Blog | 21 February 2023
Digital sovereignty – what does it mean?
The issue of digital sovereignty has risen high on the agenda. But what does digital sovereignty mean and what does it mean in practice? We unpack this and highlight the need for new digital collaboration tools in the public sector.
Digital sovereignty is, in short, about having control over your own data, that is, your digital information and communications. It means that you should have full control over how your data is stored and managed. This is something that happens at different levels – from companies and organisations to Sweden as a country. Regardless, it is about the need for data to be handled in a safe, secure and legal way with full transparency. The concept may not be easy to understand, so let's break it down further.
Digital sovereignty can be divided into two parts. The first part, which we have already discussed, is about having control over your own data. The second part is about spreading risk, not having all your eggs in one basket and choosing the right baskets. But what does that mean in practice? It's about an organisation taking responsibility and choosing what data to store where. What should be on your own servers? What should be stored in the cloud? And make sure to have full transparency in how the data is handled and that it is in accordance with the GDPR. This is exactly what many are working intensively on right now – reviewing their digital sovereignty. This work is just as important for the public sector as it is for private businesses.
How does the world view digital sovereignty?
Digital sovereignty is nothing new, but discussions about it have intensified in the wake of global unrest. It is a highly topical issue and several countries have chosen to take a position on how to share their data with third countries. In France, for example, the government has decided that schools cannot use Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace because they store personal information on US servers. Germany and the Netherlands have followed France's lead and opted out of Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace. Denmark has banned Google Chromebooks and Google Workspace in schools.
The need for digital collaboration tools remains
Although more and more people are looking for alternatives, the need for tools to chat, have video meetings and share files with each other remains. But what are the alternatives? In Sweden, a number of authorities have taken the lead in finding legal and suitable alternatives. This work has been coordinated by eSam, involving eight authorities and over 170 organisations. The Digital Collaboration Platform for the Public Sector project, also known as dSam, presented its final report in November 2022. The work clearly shows that there are alternatives where the public sector does not have to move in a legal grey area and can instead take full advantage of the benefits that digitalisation provides.
Because fundamentally, the challenge is the same: creating the conditions for employees to collaborate effectively – the difference is to do it in an information-secure and legal way, based on digital sovereignty.
