Digital sovereignty – when even governments rethink, companies should not wait
France’s planned migration from Microsoft Windows to Linux and to European IT systems highlights a clear reality: digital sovereignty is no longer an abstract concept for the future. It is a strategic decision with significant political implications. The motivation is straightforward – the French government aims to reduce dependencies on non-European providers and regain control over its infrastructure, data and technological direction.
Why France is changing course
France’s strategy goes far beyond adopting a new operating system. It involves a coordinated transformation across multiple layers – including databases, collaboration tools, AI systems, antivirus software and network infrastructure. The objective is not only to modernize the technical foundation, but above all to reduce reliance on external platforms and their underlying business models. From France’s perspective, dependence on non-European providers for core administrative IT systems represents a strategic, political and economic risk.
Sovereignty begins with data exchange
Digital sovereignty does not start with operating systems or cloud architectures. It begins much earlier – with the secure exchange of sensitive information. Whenever contracts, financial data or research documents are shared via e-mail or traditional US-based cloud storage, risks arise in terms of confidentiality, traceability and access control.
E-mail is not suitable for sensitive documents, as files are not adequately protected and may be intercepted, manipulated or stolen. With conventional US cloud storage solutions, key questions remain unresolved: who has technical, organizational and legal access to the data, and how effectively permissions, logging and versioning can be controlled. For companies subject to compliance requirements, this quickly becomes a critical issue.
The advantages of virtual data rooms
This is where German and European virtual data rooms (VDRs) such as netfiles Data Room come into play. They are specifically designed for secure and controlled data exchange. Compared to e-mail or standard cloud solutions, they offer significantly higher levels of protection – for example through granular access rights that can be centrally managed, and detailed activity logs that record exactly who accessed or modified which documents and when. In addition, your data is protected not only during transfer but also at rest through secure AES-256 encryption.
Another key advantage is data sovereignty: data stored in a German or European data room is protected from non-European access. In contrast, US providers are required to grant authorities access to customer data upon request – even if that data is stored in European data centers.
Typical benefits of a professional European data room such as netfiles Data Room include:
High security standards and data hosting in Europe
Granular, role-based access permissions
Encryption during transfer and storage
Automatic document versioning
Direct editing of Office documents within the data room
Comprehensive audit trails documenting all user activity
Companies are still hesitant
Despite these advantages, the netfiles trend study “Data sovereignty in the exchange of confidential data in German companies” shows that many organizations remain cautious when it comes to digital sovereignty. This reflects a familiar pattern: the risks are well understood and the pressure to act is increasing, yet implementation is often postponed.
This is precisely the challenge. Digital sovereignty cannot be deferred without consequences – dependencies and risks continue to grow with every new project and every insecurely shared document. France’s approach demonstrates that even governments are now actively working to reduce these dependencies.
Conclusion
Digital sovereignty is not merely a technical issue – it is a strategic prerequisite for security, independence and long-term resilience. France is demonstrating that transitioning to European IT solutions can be an effective way to regain control and reduce dependencies. Companies should take note: those who continue to exchange confidential data via e-mail or standard cloud services are accepting avoidable risks.
A virtual data room is therefore not just a nice-to-have, but a key building block of digital sovereignty.
Interested?
If you are looking to reduce your dependence on non-European providers, test our virtual data room free of charge for 14 days – with no subscription commitment.
If you have any questions, our team will be happy to assist you. We look forward to hearing from you.