Data Sovereignty Priority in France, Germany, UK, and USA

Scality, Inc. announced the results of an independent survey of IT decision makers across France, Germany, UK, and USA about their data sovereignty plans and strategies.

98% of organizations either already have regulations and policies in place or have plans to implement them, while a variety of cloud strategies including public cloud, hybrid cloud, and regional cloud service providers, are the technologies of choice to meet these needs.

According to the survey, the vast majority of organizations across all 4 regions either have sovereignty regulations or policies in place to keep their data in specific locations (80%) or have plans to do so (18%). Unlike new technologies, where rates of adoption can vary significantly between regions, the survey indicates that implementation of sovereignty policies and regulations is a global trend: there are minimal differences between France (where 81% of respondents have policies in place), Germany (79%), UK (82%), and USA (78%). Just 2% of respondents said they do not have sovereignty regulations or policies in place, nor do they plan to implement them. Clearly data sovereignty is an important item on the boardroom agenda.

Cloud technologies are set to benefit from this trend, with IT teams implementing a number of cloud storage strategies to achieve data sovereignty.

Of the organizations from the 4 geographies that have sovereignty regulations and policies in place or have plans to implement them:
1. 40% primarily (will) store their data on a large public cloud such as specific regions in AWS, Azure or Google,
2. 36% of respondents (will) deploy a combined on-premises/public cloud solution i.e. hybrid cloud,
3. 13% (will) store their data with a regional cloud service provider,
4. and 11% of respondents said they (will) use an on-premises data center.

While public cloud providers provide options to store data in specific regions, this isn’t an option for many organizations which house highly sensitive data or wish to avoid vendor lock in, along with unexpected and exorbitant data access or egress fees synonymous with public cloud. 33% of respondents in the survey opted for a solution that combines on-premises or private clouds with public clouds, enabling the flexibility and control to store data where it makes the most sense, and freedom to easily migrate data to another platform at any time.

Scality said: “It is extremely encouraging to see that such a high number of organizations already have plans in place to keep their data in local organizations. From conversations with our customers, they need options to meet sovereignty policies while also ensuring they have the flexibility and control to cost-effectively manage their growing datasets.”

In the survey conducted by Vanson Bourne, IT decision makers from several industries including manufacturing, telecom, professional services, financial services, and retail, were asked: “To what extent does your organization have sovereignty regulations or policies in place to keep your data in specific locations (e.g., local, in specific countries or regions)?” Respondents that currently have or are planning on implementing sovereignty regulations or policies in place to keep data in specific locations were asked: “How are you primarily storing or planning to store the data?“

Key findings in France include:
1. 81% of respondents have already adopted data sovereignty regulations and policies, and 18% plan to do so.
2. Organizations in the business and professional services, and the retail, distribution, and transport sectors, are most likely to already have data sovereignty regulations in place, with both at 89%, while respondents in the IT, technology and telecoms sector are least likely to have such plans in place at 67%.
3. When it comes to the strategy for implementing data sovereignty regulations and policies, 52% (will) leverage a public cloud service, 33% hybrid cloud, 8% a regional service provider and 7% an on-premises data center. Interestingly, compared to the other regions, France is most likely to opt for the public cloud (at 52% against an average of 40%). This might be due to respondents answering public cloud while thinking of telcos such as Orange which is extremely prominent in the region.

Key findings in Germany include:
1. 79% of respondents have already implemented sovereignty policies or regulations while 19% have plans to do so. Just 2% do not have any sovereignty plans. German manufacturing organizations are significantly behind the 79% average, with 69% having policies and regulations in place, however the remaining 31% have plans to implement them. It is also noteworthy that in Germany, SMB (1,000-2,999 employees) are better prepared than larger ones (over 3,000 employees), with 85% having implemented sovereignty policies compared to 73%.
2. With regards to current storage solution blends, Germany has the lowest rate of public cloud data storage use (32% against a global average of 40%), the second highest rate of combined storage usage (38% versus a 36% average), and by far the highest use of a regional cloud provider (21% compared the average of 13%). Germany and France are least likely to select on-premises storage (9% and 7% against the average of 11%).
3. Drilling down further, German respondents from smaller companies are slightly more likely to select the public cloud compared to hybrid cloud (32% vs. 28%), while large businesses are far more likely to opt for hybrid (47%) than public cloud (31%) usage. In Germany, the other commercial sector and business and professional services sector stand out for their heavy reliance on hybrid solutions (57% and 67%), although the samples (8 and 10) are very small. Only the other commercial sector in UK (at 67%) matches this reliance.

Key findings in UK include:
1. 82% of respondents have already adopted data sovereignty regulations and policies, and 13% plan to do so. 5% do not have plans to implement them in the future; they are most likely to come from a smaller sized organization (1,000-2,999 employees).
2. Organizations from the IT, technology, and telecoms sector, as well as the business and professional services sector, and the financial services sector, are most likely to already have regulations and policies in place at 92%, 90%, and 88% respectively. UK manufacturing organizations are significantly behind the average, with 62% having policies and regulations in place, while 31% have plans to implement them, and 8% do not plan to implement them.
3. When it comes to the strategy for implementing data sovereignty regulations and policies, 33% (will) use a public cloud service, 42% hybrid cloud, 14% a regional service provider and 12% an on-premises data center.
4. Respondents from smaller organizations (1,000-2,999 employees) are significantly more likely to select public cloud service (45%), while larger organizations (3,000+ employees) are more likely to select hybrid cloud (49%).

Key findings in USA include:
1. 78% of respondents have already adopted data sovereignty regulations and policies, and 21% plan to do so. Just 1% said they do not have plans to implement them in the future.
2. Organizations from the business and professional services (90%) and the manufacturing (86%) sectors are most likely to already have regulations and policies in place.
3. When it comes to the strategy for implementing data sovereignty regulations and policies, 41% (will) use a public cloud service, 33% hybrid cloud, 12% a regional service provider and 14% an on-premises data center. Compared to the other regions, USA. is most likely to opt for an on-premises data center (at 14% against an average of 11%).
4. Respondents from smaller organizations (1,000-2,999 employees) are significantly more likely to select public cloud service (43%) or regional cloud service provider (14%), while larger organizations (3,000+ employees) are more likely to select hybrid cloud (36%) or on-premises data center (15%).