Professional users have a clear idea of what they expect from cloud providers: Compliance requirements, access and rights control and data security are the most important at 75 percent each. 36% of companies would like to use different cloud providers and focus on German or European providers in order to process and protect data and business secrets. For public administrations, the figure is as high as 42%. These were the findings of a recent study conducted by Ionos and Techconsult among 207 German IT decision-makers from a wide range of industries.

Server locations are the main confidence-building factor: if they are located in Germany or the EU, the data must be stored in accordance with the GDPR. This criterion plays an important role for users and often determines whether a particular cloud provider is suitable for a company or not. 56% of respondents stated that they would like to store highly sensitive data in Germany. When it comes to all company data, 44% would still like to store it in Germany. For 31 percent, a European location is sufficient to store highly sensitive data - for all data, the figure is 40 percent. However, cloud providers sometimes leave their customers in the dark about where the physical servers are located (21%). Furthermore, more than one in four companies (44%) do not know who has access to the data stored in the cloud. With regard to the quality of cloud services in their own company, the survey revealed that there is still room for improvement in the integration of open source technologies, interoperability with different service providers and transparency in data storage.

European values in practice

Awareness of GAIA-X: 81% of those who are aware of the initiative have a positive attitude towards it and recognize its great potential.

© Techconsult

Transparency, trust, the pursuit of data sovereignty and the primacy of European data protection: all of these values characterize the actions of the players in the Gaia-X data ecosystem. This initiative aims to combine decentralized infrastructure services such as cloud services or edge systems into a homogeneous, user-friendly system. Thanks to the high interoperability of compatible products, Gaia-X simplifies the management of IT interfaces and integration, especially for multi-cloud strategies. In future, European companies will therefore have a powerful and data protection-compliant alternative to hyperscalers from the USA or China.

Against this backdrop, awareness of the initiative is growing: almost one in six respondents have already obtained specific information about Gaia-X or have heard of it. Just under a quarter signaled a willingness to 'very probably' purchase Gaia-X-compliant services in the future. A large proportion of these are industrial SMEs and institutions from the public sector. Around 60 percent rate future use as 'rather likely', 16 percent believe that use is 'rather unlikely' and only three percent believe it is 'absolutely unlikely'.

Joining digital forces

The role of location in the storage and processing of data: 56 percent of respondents want highly sensitive data to be stored in Germany.

© Techconsult

The majority of respondents see Gaia-X not only as an opportunity to put their own IT on a secure, solid and compliant footing, but also to collaborate with other companies. 60% expect it to promote collaboration in Europe, while 64% see it as an opportunity to catch up on digital backlogs in Germany. For 65%, a European data infrastructure means promoting data-driven innovations in Germany. One example is smart living solutions, in which information from areas such as smart energy and smart mobility is linked in AI-based applications. Advanced technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence are therefore no longer reserved for big players.