EMEA firms prioritise AI speed over data sovereignty, says research

Visibility gaps also extent beyond AI

Organisations across EMEA are accelerating AI adoption at the expense of data visibility and control, creating growing risks around sovereignty and compliance.

The study, commissioned by Veeam, highlights a widening disconnect between boardroom intent and operational reality. 99% of enterprise decision-makers say data sovereignty is critical, yet nearly three-quarters (72.5%) admit it is being deprioritised in favour of faster AI rollouts.

The rapid expansion of AI is exposing significant blind spots in enterprise data environments. According to the research, AI and analytics workloads now represent the biggest visibility gap, with 40% of respondents citing them as their top operational blind spot.

This comes as AI adoption reaches scale. Veeam’s research shows 88% of organisations are already running AI agents, yet only 7% say they are fully prepared to manage them.

The result is a growing “trust gap” between what organisations are deploying and what they can effectively govern.

UK is risk-aware, but still exposed

In the UK, the research suggests organisations are highly attuned to risk but struggle to manage it, in part because visibility is challenging.

58% of UK respondents cite breach prevention as the primary driver for data sovereignty efforts. However, 45% say AI-related data is their biggest blind spot - the highest proportion saying so in Europe.

It’s symptomatic of the wider challenge facing enterprise IT teams. Regulatory awareness is strong, but effective action of often hampered by limited visibility across increasingly complex data environments.

European priorities

Veeam’s research showed that attitudes to data governance in other European countries are probably a bit more flexible than the EU acting as a bloc would suggest.

For example, German organisations are the most willing to prioritise innovation over control, with 82% saying AI development takes precedence over data governance, but French organisations, by contrast, are less likely to frame the issue in terms of sovereignty. Instead, 46% prioritise protection of intellectual property and sensitive data.

Compliance is the trigger

Despite the strategic importance of data sovereignty, the research suggests most organisations remain less than proactive on a day-to-day basis.

Key drivers include reducing breach risk (44%) and improving data control (43%), but action is typically triggered by compliance events such as audits (33%) or expansion into new markets (32%).

Regulatory uncertainty is compounding the issue. Confidence in the GDPR remains high (90%), organisations report far less clarity around compliance with newer frameworks such as the EU AI Act, potentially leaving gaps in governance as AI adoption accelerates.

Visibility gaps extend beyond AI

The push towards AI and broader digital transformation is also creating blind spots across core infrastructure.

Key areas of concern include public cloud environments (38%), cross-border data flows (34%) and third-party vendors (33%). In addition, 32% of organisations report significant challenges with shadow IT, which further erodes visibility.

For IT leaders, the findings reinforce a growing imperative: embed governance into AI strategies from the outset, rather than retrofitting controls later. Without that foundation, the race to adopt AI may ultimately increase risk faster than it delivers value.

“AI doesn’t have to slow the business down, but it does demand operational clarity,” said Andre Troskie, EMEA Field CISO at Veeam. “If you can’t see where data is going, who can access it, and what AI systems are doing with it, you don’t have control. And without control, AI quickly becomes a board-level liability.”