The CIO/CISO’s dilemma

Digital sovereignty is a trade-off.

Tight Control

On the one hand, you have the classical solutions: the on-premise, the housing, and the private clouds, which are what I call tight control.

You can see the lights blinking. You can touch the machines. You can see the cables. You can say: my data is there. It's in my basement, my server room, or my trusted partner. Tight control.

Innovation Frontier

On the other hand, there is the public cloud, which offers that irresistible call of innovation: AI, machine learning, data analytics, unlimited storage, and scalability—you know, the benefits of a public cloud.

And I call that the innovation frontier. That is where the real magic happens, but it is less control.

Controlled Innovation

So, in the middle, where you can have the best of both worlds, is what we call the sovereign cloud, which I say is controlled innovation. You will have to compromise on the features of the public cloud. So you won't have all those nice features, but you will get a lot.

Of course, you don't have the exact same control as if it were running in your basement, but you do have way better control with a sovereign cloud.

The CIO/CISO’s dilemma

So, as a CIO, CISO, or security architect, it is your job to make a decision. Will you go for maximum sovereignty or minimum sovereignty? How far do you want to go? And that has to be evaluated for each application and each use case.

Jetro WILS is the founder of BlueDragon Security, where he helps organizations operate safely in this cloud era by strengthening their digital security and compliance.

Disclaimer: This article is written in a personal capacity, and the views expressed are solely mine. They do not represent the positions, strategies, or opinions of my clients, who bear no responsibility for this content.