resilience
70% would invest in AI with extra budget. AI transparency is a forcing function of digital resilience considerations.Sovereignty drives investment
Regulations, Independence and digital sovereignty expertise are top of mind when selecting an infrastructure provider.Cybersecurity influence
With many having faced major incidents, threat detection is a critical priority alongside digital sovereignty and data control.Open source is essential
Particularlty as digital resilience concerns mount as 60% most associate open source with flexibility. 94% Consider open source either very or extremely important to ensuring digital resilienceHead Administrator, USAFor me, digital resilience means we’re not dependent on a single system or provider and can pivot when things go wrong.
CxO, France, RetailYou can cope with, adapt to, and recover from digital challenges — without falling apart when technology goes sideways
Survey Question:
In your own words, what does it mean to be digitally resilient?