Sovereignty Is Not a Destination - It's an Operating Capability
Commvault, Friday, November 6th, 2026
Commvault's STRIVE discussion frames digital sovereignty as an operating capability built on dependency mapping and resilience.
In a Commvault STRIVE episode, Dirk Deridder, CTO of Belgian public-sector ICT provider Smals, and Mark Molyneux, Commvault's CTO of Northern Europe, describe sovereignty as an operating capability rather than a destination.
They note sovereignty has become a top agenda item for EU customers, and say CIOs can control their organization's digital autonomy and resilience even if national sovereignty is a policy matter.
Deridder suggests a portability time objective for critical services and identifies identity and access management as a major source of technical gravity.
They recommend a risk-based approach that maps dependencies, classifies critical services, secures exit terms in contracts, and regularly tests moving data between providers.