Short study: How SMEs can strengthen their digital autonomy

Many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Germany use digital solutions from abroad and are therefore dependent on individual providers. A brief study as part of the Mittelstand-Digital accompanying research project examines what alternatives are available and what support businesses need to achieve greater digital sovereignty.

Dependencies in digital technologies

US providers, in particular, dominate the German market for digital solutions and dictate prices, contract terms and standards. Changes to these framework conditions or geopolitical developments can have an impact on businesses and their business processes.

Since April 2026, digital sovereignty has also been enshrined in the Public Procurement Acceleration Act as an award criterion in public procurement procedures. The NIS 2 Directive, the Cyber Resilience Act and the General Data Protection Regulations also contain requirements that presuppose elements of digital sovereignty, such as data sovereignty.

European alternatives and total costs

The study distinguishes between three categories of alternative technologies: open-source software, fee-based European solutions and sovereign cloud services. The EuroStack Directory Project provides an overview of several hundred alternatives across around 60 technology categories.

For the economic assessment, the study recommends not focusing exclusively on acquisition costs. The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) takes into account the total costs over the entire usage cycle. This may also include costs arising from proprietary data formats, restricted export functions or recurring price increases.

Support services for SMEs

The study identifies nine key areas in which knowledge transfer organisations and multipliers can support businesses. These include, amongst others, economic assessment, security requirements, digital skills and regulatory guidance.

Amongst other things, the study is based on an online survey of 21 Mittelstand-Digital Centres. In addition, services offered by the Federal Network Agency, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), the de:hubs, the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) were researched.

The range of services is particularly extensive in the areas of security requirements and digital skills. By contrast, when it comes to transparency regarding dependencies and risks, more than half of the Mittelstand-Digital Centres surveyed do not yet have any targeted services in place. Economic assessment has also been scarcely covered to date.

The study derives five recommendations for action from the findings. These include specific tools such as checklists and TCO calculators, as well as a stronger focus on support formats tailored to micro-enterprises.

Link to download the study: https://www.mittelstand-digital.de/MD/Redaktion/DE/Publikationen/digitale-souveraenitaet.html