Digital autonomy: a decision to make, not a slogan to display

Europe’s moment of truth

For the last few decades, European organizations have questioned their level of independence as a whole, and more or less in theory. Independence was seen in terms of how to feed Europeans, protect them from the threat of war and make sure energy and water were massively available to them.

It now seems that Europeans discovered in January 2025 that Digital and Data are present in every aspect of our economic, governmental and personal activities. It’s as though we Europeans woke up with a severe hangover, suddenly realizing that over the last 20 years, we had been letting every social body and, even more importantly, every information field be controlled by non-European tycoons. 

We wonder – with the bitter taste of anxiety – “Where are the data?” “What if a cloud service gets cut?” “Who owns what in this complex IT world?”

Recent geopolitical events (the war in Ukraine, trade announcements in the US, the war in the Middle East) have made the issue urgent and no longer a mere theory, just as it happened with energy with the war in Ukraine. Dependency on foreign technologies is no longer a risk, but a fact that has to be tackled, not by intentions and theories but through projects. 

Collaborative tools: a blind spot in the digital autonomy debate

The cloud has taken a central place in the sovereignty debate for good reason. We need to store our data physically where we can master them without any entry point for third parties. To put it simply, you can guarantee the sovereignty of your data by putting them in a private cloud, on-premise and/or in Sovereign clouds, and the job is done.

But what about the software? What about the code? This is no negligible detail, because it affects IP (Intellectual Property) and economic and technology dependency. Is it mine or not? What can I do with it? Change it? Adapt it? What if my software service is suddenly unavailable? What if my provider raises its price by 30% each year?

Let’s take an example: collaborative workplace platforms.

When we talk about collaborative tools, emails, document sharing and videoconferencing, we are not talking about commodities. We are talking about the beating heart of a company’s or public service’s operations. Remove them, and the entire organization crumbles.

We have all become used to Microsoft and Google tools. Let’s imagine that the threat to suspend services to the Greenlandic administration is put into action by US officials. Let’s think about the cancellation of the Microsoft Office account of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan – not because of a technical issue, but because of political pressure.

Let’s consider some concrete examples concerning  the  City of Lyon, cities in Denmark  and the German Army a while ago. The common point of the decision-making here is that the politicians in charge received a proper open, lobby -free explanation of alternatives with their benefits and potential drawbacks. They requested their IT teams to draw up plans that respect users and are using a step-by-step approach based on trial and error. The counter examples are numerous and will probably receive a lot of media attention, causing citizens to question the free will and independence of their administrations and politics. 

For administrations and more largely organizations providing public services like transport, energy and water, sovereignty is not an option but a responsibility. For European businesses (especially those operating primarily in Europe), this is a unique opportunity to reclaim control and build resilience for the coming decades.

From audit to action: how Smile supports the journey

At Smile, we’ve developed a mature model to help organizations assess their level of digital dependence on business applications, the cloud, data, or vendors. We use:

• Dependency matrices
• Tech radars with open-source alternatives
• Criticality assessments based on data sensitivity and business processes

The result is a tailored roadmap, with realistic steps and technology recommendations for moving from dependency to autonomy.

Change management is the real challenge

Let’s be honest. The technical side is not the hardest part. What matters most is change management. To succeed, an organization needs a real transformation program driven by top management, which includes awareness, training, explanations about the “why”, and governance. It’s not just about replacing tools: it’s about rebuilding a culture of control and purpose.

Smile: open-source experts, execution-driven

At Smile, we don’t just write reports. We deliver. We’ve been building open digital solutions for 30 years. We are doers! And we are highly trusted partners for companies and public institutions.

Autonomy is not a dream. It’s a collective mission. And Europe, with its talent, innovation and tech communities, has everything it needs to lead the way.

There’s no turning back now: we must make Europe autonomous. Don't wait to contact us !