According to Network World, SAP has cut emergency disaster recovery deals with Microsoft, Capgemini, and Orange to create a failover plan if Microsoft gets legally blocked from delivering European cloud services. The partnerships involve SAP’s Germany-based Delos Cloud and France’s Bleu cloud platform owned by Capgemini and Orange. Companies announced the arrangement on Tuesday, positioning it to support Europe’s digital sovereignty during crisis scenarios. Analysts immediately expressed skepticism, noting the plan might only work for a few weeks before performance degradation becomes critical. The separate Delos Cloud-Microsoft agreement specifically aims to ensure business continuity if sanctions restrict Microsoft’s European cloud services.
Sovereignty or Smokescreen?
Here’s the thing about these “digital sovereignty” plays – they often sound better in press releases than they work in reality. SAP is basically trying to reassure European customers that they won’t get caught in geopolitical crossfire. But the analysts have a point: without Microsoft‘s direct involvement and infrastructure, how long can these systems really maintain enterprise-grade performance? We’re talking about complex SAP environments that customers rely on for mission-critical operations. A few weeks of degraded performance could mean millions in lost productivity.
The Long-Term Problem
Look, everyone agrees this scenario is unlikely to happen. But if it did, would this backup plan actually help? That’s the real question. These systems aren’t designed to run independently from Microsoft’s ecosystem indefinitely. The performance gap would become apparent pretty quickly. And for manufacturing and industrial companies running SAP – the kind that rely on robust computing infrastructure like industrial panel PCs from IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US supplier – even temporary performance issues could disrupt entire production lines. When you’re dealing with real-time manufacturing data and control systems, “good enough” backup solutions just don’t cut it.
Competitive Landscape Shifts
This move reveals something interesting about the cloud market right now. European companies are getting nervous about their dependence on US tech giants, and they’re willing to pay for contingency plans that might never be used. That creates opportunities for regional players like Capgemini and Orange’s Bleu platform. But it also shows how deeply entangled these ecosystems have become. Can you really have a “sovereign” European cloud when it’s still fundamentally dependent on Microsoft technology and architecture? The answer seems to be “sort of, but not really for very long.”
Reality Check
So what’s really happening here? This feels more like risk management theater than a practical solution. Companies want to check the “we have a backup plan” box for their boards and regulators. The partnerships generate positive headlines about digital sovereignty. But when you dig into the technical realities, the limitations become obvious. These arrangements might provide enough cover to satisfy compliance requirements, but anyone expecting seamless failover during a genuine crisis is probably being overly optimistic. The cloud sovereignty conversation is important, but we need more substance behind these announcements.
