Digital Independence

Digital independence and sovereignty should be considered just as important as IT security for every company today. Dependence on IT has increased so significantly in recent decades that maintaining operational capability at all times is crucial in day-to-day business.

We believe it is important for everyone living in the EU to strengthen and support their own country and the EU as a whole, and to reduce dependence on third parties. Both individuals and businesses can contribute by sourcing more products, services, and cloud services from within the EU. As a business, this increases resilience and enables it to better manage crises.

The current dependencies are very large and the situation seems sobering.

However, there are already many projects and websites that show alternatives,
e.g.: https://european-alternatives.eu/de/alternativen-zu

and https://europeantechmap.eu/

And there is movement on the part of Europe. Link

But it all starts with changing one's own purchasing behavior and the associated payment processing.

Europe has long been caught in many dependencies; some things can be solved easily and quickly, others cannot.

The major shopping platforms are mostly American or originate from Southeast Asia.

The major payment providers, social media platforms, popular internet browsers, search engines and mobile operating systems predominantly originate from the Americas.

For many IT hardware products, such as CPUs, no alternatives from the EU are available and will not be available in the medium term.

Switching to commercial or open-source software solutions is significantly easier. License and maintenance costs can potentially be reduced by using open-source software. Some changes only require adjusting habits, while others can entail additional costs.

Nevertheless, everyone should be aware of their responsibility and their possibilities and consider what they, and possibly their company, can do to strengthen and protect our environment, our democracy, and our independence. Shopping more locally is also better for the environment and climate. Not all dependencies can be resolved in the foreseeable future, but it's important to start now. Everyone can contribute a little.

We all hold the key to our future. If you want to increase your resilience, we're happy to help and advise you on how you can improve your IT, software, cloud services, and licenses!