Veeam

58% of enterprises find themselves under new corporate accountability laws.

70% of organizations admit that automated AI workflows are interacting with sensitive corporate data without full oversight.

67% of organizations report that employees are creating autonomous AI workflows that IT cannot fully track.

32% of organizations say market expansion triggers action on data sovereignty.

38% of organizations identify public cloud environments as a major visibility gap.

99% of enterprise decision-makers agree that data sovereignty is critical.

On average, organizations recover 72% of affected data following a ransomware attack.

33% of organizations cite regulatory shifts as a top emerging threat.

42% of organizations report limited visibility into all AI tools or models used across the organization.

45% of IT leaders selected strengthening cybersecurity as the single 'must win' IT initiative for 2026.

76% of leaders rated compliance pressures around data sovereignty as extremely or moderately important.

66% of IT leaders view AI-generated attacks as the most significant threat to data security, surpassing ransomware at 50%.

34% of financial services organizations cite third-party risk oversight as the most challenging DORA requirement to implement.

96% of EMEA financial services organizations believe they need to improve their resilience to meet DORA requirements.

37% of financial services organizations are dealing with higher costs passed on by ICT vendors as a consequence of DORA.

Backup verifications and frequencies were included in ransomware playbook for 44% of organizations.

Pre-attack confidence among ransomware victims often doesn't reflect reality.

Less than half of organizations had key technical elements included in their ransomware playbook.

49% of organizations across EMEA are adopting a hybrid approach that blends local/sovereign models for sensitive data and global models for general tasks.

74.4% of leaders in the UK view ambiguities in the EU AI Act as a compliance risk.

32% of organizations say regulatory pressure is already creating tension or conflict among executives.

12% of enterprises state that exact individual responsibilities for corporate accountability are shared and unclear.

81% of leaders in Germany admit that automated workflows are interacting with sensitive data without oversight.

62% of leaders feel ambiguities or grey areas in the EU AI Act may create compliance risk.

40% of executives are concerned about personal liability or consequences related to AI governance and accountability.

39% of organizations report increased board-level scrutiny related to AI governance and accountability.

37% of executives say increased corporate accountability has increased personal stress or anxiety.

75% of organisations in the UK say they lack adequate oversight of AI agents interacting with sensitive data.

41% of organizations across EMEA are building their own local or sovereign AI models specifically to combat Shadow AI.

32% of executives say increased corporate accountability has created tension or conflict with other executives.

45% of organizations say increased accountability has improved alignment and focus at the leadership level.

79% of leaders in Germany report employees creating shadow workflows that IT teams cannot track.

83% of leaders feel the EU AI Act will have a positive impact on organizations and the wider landscape.

63% of leaders fear the EU AI Act may introduce unintended operational or legal risks.

73.6% of leaders in Germany view ambiguities in the EU AI Act as a compliance risk.

41% of EMEA organizations rely entirely on global AI providers for all use cases.

45% of UK organizations identify data used for AI and analytics as their biggest blind spot, the highest rate in Europe.

38% of organizations in MEA report reliance on third-party ecosystems and vendors, increasing supply-chain blind spots.

44% of organizations cite reducing the risk of data breaches as a top motivator for data sovereignty action.

43% of organizations cite gaining greater control over data as a top motivator for data sovereignty action.

34% of organizations identify cross-border data flows as a major visibility gap.

33% of organizations identify third-party vendors as a major visibility gap.

40% of EMEA leaders name data used for AI or analytics as their top operational blind spot.

58% of UK organizations cite preventing data breaches as the primary reason for data sovereignty efforts.

82% of German leaders say accelerating AI development takes priority over establishing data controls.

90% of organizations report high confidence in established frameworks such as GDPR.

68% of organizations prioritize broader digital transformation initiatives over establishing strong data controls.

33% of organizations say internal audits and compliance reviews trigger action on data sovereignty.

72.5% of EMEA organizations are actively deprioritizing data sovereignty in favor of accelerating AI.

46% of French leaders cite protecting intellectual property and sensitive information as a primary motivation for data sovereignty.