Hey folks! I'm planning to transition my company away from the Office 365 suite towards more European-friendly platforms that aren't subject to the Cloud Act. I'm currently looking to replace essential services like email, calendar, file storage, and collaboration tools.
So far, I've got:
- Email/Calendar: Mailbox/Proton
- On-Demand Meetings: Mailbox (OpenTalk based) / Jitsi (or Proton Meet if it proves reliable)
- Instant Messaging: Threema/Element
- File Server: Nextcloud (I use OpenCloud at home, but I don't trust it for business yet since it lacks VFS on Linux/MacOS)
- Office Apps: OnlyOffice desktop for compatibility; web options to be explored but not mandatory.
I'm willing to self-host the file server but might also consider managed options like Nextcloud or Tresorit. I'm particularly stuck on finding a solid replacement for Microsoft Teams since we often need both instant messaging and on-demand meeting capacity. We have around 30 users and over 100 external users who access the file server for project work. Any suggestions?
4 Answers
Honestly, there really aren’t any European platforms that can match the capabilities of MS365 or G Suite. There are some EU vendors like OVH that offer a mix of functionalities based on various open-source projects, but it's a far cry from what you’d get from MS or Google. I'd say take a good look at what you really need versus what’s available!
One thing to think about is the skillsets required for supporting those alternative tools. They aren't as common as what you've probably got with O365, making hiring more challenging and potentially more costly in the long run. Just something I wanted to throw out there!
I think you should keep in mind that any shift you make now might only be temporary. The demand for moving away from US companies means there will soon be new competitors popping up to fill that gap. So, what’s available now might change in a year or so. Just something to consider!
Totally agree! That's why I'm aiming for a mid-term solution. Our O365 expires in November, so I'm looking at a timeline around 2027 or 2028 for the full transition.
If you’re looking for alternatives, G Suite is probably the closest, but it still falls short in many areas. When we switched from MS365 to G Suite a while back, it ended up being much more reliable for us overall.
Lol, that's a bold claim!
But seriously, we saw a big improvement in reliability when we made the switch.
That's a good point. I’m only considering self-hosting for the file server since I really don’t want to maintain anything else internally.