- Organizations have spent 15 years outsourcing IT to American big tech, losing in-house capabilities, but there are still immediate actions to take.
- Stop migrating systems to American big tech unnecessarily; many existing European-hosted systems remain viable.
- Remove American trackers and analytics from websites and apps, switch to self-hosted or European alternatives like Matomo, and question the necessity of tracking.
- Replace Cloudflare with European CDN like Bunny for better data protection under European law.
- Pressure SaaS providers to use European clouds by collaborating with industry peers; one customer alone is insufficient motivation.
- Start small, concrete IT projects using European technology to rebuild capability and confidence, like the Kiesraad's Abacus software.
- Build a digital emergency workspace as a backup for Microsoft 365 to ensure business continuity during outages.
- Assess and improve backup strategies against SaaS providers; demand clear evidence that backups are usable and independent.
- Publish important communications on open platforms like Mastodon to avoid dependence on American social media algorithms and reach all citizens.
- Taking these steps increases IT autonomy, resilience, and prepares organizations for larger, more challenging projects.