London, September 30, 2026 / PRNewswire / -- Everpure ( NYSE : P) Today, a new global study was released stating that 88% of senior executives in large enterprises believe that a loss of data sovereignty could result in their job loss, and 91% are concerned that this could cause financial and reputational damage to their organizations. Despite such high risks, 64% of organizations still do not have a formal data sovereignty strategy, exposing the vulnerability of modern enterprise data management in the current uncertain geopolitical environment.

Data sovereignty has evolved into a decisive business risk, with challenges including the forced outflow of data due to foreign demands, as well as potential denial-of-service (DoS) incidents. The 2026 Global Data Sovereignty Report by Everpure surveyed 2,100 corporate leaders from 8 countries to assess the gap between strategic intentions and actual operational preparedness. The results showed clear divisions:

Concerns about data sovereignty are indeed real:

• 90% of organizations acknowledge that data sovereignty is a business issue, and the vast majority of respondents expect that a breach would lead to serious financial or managerial consequences.
• 85% are willing to sacrifice advanced features and performance in order to cooperate with local or sovereign suppliers.
• 40% have already begun to restrict the use of SaaS suppliers that rely on non-domestic infrastructure.

There is a disconnect between cognition and preparation:

• Despite the aforementioned awareness, 64% of organizations still have not established formal data sovereignty strategies.
• 62% of people are unable to fully understand who has access to, control over, and management rights of their data.
• 56% do not have mitigation plans for data outflows or service interruptions caused by geopolitics.
• 56% admit a lack of the skills and capabilities needed to advance sovereignty initiatives, while 36% face the problem of insufficient support from senior management.
• Only 9% indicate that preventing access to data from outside the domain is the top priority.

These findings reveal a significant "sovereignty gap" between senior management's awareness of risks and their actual operational preparedness. Many companies still regard sovereignty as part of routine network security or compliance efforts. As a result, organizations are unable to ensure control over their own data and are unable to defend against geopolitical threats that could have serious consequences.

Everpure, the International Chief Technology Officer, stated: "Senior leaders understand that data sovereignty issues can put their positions at risk, but many still focus on the wrong types of risks. Sovereignty is not just about where data is stored; it's about having full visibility and control over data through modern data management. Who can access the data, which jurisdictions apply, and whether critical business data or services may be interrupted are all key questions that every organization should consider."

IDC, the Global Digital Sovereignty Research Director and Chief Analyst, stated: "Digital sovereignty has evolved from a topic of discussion at the compliance level to a key issue at the board of directors level. The challenge for executives is not only to know where data is hosted, but to have full control over all data access and transmission (including all metadata), to ensure protection from extraterritorial data requests, and to manage IT and supplier risks in the context of geopolitical uncertainties."

Everpure's suggestion: Implement sovereignty according to the design

A successful sovereign strategy requires a shift from passive risk identification to targeted operational execution. Organizations can follow a set of interrelated steps to become "sovereign by design" enterprises—a business-driven, risk-aware framework that applies sovereign control and governance based on the risks of each dataset, application, and workload. The focus shifts from national sovereignty to corporate sovereignty, and this approach is based on the organization's own risk preferences and views on regulation.

This model enables enterprises to protect their critical assets from major sovereign risks without sacrificing the flexibility, innovation, or scale advantages of global SaaS and cloud service providers. Everpure Data Intelligence supports this model by identifying, categorizing, and establishing context for enterprise data across Everpure platforms, public clouds, SaaS applications, and third-party storage. This helps organizations make informed decisions regarding how to govern and protect their data assets by providing comprehensive visibility into those assets.

By focusing on data and reducing related risks, organizations can achieve 'sovereignty by design' – transforming sovereignty from an obstacle to innovation into a source of resilience and competitive advantage.

Note to the Editor

Everpure commissioned research firm Vanson Bourne to conduct a survey in June 2026 among 2,100 executives from large enterprises in 8 countries and IT leaders.

The study covered the UK, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and India, regions that represent diverse regulatory and geopolitical environments, where data sovereignty has become a decisive factor affecting business outcomes.

Supplementary resources

• Obtain the complete report: Global Data Sovereignty Report 2026
• Blog: Sovereignty's Data Imperative
• Read more: How to Achieve Sovereignty by Design
• Data Sovereignty Information Chart

About Everpure

Everpure ( NYSE : P) provides organizations with an integrated and continuously evolving storage and data management platform, helping enterprises take control of their own data. By ensuring that data is accessible, intelligent, and always available in the AI era, the company helps customers unlock the value of their data. While enhancing performance, the company also simplifies data management and significantly reduces energy consumption. With one of the highest net recommendation values ( NPS ) in the industry over the past decade, Everpure is the choice of the world's most innovative organizations. For more information, please visit www.everpuredata.com.