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CIOs are confronting a new reality: Competitive advantage depends on keeping data sovereign, secure, and close to the AI systems that rely on it.
Imagine one tries to build a national power grid on infrastructure that one can’t see, don’t fully control, and rent at rising rates from a foreign provider. Now imagine that grid is the country’s data.
That’s the reality facing governments and enterprises across the world—and why a quiet, global revolution is underway.
A recent study from EnterpriseDB (EDB), a leading Postgres® data and AI company, surveyed executive and technology leaders from some of the world’s largest enterprises across EMEA, North America, and Asia Pacific. Despite regional differences, one in three C-suite leaders worldwide recognize that sovereignty over their AI and data isn’t just a strategic advantage—it’s the DNA of their future.
“Increasingly, data sovereignty is not just a compliance issue. It’s a business survival issue,” says Michael Gale, CMO of EDB. “Keeping your data and your AI close together is akin to not leaving your ATM card out somewhere, with its passcode, in the market you function in.”
In countries such as Morocco, where data localization laws now mirror the spirit of the U.S. Patriot Act, keeping citizen and enterprise data within national borders is mandatory. The stakes? Economic autonomy, regulatory alignment, and digital competitiveness.
PowerM, the continent’s one of the top IBM integrators, is leading that change, working with EDB to enable full-stack modernization, from traditional infrastructure to an intelligent data layer.
“The conversation is no longer just about where data is stored—it’s about who controls it,” says Youssef Largou, CEO of PowerM.
In a world shaped by geopolitical volatility and digital warfare, that distinction defines the line between independence and exposure. For today’s CIOs and CTOs, sovereignty isn’t just a compliance issue—it’s a strategic design decision. Security, control, and data proximity have become prerequisites for AI readiness and operational resilience.
In regions such as Morocco, where data localization laws require that sensitive information remain within national borders, the pressure is twofold: comply with strict regulations while still modernizing for AI. Sovereign architectures are now the path forward, bridging legal mandates with innovation by delivering modern capabilities without sacrificing control.
PowerM sees this shift firsthand. “For our local markets, sovereign data is absolutely mandatory,” says Largou. “Having Moroccan citizens' data located within the country is a legal imperative. So while our customers are leveraging some benefits from using hybrid cloud and public cloud, they need a solution that provides sovereignty for sensitive data.”
For executives and technologists alike, the path is clear: Data sovereignty is a requirement, but it doesn’t have to be a constraint. In fact, it can be leveraged as a competitive advantage.
What’s clear in conversations with companies like PowerM is that data infrastructures designed for yesterday’s applications can’t deliver on today’s demands. Legacy vendors, particularly Oracle, are pushing aggressive cloud transitions, leaving customers caught between compliance risk, rising costs, and inflexible proprietary stacks.
“Most leaders we talk to are facing growing complexity in managing distribution data across different environments—on-premise, hybrid cloud, and public cloud,” says Largou. “They want AI readiness, data sovereignty, and cost control, but their legacy systems weren’t built for this moment. So this makes modernization urgent but also tricky for them.”
That urgency is showing up in enterprise strategy. EDB’s research confirms that enterprises are going hybrid by design. In the U.S., U.K., and Germany, 67% of workloads now run in hybrid environments, driven by the need to transform siloed data into unified, AI-ready platforms for competitive advantage (EDB Research, 2024).
And yet, only 20% of companies are able to effectively access and manage all their data. “Without unified visibility and control, customers can’t fully leverage their data. It turns from a liability into a competitive asset when you can actually see it,” says Largou.
The solution? The adoption of a hybrid control plane—one that provides visibility across the entire data fleet—can deliver up to 20% ROI by turning fragmented infrastructure into a unified strategic asset.
For all these reasons, the gravity pulling enterprises away from Oracle is stronger than ever. Licensing costs are ballooning. Compliance terms are tightening. And in markets such as Morocco, Oracle’s cloud strategy is occasionally seen as being more focused on commercial expansion than on fostering locally driven innovation.
“Let’s say it plainly,” says Largou. “Ninety percent of Morocco’s commercial databases are still on Oracle on-premises. But customers are fed up. They see a lack of agility and escalating vendor lock-in as major business risks. That’s why they’re looking for alternatives—modern, open, and sovereign.”
PostgreSQL, and particularly EDB’s enterprise-hardened version of it, is stepping into this void. Organizations are increasingly choosing EDB to migrate away from proprietary databases without sacrificing performance, reliability, or enterprise-grade support.
Data sovereignty isn’t just about compliance—it’s also a catalyst for modernization. Organizations that embrace it are finding new strategic advantages in the process: enhanced security, clearer data visibility, and AI-ready infrastructures.
Largou explains it clearly: “You can’t modernize your apps and keep your old database. You need cloud-native data platforms to unlock real ROI and innovation. You need visibility across your hybrid environments. Without it, your data is just a liability, not an asset.”
PowerM is helping clients move from monolithic systems to microservices, from data sprawl to control planes, and from reactive to proactive AI use cases. For public sector institutions, such as Morocco’s tax and customs departments, data visibility is now critical for core functions, including fraud detection and financial oversight.
Responding to these pressures requires a “better together” approach, one that blends technical excellence with local expertise.
“Across MEA, we’re seeing a powerful shift—partners and enterprises alike are recognizing that sovereignty and innovation are not mutually exclusive,” says Abdo Gadmour, Director of Channels and Alliances for MEA at EDB. “Our collaboration with PowerM is a blueprint for how local expertise and open technology can come together to fuel agility, strengthen control, and build lasting value in AI-ready environments.”
EDB and PowerM have forged a deep alliance that began with one of Morocco’s largest banks and is now rapidly expanding across government, telecom, and financial sectors. “For us, EDB provides full-stack modernization, from classical infrastructure to intelligent layers,” says Largou. “We started with one deal, and now we have a pipeline that could increase our revenue by 20% in under a year.”
This alliance signals a broader shift in enterprise strategy, where open source is trusted at scale, where sovereignty is a core design principle—not a trade-off—and where data and AI investments deliver real impact.