The Data-First Reversal: Why 2026 Is the Year Cloud-First Strategies Hit the Wall
A techUK report has confirmed what CIOs have felt in their cost reviews for two years: cloud-first strategies are hitting sovereignty and cost walls. This article examines the egress tax problem, the implications of the UK Data Use and Access Act 2025, and what a genuine data-first architecture – one where compute moves to data, not the other way around – actually requires organisations to do differently.