Enterprise open source company SUSE has launched a Cloud Sovereignty Self-Assessment tool for organizations in the Asia-Pacific region. Announced on , the web-based tool is designed to help businesses evaluate their cloud governance and AI systems against growing regulatory expectations for data control.
SUSE released the complimentary self-assessment tool to help organizations in APAC identify potential compliance gaps related to digital sovereignty. The tool allows businesses to review their current cloud and AI arrangements against the 2025 EU Cloud Sovereignty framework, which is increasingly used as a benchmark for procurement and policy outside of Europe. According to SUSE, the assessment takes approximately 20 minutes to complete and is intended for companies that supply government agencies or operate in other regulated industries where data sovereignty is a critical requirement.
The assessment tool evaluates an organization’s posture across several key areas and provides a structured report to guide future technology and investment decisions. Its functionality is based on a multi-level scoring system and prioritizes privacy by processing data locally.
- Assessment Framework: The questionnaire is based on the 2025 EU Cloud Sovereignty framework, providing a standardized benchmark for evaluation.
- Scoring System: It generates a “Sovereignty Effective Assurance Level” (SEAL) score, placing the organization on a scale from SEAL 0 to SEAL 4. This helps businesses compare their standing against thresholds that may apply in specific tenders.
- Weighted Objectives: The model assesses performance across eight sovereignty objectives. According to the company, it gives higher weight to supply chain security (20%) and operational autonomy (15%), reflecting regulatory focus areas.
- Output and Reporting: Upon completion, the tool provides a gap analysis and a downloadable PDF improvement plan, which SUSE describes as a practical roadmap for aligning governance and architecture with external expectations.
- Privacy-Centric Design: SUSE stated the tool keeps all results within the user’s local browser rather than storing them on a central platform, addressing security concerns about exposing infrastructure details during preliminary assessments.
The launch addresses increasing scrutiny from governments and regulators across the APAC region, including Australia, on sovereign capability and local control over critical data. As these requirements become embedded in procurement rules and industry guidance, organizations face pressure to translate high-level policies into auditable technical controls. SUSE aims to provide a starting point for these internal governance discussions.
Organisations globally are facing a ‘black box’ problem when it comes to digital sovereignty, creating significant hidden risks,
said Andreas Prins, Head of Global Sovereign Solutions at SUSE. Cloud Sovereignty is the essential foundation for Sovereign AI, as an AI model can only be truly autonomous if the underlying cloud infrastructure provides localised data residency and operational control.
Prins added that establishing a sovereign cloud stack helps prevent AI models and data from remaining subject to external jurisdictions and supply chain vulnerabilities.
While the tool is described as being for the APAC region, the source material does not specify which countries or regulatory regimes, beyond a mention of Australia, it is most tailored for. Furthermore, details on any potential costs for follow-on advisory services or enterprise versions of the tool were not provided.
SUSE is positioning the assessment as part of its broader strategy to support sovereign solutions in cloud and AI environments. Organizations can use the results to create a documented plan for closing compliance gaps before tendering for contracts with strict sovereignty requirements. This initiative aligns with market trends cited by SUSE from a Forrester Research report, which predicts renewed growth in cloud spending for 2026, increasingly linked to demand for greater control over data location and operational autonomy.
For organizations concerned with cloud sovereignty, the announcement highlights several areas for internal review. Businesses operating in or supplying to regulated sectors should consider the following actions:
- Review current cloud provider contracts to understand data residency, processing locations, and administrative access controls.
- Identify all business units that handle sensitive, regulated, or government-related data to assess their specific compliance needs.
- Use structured questionnaires, like the SUSE self-assessment tool, as a baseline to initiate internal discussions between IT, legal, and compliance teams.
- Evaluate AI and third-party services built on cloud infrastructure to ensure they align with the organization’s sovereignty policies.
- Develop a clear roadmap for addressing identified gaps in technology, governance, or supplier arrangements.
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