A decade of “public cloud-first” enthusiasm is giving way to something more nuanced. Across the UK and Europe, business leaders are discovering that the early promise of low cost and control of cloud servers does not necessarily align with practical experience. This has led to 91% of senior IT decision-makers bringing applications back from public cloud to servers in the UK and Europe.
Why the shift?
- Costs & predictability: 77% of organisations report public-cloud operating costs to be higher than expected; 63% say total costs exceeded their previous (non-cloud) setups.
- Performance & latency: Slow data transfer for real-time applications has resulted in around 36% of businesses repatriating applications out of public cloud.
- Control & compliance: 34% of decision-makers cite security/compliance concerns. In public cloud, data can be distributed across locations and therefore complicates jurisdictional controls.
Sovereignty and the Cloud Act
The US Cloud Act (together with overlapping powers like the Patriot Act) potentially allows US authorities to subpoena data held anywhere by US-headquartered providers. That has amplified geopolitical concerns in the UK/EU and pushed “digital autonomy” up the board agenda.
In the Netherlands, 100+ companies have called for European alternatives; Canadian leaders are urging domestic self-reliance. The direction of travel is clear.
What leaders are doing instead
- Hybrid as the default: Keeping elasticity for suitable workloads in public cloud; moving sensitive, high-cost, or low-latency services to colocation/on-premise.
- Regional proximity: With UK data centres designated Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and strong regional footprints available, organisations can place workloads nearer users while staying in-jurisdiction.
- AI placement by need: High-density AI training may require purpose-built facilities, but once deployed, AI-enabled applications often fit comfortably in modern colocation data centres.
Questions every UK/EU board should be asking
- What are our business goals for the next five years?
- Do we understand our architecture, and are all of our business-wide applications compatible with cloud platforms?
- Which datasets and applications must remain in-jurisdiction (by law or risk appetite)?
- Are we paying a premium for cloud convenience over purchasing our own technology assets?
- How will we evidence sustainability, e.g.,Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), across a hybrid footprint?
Repatriation isn’t a rejection of cloud; it’s the maturation of cloud strategy. A diversified, future-ready architecture blends the strengths of public cloud with the sovereignty, predictability and performance of colocation.
If you’d like to hear more from the people shaping the UK’s digital infrastructure, tune in to In Conversation With, our podcast series featuring candid discussions with business and technology leaders. For a deeper dive, explore our latest white papers – designed to help organisations make smarter, future-ready decisions about their data strategies.
