Cloud is a political choice with Francisco Perez van Oord

In this episode of ITQ’s Private Cloud Café, host Johan van Amersfoort sits down with ITQ founder Francisco Perez van Oord to discuss a topic that is becoming increasingly relevant for European organizations: the impact of geopolitics on cloud strategy.

Francisco argues that many organizations (especially in Western Europe) continue to underestimate geopolitical risk. According to him, cloud adoption is no longer a purely technical or financial decision, but a strategic and even political choice.

In this conversation, they explore:

• Why cloud decisions are increasingly about control and dependency
• How data residency can shift from a compliance requirement to a competitive advantage
• Why protecting data alone is not enough without control over applications
• Common misconceptions around private cloud and how convenience and vendor lock-in often go hand in hand

Francisco makes the case for re-evaluating private cloud as a strategic foundation, not as a step backward, but as a way to keep options open, increase predictability, and build resilience in an increasingly complex world.