Questions of data, control, compliance and dependency are moving rapidly to the centre of strategic decision-making across Europe. Where is data processed? Which vendors do organisations want to depend on? How much control remains when artificial intelligence becomes deeply embedded in business processes?
Digital sovereignty has evolved from an abstract political debate into an operational reality. At the same time, organisations face growing pressure to modernise and innovate, making the balance between innovation and control more critical than ever.
This shift is reflected in Gartner’s outlook for the coming years. In late 2025, Gartner analyst Gene Alvarez stated: “For technology leaders, 2026 will be a pivotal year as disruption, innovation and risk accelerate at an unprecedented pace.” One of the trends Gartner expects to shape this new environment is Geopatriation.
The term describes a strategic movement towards more localised and sovereign technology environments. To maintain control over data residency, compliance and governance, Gartner predicts that “75% of enterprises in Europe and the Middle East will migrate virtual workloads to solutions designed to reduce geopolitical risk.” It is a development that Matrix42 has been actively supporting and helping to shape for years.
In discussions with CIOs, IT leaders and decision-makers across industries, our management team and consultants see a clear shift in how organisations evaluate technology.
The conversation is no longer limited to which solution offers the most features, delivers the fastest implementation or promises the quickest return on investment. Increasingly, organisations are asking which decisions will remain viable in the long term.
They want to understand where their data is processed, what dependencies specific platforms create and how new technologies can be integrated into established governance and compliance frameworks. Topics that were once addressed primarily during procurement processes or audits are now becoming part of the strategic planning of modernisation initiatives from the outset.
Artificial intelligence provides a particularly visible example of this change. Only a few years ago, the primary question was how quickly organisations could benefit from new AI-driven capabilities. Today, the discussion is broader. Organisations want innovation, but they also want transparency, control and accountability. Speed remains important, but it is no longer the only success criterion.
At the same time, we see growing relevance in the concept of software made in Europe. However, this relevance comes with clear expectations.
Organisations expect technology to be powerful and innovative. They also expect transparency, regulatory responsibility, freedom of choice and the ability to retain control over their own digital environment. For many enterprises and public sector organisations, these considerations have become an integral part of their digital transformation strategies.
As a result, digital sovereignty has become more than a compliance topic. It reflects a fundamental shift in how technology investments are evaluated. Functionality, usability and automation capabilities remain essential, but resilience, transparency, governance and long-term strategic flexibility are increasingly influencing purchasing decisions.
This trend is also reflected in the latest Vendor Selection Matrix™ Enterprise Service Management Platforms Europe 2025 by Research in Action, which names Matrix42 “the #1 European powerhouse in Service Management, standing as the primary alternative to ServiceNow in the Continental European marketplace.”
For us at Matrix42, this recognition aligns closely with the principles that have shaped our product strategy for many years: providing organisations with a leading European solution for Enterprise Service Management while helping to actively shape Europe’s digital future.