The crucial question is therefore not whether digital sovereignty is relevant, but whether organisations are aware of how much control they actually have over their IT and what dependencies arise from the use of proprietary solutions.

Digital sovereignty as a positive design principle

As long as systems are stable, dependencies often remain invisible. Only when framework conditions change, for example due to new licence models, the announced or short-term end of life of central software, limited integration options or additional regulatory requirements, do the consequences of digital dependencies become clear.

End-of-life situations are among the clearest manifestations of vendor lock-in. They make it clear how strongly technical and organisational decisions depend on external specifications and how limited one's own room for manoeuvre is if there are no alternatives.

Sovereign IT creates adaptability and reduces structural risks. Digital infrastructure should therefore not be evaluated solely on the basis of short-term efficiency, but also on long-term sustainability, transparency and controllability.

Why proprietary dependencies prevent digital sovereignty

Proprietary software solutions are established in many IT landscapes, but are often accompanied by limited transparency. Source code, development decisions and technical dependencies are outside the direct influence of the users.

The performance and user-friendliness are not a question of the licence model.Modern open source software is in no way inferior to proprietary solutions in terms of functionality, scalability and usability. Products such as OpenCloud or OpenTalk are specifically developed with user-friendliness, accessibility and professional use in mind.

Digital sovereignty cannot be achieved in part. Either organisations control their digital infrastructure or they don't.

Open source as the basis of digital sovereignty

Open source creates the structural conditions for implementing digital sovereignty in practice. Open source code enables independent testing, facilitates integration into existing systems and creates transparency about security-relevant mechanisms. Open standards ensure that software remains interoperable and does not end up in isolated ecosystems. This creates freedom of choice: in operation, in further development and in the selection of service providers. This freedom of choice is a central element of sovereign IT strategies.

Digital sovereignty not only has a technical dimension, but also a strategic and political one. In her guest article in the it daily "Deutschland-Stack: Das Potenzial zur digitalen Souveränität", our Co-CEO Jutta Horstmann describes why open standards, open source and binding criteria are crucial to making state digital infrastructures controllable and verifiable in the long term.

The article makes it clear that digital sovereignty is effective when strategic objectives are consistently translated into architecture, code and operation.

Recognising dependencies and shaping them with confidence

Digital sovereignty does not mean avoiding all dependencies. It means making dependencies transparent and consciously managing them. Where alternatives are lacking or changes are disproportionately costly, digital sovereignty does not actually exist.

We show how such dependencies arise and how open source can help to minimise risks in the article "Avoiding vendor lock-in: Open source as risk minimisation". In addition, the article "US law in European data centres? The CLOUD Act makes it possible" makes it clear that digital sovereignty also has a legal dimension and is not solely dependent on the physical storage location of the data.

The blocking of the email account of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court by a US provider showed just how concrete the lack of digital sovereignty can be. The court was considerably restricted in its work as a result, not for technical reasons, but due to external political decisions. The case illustrates that digital sovereignty determines whether organisations remain capable of acting even in critical situations.

OpenCloud: Digital sovereignty consistently implemented

OpenCloud clearly stands for digital sovereignty. As an open source platform for file management and collaboration, OpenCloud follows open standards and a transparent architecture. Organisations retain full control over their data and decide for themselves who has access and how the platform is operated. 
Digital sovereignty is a conscious decision in favour of control, transparency and long-term design capability. Open source is not an additional feature, but a central building block. Open architectures create the basis for digital infrastructures that enable organisations to act in a self-determined manner, both now and in the future.