New global research from Everpure revealed that 88% of large enterprise C-suite leaders believe a data sovereignty failure could cost them their jobs, while 91% worry about financial and reputational damage to their organisations.

Data sovereignty has evolved into a defining business risk — with challenges ranging from foreign-mandated data exfiltration to potential Denial of Service (DoS) incidents. Everpure’s Global Data Sovereignty Report 2026 surveyed 2,100 enterprise leaders across eight countries to evaluate strategic intent against real operational readiness.

Despite these high stakes, 64% of organisations operate without a formal data sovereignty strategy in place — exposing a vulnerability in modern enterprise data management in today’s uncertain geopolitical environment.

The results of the study — conducted by Vanson Bourne to examine the views of 2,100 C-suite and IT leaders from large enterprises across the UK, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and India — reveal a stark divide:

Data sovereignty concern is real

• 90% of organisations recognise data sovereignty as a business concern, with the overwhelming majority expecting severe financial or leadership consequences in the event of a failure.
• 85% are willing to compromise on advanced features and functionality to work with a local or sovereign provider.
• 40% are already limiting their use of SaaS providers reliant on non-domestic infrastructure.

Recognition without readiness

• Despite these revelations, 64% of organisations operate without a formal data sovereignty strategy in place.
• 62% lack full visibility into who can access, control and manage their data.
• 56% have no mitigation plans for geopolitical data exfiltration or service disruption.
• 56% admit they lack the skills and capacity to deliver sovereignty initiatives, while 36% are facing challenges with executive buy-in.
• Only 9% say protection from extraterritorial data access is a top priority.

The findings expose a clear “sovereignty gap” between executive recognition of risk and actual operational readiness. Many companies still treat sovereignty as a routine cybersecurity or compliance exercise. As a result, organisations fail to secure control of their data, and cannot defend against geopolitical threats that could result in significant consequences.

“Senior leaders understand their jobs are on the line over data sovereignty, yet many are still focused on the wrong risks,” said Alex McMullan, Chief Technology Officer, International, Everpure. “Sovereignty is not simply about where data is stored, but having full visibility and control over it through modern data management. Who can access data, which jurisdictions apply and whether business-critical data or services could be disrupted are key questions every organisation should be asking.”

Rahiel Nasir, Research Director and Lead Analyst, Worldwide Digital Sovereignty, IDC, concurred: “Digital sovereignty has moved from a compliance conversation to a critical board-level concern. The challenge for executives is not just about knowing where their data are hosted. It is about being in total control of all data access and transfers (including all metadata), guaranteed protection against extra-territorial data requests, and managing IT and vendor risks in light of geopolitical uncertainties.”

Sovereignty by design

According to Everpure, a successful sovereignty strategy requires moving from passive risk recognition to targeted operational execution. Organisations can follow a set of interconnected steps to become sovereign by design — a business-driven, risk-aware framework where sovereignty controls and governance are applied according to the risk of each data set, application and workload.

The focus shifts from national sovereignty to corporate sovereignty, an approach based on an organisation’s specific risk appetite and view on regulation.

This model enables businesses to protect critical assets from key sovereignty risks without sacrificing the flexibility, innovation or scale of global SaaS and cloud providers. Everpure Data Intelligence supports this model by discovering, classifying and contextualising enterprise data across the Everpure Platform, public clouds, SaaS applications, and third-party storage. This facilitates sovereignty by providing total visibility of their data estate, enabling organisations to make informed decisions about how data should be governed and protected.

By focusing on data and mitigating against risks, organisations can become sovereign by design – transforming sovereignty from a barrier to innovation to a source of resilience and competitive advantage.