France’s main trade group for IT services firms and software makers has a new leader, and a blunt message for Washington’s tech giants: Europe needs to stop playing defense.
Mehdi Houas has been elected president of Numeum, a powerful French industry association that represents digital services companies and software publishers. He’ll serve a three-year term, stepping in as European governments push harder on “digital sovereignty”, a catch-all for keeping sensitive data, cloud infrastructure, and key technologies from being overwhelmingly controlled by U.S. platforms.
Houas is signaling a two-front strategy: tighten Europe’s coordination to compete with American cloud and software heavyweights, while building more structured partnerships with African markets that are rapidly digitizing and hungry for talent, tools, and investment.
Who Numeum is, and why its next three years matter
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Numeum isn’t a household name in the U.S., but in France it’s become a go-to voice for policymakers on the digital economy, especially when debates turn to cloud dependence, cybersecurity rules, and tech jobs.
The group brings together two camps that don’t always want the same things: IT services firms (the companies that build, integrate, and run systems for clients) and software publishers (the companies selling subscription products, SaaS tools, and marketplace-based apps). Keeping those interests aligned, while speaking with one voice to the French government, regulators, and the European Union, will be one of Houas’ core tests.
His mandate runs three years, long enough to show measurable results but short enough that members will expect quick wins: clearer procurement rules, workable standards, and policies that don’t accidentally lock public agencies into a handful of dominant vendors.
A trade group caught between reality and resistance to U.S. cloud dominance
Numeum’s members sit at the center of a structural imbalance: U.S. companies dominate much of the infrastructure modern organizations rely on, cloud hosting, data platforms, office suites, collaboration tools, and chunks of the cybersecurity stack.
In real-world procurement, that dominance shows up as practical demands from customers: Where will the data live? Can we move it if we need to? What happens if a provider changes terms or pricing? Can the system keep running during an outage? Those questions often push companies toward hybrid setups that mix European tools, open-source components, and hyperscale cloud services because performance and uptime expectations are unforgiving.
Software publishers face a different squeeze. To stay commercially viable, many must ensure their products run smoothly inside ecosystems built by the biggest platforms. That can boost growth, but it can also create dependence on marketplace rules, distribution terms, and commissions set by someone else.
Houas inherits a balancing act: Numeum can’t pretend French and European companies can simply unplug from U.S. tech. But it can push for policies that keep markets open, stronger interoperability, realistic “reversibility” requirements (the ability to switch providers), and public-sector buying rules that don’t effectively preselect a small club of vendors.
Houas’ big bet: a more organized Europe-Africa digital corridor
Houas is also putting weight behind an idea that’s gaining traction in European tech circles: a more deliberate Europe-Africa axis for digital innovation, services, and talent.
The logic is straightforward. Europe wants more secure supply chains and a deeper bench of skills in areas like cloud architecture, AI, and cybersecurity. At the same time, many African markets are accelerating digitization in banking, telecom, government services, health care, and education, creating demand for software, systems integration, security, and training.
French IT services firms already work with distributed teams, including in French-speaking African countries, but those relationships can be fragmented, built company by company, project by project. Numeum could try to standardize best practices, support shared training and certification pathways, and help companies form partnerships that are durable rather than transactional.
Money and execution will be the hard part. Expanding internationally requires financing, insurance, legal structures, and fluency in local regulatory environments. Software companies often need to localize products, language, payments, support, compliance, before they can scale. And the competition isn’t just American: Asian players are also investing in infrastructure, training programs, and telecom partnerships across the continent.
What French tech companies want next: procurement reform, jobs, and workable rules
Houas takes over as Numeum faces pressure to deliver on three bread-and-butter issues: digital sovereignty, employment, and public procurement.
Public-sector purchasing is a major lever in France and across Europe. Government agencies and state-backed entities spend heavily on digital systems, and their contract structures can shape the market. Industry players have long argued for bidding processes that are more accessible to small and mid-sized firms, clearer requirements around interoperability and portability, and timelines that don’t freeze out newer software products.
Then there’s the talent crunch. Demand keeps rising for cybersecurity specialists, data engineers, AI talent, cloud experts, and systems architects. Training pipelines haven’t fully caught up, pushing companies to invest in apprenticeships, reskilling, and continuing education, with uneven results depending on region and role.
Finally, the regulatory load is getting heavier. European and national rules on data protection, cybersecurity, and resilience can improve security, but they also add compliance costs, especially for mid-sized companies. Numeum is expected to help translate those requirements into practical guidance and to lobby for rules that protect users without making projects unworkable.
Houas now has three years to turn a familiar European complaint, too dependent on U.S. tech, into something more concrete: procurement changes, stronger standards, and partnerships that help French and European firms win business abroad without betting their futures on platforms they don’t control.
