Digital Sovereignty as a Key to Secure Contract Management

In the face of increasing cyber risks, global tensions, and growing awareness of digital sovereignty¹, more and more European companies are asking themselves, "Who has access to our data, and where is it stored?"

US cloud giants currently hold over 70 percent of the European market². A bitkom study titled "Digital Sovereignty: How Dependent Is Our Economy?"³ also revealed that 81 % of German companies depend on the US for digital technology. Recent examples illustrate the far-reaching consequences of this dependency. For instance, a well-known US service provider abruptly blocked the email account of Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who then had to switch to a Swiss email provider⁴.

This uncertainty poses a risk to the data sovereignty, compliance, and innovative capacity of European companies. Therefore, it is crucial to strengthen one's digital sovereignty and rely on providers that securely and legally store and process data within Europe.

Advantages of European Cloud Providers

• Reliable and legally compliant data protection: Reliable and legally compliant data protection: Strict data protection requirements apply in Europe. US providers, however, are bound by the US Cloud Act to hand over data to US authorities, even if it's stored in Europe. This conflicts with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), creating legal challenges for companies. Using European providers enables better data control, security, and compliance with the GDPR.
• High resilience in uncertain times: Regulatory developments⁵ and EU initiatives aim to bolster Europe's technological expertise and digital autonomy. Companies that control their digital infrastructure and technologies can better withstand business interruptions caused by geopolitical uncertainties, sanctions, or supply chain problems. Companies that rely on trustworthy European providers enjoy greater independence and more stable business processes.
• Decisive competitive advantage through trust: Companies that use technologies from Europe therefore not only increase their own data security, but also create an advantage in terms of trust, which can be decisive in tenders and customer acquisition⁶.
• Long-term investment security: Announced US tariffs and the digital tax on US IT services being discussed by the EU could lead to significant price increases for users⁷. Therefore, it makes strategic sense to switch to European providers early on to avoid additional costs.

Relevance for Contract Management

The growing number of companies choosing European alternatives over US cloud providers is a significant development in contract management. Since contract management software typically involves highly sensitive information, hidden dependencies, unclear data flows, and unauthorized third-party access must be strictly avoided.

For this reason, the European contract management software Fabasoft Contracts only provides data locations within Europe - either in Austria, Germany or Switzerland. Internationally recognized certificates from independent auditing bodies such as the C5 certificate of the BSI, the EU Cloud Code of Conduct at Level 3 and the IDW PS 880 certificate confirm the highest standards of data protection and security.

Summary

Using EU cloud service providers for contract management software ensures data protection and compliance and offers economic and operational advantages. Given current political and technological developments, shifting to European providers is becoming a strategic necessity for companies that want to preserve their data sovereignty and efficiently and securely organize their contract processes.

^{1 | „Digital sovereignty describes the abilities and opportunities of individuals and institutions to perform their role(s) in the digital world in an independent, self-determined and secure manner.“ CIO Bund - Digitale Souveränität}

^{2 | Europas digitaler Wendepunkt: EU-Projekt „8ra“ gegen US-Dominanz im Cloud-Markt}

^{3 | Digitale Souveränität 2025 | Studienbericht | Studie 2025 | Bitkom e. V.}

^{4 | Strafgerichtshof: Microsofts E-Mail-Sperre als Weckruf für digitale Souveränität | heise online} 

^{5 | See also eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52021DC0118}

^{6 | Deutsche sehen Datenschutz positiv - Security - connect professional}

^{7 | EU diskutiert Digitalsteuer - Behörden Spiegel}