Why digital sovereignty is a fast-rising priority in an uncertain world.

Enterprise leaders are increasingly understanding that resiliency and digital sovereignty are critically important amid uncertain times and rapid change.

CIOs are responding fast: More than 75% of non-U.S. enterprises will have a digital sovereignty strategy by 2030, according to Gartner research. 

Many blame geopolitical tensions. But for Julio Guijarro, CTO, EMEA at Red Hat, the key driver is something else: growing business vulnerability to technology failures.

Events like the recent Spanish blackout taking data centres offline, licensing changes from major vendors and US hyperscaler failures causing European outages “are highlighting the weaknesses of the supply chain for the technology stack,” says Guijarro, speaking in a CIO webcast.

Digital sovereignty means more than just data residency, Guijarro says. CIOs must also ensure compliance with regulations like NIS2 and the Cyber Resilience Act. They need operational resilience — managing risks around who runs their infrastructure, where they’re based and technology licensing terms. And they require the right people to run and evolve that technology — something he feels is often forgotten.

For Guijarro, the answer lies in open source. “The only way that you have control of your destiny is being able to own that software,” he says. “But it’s not only about owning the software as a closed source, it’s owning the software to the point that you can even develop it.”

Open source is essential for digital sovereignty because it gives organisations the ability to operate software long-term, the guarantee of having people who can fix vulnerabilities and the freedom to keep evolving it as the business demands, he says.

To watch the full Webcast Series ‘The rise of digital sovereignty’, click below

• Episode 2: Driving innovation in enterprises optimised around digital sovereignty
• Episode 3: The practical steps IT leaders must take to pivot toward a sovereign future