Gartner Survey Reveals Geopolitics Will Drive 61% of CIOs and IT Leaders in Western Europe to Increase Reliance on Local Cloud Providers

Sixty-one percent of  Western European CIOs and IT leaders said geopolitical factors will increase their reliance on local or regional cloud providers, according to a survey from Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.

The survey was conducted online from May through July 2025 among 241 CIOs and IT leaders in Western Europe to determine their cloud-related technology purchases and adoption.

Amid ongoing geopolitical tensions, organizations in Western Europe are increasingly worried about their digital sovereignty – having their data, operations, and technology hosted by foreign cloud providers and relying on foreign cloud infrastructure. Gartner predicts that by 2030, more than 75% of all enterprises outside of the U.S. will have a digital sovereignty strategy, supported by a sovereign cloud strategy.

Speaking at Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo in Barcelona, Rene Buest, Sr Director Analyst at Gartner, said “Many Western European organizations can’t run all of their workloads or core systems in a non-European cloud environment. This is either because they are subject to specific regulations, their customers demand it, or they are considered part of a country’s critical infrastructure.”

Some Western European organizations have begun seeking ways to reduce their reliance on global cloud providers. Fifty-three percent of Western European CIOs and IT leaders said geopolitics will restrict their organizations’ future use of global cloud providers (see Figure 1).

Organizations Could Consider Geopatriation and Open-Source Technologies

Some organizations in Western Europe are considering moving their workloads from global cloud vendors to local alternatives. “While geopatriation can enable local cloud options to meet geopolitical needs, full independence from global tech vendors will take several years of ongoing effort and investments by local providers,” Buest said.

For others, open source could be a viable option. Fifty-five percent of CIOs and IT leaders said open-source technologies will be an important factor in their future cloud strategies. While open-source favors customization and flexibility, it also presents challenges as many projects are complex and smaller projects often need to be coordinated with one another.

“Organizations that have been slower to adopt cloud technologies are now in a favorable position to plan for greater digital sovereignty,” said Buest. “Since they mainly have legacy systems, they can carefully choose which cloud solutions or platforms are best suited for each part of their operations.”

Overall, CIOs and IT leaders must take responsibility for their organization’s digital destiny. “They must create and protect their own organization’s digital sovereignty,” said Buest. “No one else will protect their organization’s digital sovereignty – neither their cloud provider nor their service provider.”

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