Recent research from Veeam Software highlights differing priorities around data sovereignty and AI adoption among organisations across the EMEA region. While 99% of enterprise decision-makers consider data sovereignty to be important, 72.5% report that they are giving it lower priority in order to accelerate AI initiatives. At the same time, AI workflows represent an area of limited visibility, with 40% of leaders identifying "data used for AI or analytics" as their biggest operational blind spot.
Regional Insights:
United Kingdom: Risk reduction is the primary driver for data sovereignty, with 58% of respondents citing the prevention of data breaches. However, 45% report concerns about visibility into AI-related data.
Germany: German enterprises report balancing data sovereignty and breach prevention with AI innovation. A total of 82% say they prioritise AI development over data controls.
France: French organisations place greater emphasis on protecting intellectual property and sensitive information (46%), particularly in innovation-driven sectors, with comparatively less focus on data sovereignty.
Middle East and Africa: Organisations in these regions report relatively high levels of data sovereignty implementation, with 60% having operationalised their approach. However, 38% cite reliance on third-party vendors as a source of complexity.
Although data sovereignty is widely regarded as a strategic priority, the primary drivers for implementation are compliance-related. Organisations cite reducing the risk of data breaches (44%) and improving data control (43%) as their main objectives. Implementation is most commonly prompted by internal audits (33%) and market expansion (32%).
AI adoption is also influencing organisational priorities, with 68% of respondents reporting that they prioritize broader digital transformation over enhanced data controls. Respondents identify the following as key areas where visibility remains limited:
Public cloud environments (38%)
Cross-border data flows (34%)
Third-party vendors (33%)
In addition, 32% of respondents report significant challenges associated with Shadow IT, resulting in systems operating outside established IT governance processes.
