Ralph Haupter is Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer for Small, Medium Enterprises and Channel (SME&C) at Microsoft.gettyThe prevailing belief when I started my career was that the world is flat. Technology and globalization were breaking down barriers and creating new opportunities across borders. Over the past two decades, I've worked with customers and partners in more than 50 countries and seen firsthand how those global connections drive innovation and growth.That experience reinforced a conviction I hold even more strongly today: The most successful global businesses are the ones that earn trust locally.​Every market has its own regulations, expectations and realities. Companies that succeed over the long term understand how to combine global innovation with local accountability. They harness the benefits of global technology while respecting the needs of the customers, communities and countries they serve.​In the AI era, that lesson feels more relevant than ever.​AI Adoption Is Becoming A Question Of Trust​AI has dominated nearly every customer conversation over the past year. A year ago, leaders were asking what AI could do. Today, they're deciding whether they're ready to trust it with the parts of their business that matter most.​As organizations move from experimentation to deployment, questions about trust, control, compliance and digital sovereignty are becoming just as important as the technology itself.​For SMEs, those questions are especially relevant. Small and medium-sized businesses don't have the luxury of slowing down. Growth often means entering new markets, serving larger customers and operating across multiple regulatory environments at once. The same AI capabilities that create opportunities also introduce new expectations around governance, security and control.​Whether the conversation is with a financial institution in Switzerland, a manufacturer in Singapore or a digital business expanding across borders, the underlying question is the same: Can we move forward with confidence?​A 2021 Center for Strategic and International Studies study found that 65% of surveyed firms move data across borders. AI amplifies that reality. Data no longer just sits in databases. It powers prompts, models, automations, customer interactions and business processes that span jurisdictions and regulatory environments.The businesses making the most progress are not treating these expectations as obstacles. They're treating them as part of the strategy.3 Practices For Building Trust At Scale1. Understand Your Residency Model Before AI ScalesThe first step is straightforward, but easily overlooked. Know where your data lives, where it moves and who can access it.That clarity matters because uncertainty slows decisions. A company may have a strong AI use case, a willing business sponsor and a clear productivity opportunity. But if questions about data residency, access or regulatory exposure cannot be answered quickly, procurement and deployment can stall.​Cisco’s 2025 Data Privacy Benchmark Study captures that tension: 90% of organizations said local storage feels safer, while 91% said global providers offer stronger security protections.​Customers want both proximity and capability.​The companies that can explain that balance clearly are better positioned to move through procurement, accelerate deployment timelines and give customers fewer reasons to pause.​2. Design For Jurisdiction From The StartMany SMEs serve customers across multiple regions long before they build large legal or compliance organizations. The businesses that scale most effectively are the ones that anticipate differing requirements and incorporate them into their operating model early.​additiv, a Microsoft customer, is a strong example. The Swiss fintech platform serves more than 400 regulated financial institutions across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, each operating under different regulatory expectations. Rather than retrofitting compliance market by market, additiv built those requirements into its platform from the start, resulting in tangible business outcomes.As Guy Levy, Head of Research and Development at additiv, explained, "The cloud enables us to offer a compliant, secure and scalable solution in multiple geographies with adherence to local regulatory requirements."​​The lesson extends beyond financial services. When jurisdictional requirements are designed into the platform from the beginning, growth becomes easier because compliance does not have to be reinvented market by market.​For SMEs with global ambitions, jurisdictional clarity is more than a compliance exercise. It can become a growth advantage.​3. Build Operational Resilience Before You Need ItThe third dimension of sovereignty is operational resilience.​As AI becomes part of critical workflows, customers want assurance that systems remain secure, available and manageable under changing conditions. Questions about control, access and continuity are no longer edge cases. They are becoming standard parts of procurement, audit and deployment discussions.​The practical step is to define control and resilience up front.​ Who can access systems? Who can respond during disruption? How will critical services remain available if conditions change?​Organizations that answer those questions early spend less time navigating uncertainty later. When those answers are clear, sovereignty becomes more than risk management. It becomes part of how organizations protect momentum.​The Opportunity Is Practical, Not TheoreticalWhen I started my career, the conversation was about connecting the world. Today, it's increasingly about building trust across it.​After more than 20 years in the industry, I've learned that technology creates opportunity, but trust determines how far that opportunity can go. The technologies that create the greatest impact aren't simply the most advanced. They're the ones businesses trust enough to adopt, scale and build their future on.​AI is no different.​For SMEs, trust is becoming a competitive advantage. It creates business value, influences purchasing decisions, strengthens customer relationships and creates the confidence needed to enter new markets, serve larger customers and innovate at greater scale.​The organizations that lead in the AI era will be the ones that can innovate globally, operate responsibly and earn trust locally.​That's why I believe digital sovereignty is more than a compliance discussion. It's a business discussion. It's a growth discussion. And for many SMEs, it may become one of the defining factors in how confidently they adopt AI and turn its potential into lasting business value.​Because in the end, AI adoption moves at the speed of trust.​Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?