In almost every plan for European software I read the same thing. Office 365 out, Nextcloud in. OpenAI out, Mistral in. The same carriage, with a European horse in front. Are we leaving the real opportunity on the table?

Behind every program there are layers: where your files are stored, who manages your login, which model answers your questions, which server it runs on and who builds the software around it. Replacing everything one by one feels like rebuilding a carriage, plank by plank. And that way you miss a huge opportunity.

Because the way 'work' is organised today is due for change. Say I want to do one task today: prepare tomorrow's client meeting. Today I would do it like this:

  • I open my calendar
  • I look up emails
  • I open the quote
  • I check the CRM
  • I go through some meeting notes

Five programs and a good part of my morning. With AI it is one request.

But what if this could be one request: “prepare my meeting for tomorrow”? The AI knows my calendar, reads the emails and the quote, checks the CRM and puts it all on one page. It asks colleagues in our team chat whether they want to add anything, puts the talking points in the calendar invite and sends the participants a short email in advance.

So switching to sovereign solutions does not mean replacing five programs one by one. It means organising your work around what AI can already do today.

That is where the opportunity lies for me: a new way of working that is more than the sum of its parts.

That is where the opportunity lies for organisations. A system built around the work, with AI as the layer that connects everything. The beauty is that people hardly need to learn anything new. You ask in a chat for what you need, and agents do the work behind it. What comes naturally wins, as I wrote last week.

And sovereign AI, how does that work? Part of it runs on your own ground, for example a server in the office for your most sensitive documents. The rest runs on European ground, with a European party, so that no one in the US can, in theory, press a delete button. That way you leap over the problem instead of solving it piece by piece. And your organisation works better for it too.

What would your work look like if you could organise it from scratch today? I am curious.

Also read part 3 of the series: Does the life jacket fit?

Next week: practise the evacuation.