SAP Sovereignty Versus Vendor Lock-In

Strength through cooperation and vendor lock-in

SAP is securing its own survival and dominance by expanding its selfish sovereignty among customers. This increases the risk of vendor lock-in for users once again.

"Europe's competitiveness depends on uncompromising innovation—and to achieve this, technological excellence must go hand in hand with digital sovereignty," said Christian Klein, CEO of SAP, at an event in Berlin, Germany. "Through our collaboration with France's outstanding AI ecosystem, SAP is helping to create a trusted digital foundation for Europe. In this way, we are promoting open innovation, protecting data, and ensuring that technology benefits people and progress."

However, SAP's new digital platform is another step toward an absolute ERP monopoly. Previously, SAP R/3 and, later, ERP/ECC 6.0 allowed for the free choice of databases and operating systems. With the introduction of S/4, however, SAP has radically curtailed this freedom for customers, replacing a broad, sovereign offering with the singularity of "Linux and Hana." SAP customers no longer have the freedom to choose anything but S/4. There is no freedom in the SAP community!

SAP is expanding its ERP monopoly through further collaborations, securing a unique position in Europe. SAP has announced collaborations with French AI companies, including Bleu, Capgemini, and Mistral AI. According to SAP, this collaboration aims to combine its ERP expertise with France's AI ecosystem. The goal is to develop AI-powered cloud solutions that protect data and intellectual property while driving Europe's digital transformation. This announcement was made at the European Digital Sovereignty Summit in Berlin, where France and Germany emphasized promoting innovation and competitiveness in Europe.

Delos Cloud—digital SAP sovereignty

Officially, the goal is to safeguard Europe's digital infrastructure. Ultimately, however, SAP is expanding its monopoly-like structures and will be in a position to dictate prices and conditions even more. SAP partners used to be ambassadors in the SAP community, bringing SAP products to market with their expertise on said products. Now, SAP partners are expected to become customers themselves to gain access to SAP products. They are required to license "Joule for Consultants" to advance SAP's AI business. SAP is not interested in providing free partner licenses.

Through their collaboration, Bleu and Delos Cloud intend to strengthen European IT resilience and digital sovereignty. Together, they intend to set new standards for trustworthy data management and operational reliability, for both crisis prevention and long-term stability. This will further expand SAP's ERP monopoly. Officially, Bleu and Delos Cloud are ready to contribute significantly to Europe's digital sovereignty in collaboration with SAP, government agencies, and governments. Their shared objective is to ensure the security, resilience, and European control of critical infrastructure.

Cloud, AI, and sovereignty

Concerns about the security, transformation, and sovereignty of customers have enabled SAP to adopt a new approach to market control. These partnerships form an essential pillar of a comprehensive SAP Sovereign Cloud solution that officially aims to strengthen Europe's digital sovereignty and exploit the full potential of AI.

SAP intends to increase its investments in European sovereignty and will deploy the SAP Cloud Infrastructure Service in local data centers. By combining governance and strict compliance, SAP aims to retain complete control over data and assets.

SAP and Mistral AI have announced an expansion of their strategic partnership to accelerate digital transformation and strengthen Europe's technical sovereignty in AI. SAP plans to make Mistral AI's frontier AI, including Le Chat, available via the Sovereign AI Foundation on the Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). Mistral AI Studio will be integrated into the AI Foundation and SAP's BTP solution. This will enable customers and partners to develop and deploy sovereign cloud applications and AI agents securely and compliantly at scale in their own environments.

The AI Foundation within BTP serves as an integration layer. Together with partners and supported by governments, Mistral AI and SAP intend to establish the basis for scalable, compliant AI solutions in Europe, covering everything from hardware and platforms to applications and user interfaces. SAP aims to take over the entire IT/ERP stack from customers, which ultimately represents final vendor lock-in.