BT has announced it is launching a new platform to deliver digital sovereignty services for the UK private and public sector as concerns over data providence mounts.

Digital sovereignty is a growing priority for organisations of all sizes, as they look to enhance their resilience in the face of growing geopolitical instability.

The platform will underpin the roll out of new sovereign voice, cloud and AI services over the coming months in the UK, aiming to offer organisations a range of sovereignty options for their operations.

As part of its sovereign offering, BT will ensure that its UK infrastructure platform will be supported exclusively by UK-based staff where required, which would be key to ensuring trust with critical national infrastructure operators wary of storing data in foreign centres.

When it comes to AI, data, and cloud, calls from industry and government are growing for sovereign options as data protection and security risks becoming increasing concerns.

A recent survey from Pulsant found that the uptick in AI adoption is driving cloud sovereignty projects as firms look to be in control of their data across all of its transfers to ensure better compliance and data protection.

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Businesses in the UK and Ireland are increasingly concerned about data sovereignty as updates in data protection laws uncover layers of uncertainty in where business data is consistently stored and transferred to.

The UK’s designation of data centres as critical national infrastructure shows that data sovereignty is a growing priority for the UK government, but infrastructure and tools are needed to better ensure data sovereignty is possible.

“Sovereignty isn’t simply a matter of compliance or risk management – it’s key to unleashing the potential of AI, and ensuring resilient operations in an increasingly uncertain world,” Jon James, CEO of BT Business said.

“Our pioneering launch reflects BT’s unique position as the digital backbone of the UK, and the only provider with the scale, capabilities and experience to enable true UK sovereign solutions.

“Organisations are increasingly looking for sovereignty in their services and it’s up to us to make sure we deliver for our customers. That means making sure we’re offering the right sovereign solutions that ensure data and operations remain secure, compliant, resilient and future-proofed.”