SAP launches sovereign cloud service for UK customers

SAP has announced new sovereign cloud capabilities in the UK, meaning customers will now be able to process data entirely within the borders of the country.

The offering is now fully operational and available to customers, SAP said in a statement, and is designed to meet the highest standards of data residency, security, and compliance within the UK.

It’s targeted specifically at public sector organizations, critical national infrastructure such as utility firms, and any other highly regulated industries. SAP said it’s particularly relevant for organizations in aerospace, defense, government, and energy or natural resources.

The offering includes a range of SAP products, including SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition, SAP SuccessFactors HCM, SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP Analytics Cloud, and others.

This move builds on SAP’s initial investment into the UK in 2021, the firm said, and aligns with growing customer demand for sovereign cloud services that ensure security and compliance.

“In today’s complex global environment, it is vital for our customers to understand that their data, as well as our solutions and services, are secure,” Leila Romane, managing director, SAP UK & Ireland, said.

“These are managed by security-cleared personnel in dedicated, local, secure facilities. Sovereignty is essential in protecting against unlawful data access, ensuring compliance, and mitigating risk,” she added.

SAP jumps on the sovereign cloud bandwagon

SAP is the latest in a string of businesses to announce sovereign cloud offerings as customers in the UK and Europe flock to data residency options. Analysts previously told ITPro that sovereign capabilities are now the “bare minimum” for cloud providers.

Oracle has been pushing particularly hard on this front, unveiling a dedicated sovereign cloud region in Europe in 2023 and talking up demand for sovereign cloud more recently at Oracle CloudWorld 2024.

Oracle CTO and chairman Larry Ellison even went so far as to predict that most international governments will want a sovereign cloud region, with Oracle well placed to serve that demand.

Other firms have been rolling out services in this domain as well. Rackspace unveiled a sovereign cloud service targeting UK public sector customers earlier this year, for example, while Scottish cloud provider DataVita and HPE announced a dedicated sovereign cloud service for UK customers in August.

Similarly, Microsoft rolled out data residency plans in Europe at the start of this year, with one tech analyst telling ITPro that the move had been a “long time coming.”

The demand for sovereign cloud has to do largely with regulatory compliance in Europe. Data on a sovereign cloud must reside entirely within the borders of a region, and so its risk of being accessed by another region is reduced massively.

This is an attractive feature for certain businesses, particularly public sector ones and those in critical infrastructure, as it ensures that potentially sensitive or high-risk data is protected from external access.

Some data processing regulations also demand that data be processed in-region, with EU regulators in particular focusing heavily on these requirements.