Digital sovereignty is no longer a theoretical concept. The ability to exercise control and autonomy over digital assets and technological infrastructure is critical to avoid the risks associated with dependence on third parties, and must be addressed as a strategic issue.

It is already so for nations and states in a context marked by geopolitical tensions, the dominance of large companies from the United States or China, and new challenges in energy matters. Proof of this are the measures promoted from Europe or the Roadmap to accelerate Digital Sovereignty presented by the Government of Spain in February with measures linked to digital public infrastructure, the use of open source or investment in artificial intelligence and data centers.

Beyond the economic framework level, it must also be the same for companies. Digital sovereignty is a tangible issue that affects day-to-day operations and issues that are seemingly simple, but fundamental for the correct development of the business. And in the event of any adverse factor or change in the rules of the market or suppliers, such as changes in prices or terms of use or restrictions on international services, what was promised as efficiency can turn into fragility.

But digital sovereignty does not consist of eliminating that dependency, something that would be naive in a globalized and hyperconnected panorama, but rather about managing it judiciously. This involves changing the way companies make decisions in different areas, but especially in two key areas: the design of technological architecture and data management.

Infrastructure, key to digital sovereignty

As explained to reason.Why From Dinahosting, a company specialized in domains and hosting, one of the main points to work on digital sovereignty is to bet on Open Source software from the base. These are auditable, portable and license-free technologies, which allows us to avoid technological and commercial blockages and guarantee continuity in the event of possible price or policy changes.

It is also important to have migratable architectures and, in this way, have the possibility of truly moving services between different providers, technological stacks, infrastructures or cloud environments. Likewise, as the company points out, it is essential to maintain full control of the data, knowing where it is stored, who accesses it and under what jurisdiction it is located.

In this sense, promoting digital sovereignty could involve having your own registered domain and hosting – or web hosting – on local servers to guarantee a higher response speed, lower latency and protection under European regulations.

Furthermore, in the case of international businesses, you can have a CDN (Content Delivery Network), or in other words, a content distribution network. This allows cache copies of files to be made on servers spread around the world, so that when a request is received from a user, the files are downloaded to the geographically closest server, thus reducing latency times.

The same logic can be applied to data centers, since a proximity location also implies higher speed and lower latency, as well as compliance with data protection and security regulations. In this sense, it will be more advisable for the data center that supports the web infrastructure to be in Spain or Europe, managed by companies in the region, than in the United States or Japan, which operate under other standards.

When choosing the provider, it is advisable to make sure of the security systems implemented to guarantee connectivity. The measures range from alternative power systems, redundant batteries and generator sets to avoid losing connection, backup data centers and independent internet lines to keep them operational in cases of network outages or energy incidents.
In addition, it is important to pay attention to the SLA (Service Level Agreement), which is what suppliers must comply with in order to provide an adequate level of service to our clients, and what they should compensate in case of non-compliance.

To this we should add, as explained by Dinahosting, other aspects. Among them, hardware independence by working with a multi-vendor approach and preventing the entire infrastructure from depending on the equipment and products of a single supplier. And also the internal competencies of the partners, including experience with open systems, staff training or support and assistance channels.

The challenges of digital sovereignty

Although companies are increasingly aware of the importance of digital sovereignty for business operations, they face various challenges when addressing and managing it. The main one of all of them is the dominance of large technology companies such as Amazon, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, which offer convenience under the premise of an apparently simple integrated and payment service offer, but which generate structural dependency.

“I think the biggest challenge for digital sovereignty is convenience: it is very easy for a company to host everything – emails, calendars, files, video calls, documents – on Google or Microsoft because their ecosystem is convenient, easy to use and deploy.”says Camilo Echevarne, Head of Linux Systems at Dinahosting, in conversation with reason.Why. “But that creates a total dependency: if the supplier changes prices, conditions or technologies, the company is left without the ability to react.”.

It also points out that this dependence may be aggravated in the current context of development of artificial intelligence. If the foundation of a company is artificial intelligence and it depends on a single provider, be it Google, Anthropic or OpenAI, it means that it will not be able to easily make migrations, that unilateral decisions regarding privacy or data use will be experienced and, consequently, control over the technological evolution of the business would be lost.

To this, Dinahosting also points to other challenges. On the one hand, the shortage of specialized talent capable of operating infrastructures based on open standards; as well as training. Many companies have outsourced the technology, but also the knowledge about how it works and the result is a double dependence: on the tool and on who knows how to use it.

On the other hand, there is also the existence of hardware supply chains that, even with multi-manufacturer suppliers, prevent the total elimination of physical dependence. “Total independence is complex, but it is possible to build a semi-autonomous architecture if you opt, as in our case, for open standards, migratable infrastructures and multiple providers.“, comments Echevarne. “In short, managing dependency is achieved with three key points: portability, interoperability and data sovereignty”.

The implications of digital sovereignty in marketing

Beyond the impact of dependence on the company’s technological development, digital sovereignty is an issue that has implications for the brand and marketing strategy. The link, both in services and perception, to third parties, and especially to large technology firms, can affect tangible elements, such as customer experience, or intangible elements, such as reputation or consumer trust.

The greater the autonomy of the company, the greater its control over the relationship with customers. In this sense, the intelligent management of one’s own data and the prioritization of direct channels for communication, such as the newsletter, the CRM, or one’s own content managers, become relevant. With this, although total independence cannot be achieved, brands will enhance their governance and control.

As explained by Dinahosting, the issue is an issue that is gaining weight in the concerns of all agents: companies seek continuity and technological self-sufficiency, while customers demand privacy and compliance with the RGPD. “Furthermore, in our experience, the end user is beginning to distrust technology giants and value transparency, control over data, ethical technology and digital sustainability.“, assures Echevarne. “Therefore, digital sovereignty is an increasingly valued commercial argument.”.

In this sense, working on digital sovereignty can be both a strategic advantage and a differentiating element that contributes to the positioning of a brand. To achieve this, it must be understood that technological investment goes beyond incorporating tools and obtaining functionalities, and that it requires the construction of an ecosystem that allows changing, deciding and being flexible to adapt to the market and consumers.