Frequently Asked Questions

Costs depend heavily on the size of the organization and the complexity of existing systems. For an SME with 20-50 employees, the typical project range is between 15,000 and 40,000 euros.

This is often offset by annual license cost savings of 5,000-15,000 euros. We provide a detailed calculation after the initial analysis — the first consultation is free.

A typical migration for a mid-sized company takes 3-6 months, including planning, implementation, and training. For larger organizations or complex requirements, it can take 12 months or longer.

We work in phases with parallel operation to avoid disrupting ongoing business. The exact timeline is determined during the initial analysis.

No. Most of our clients start with one area – typically email and files (Microsoft 365 → Nextcloud). Other systems like Active Directory or Windows desktops can follow later or even stay with Microsoft where it makes sense.

We explicitly recommend the step-by-step approach: it reduces risk, spreads costs, and gives your team time to adapt.

For most use cases: yes. Nextcloud with Collabora or OnlyOffice covers file storage, collaborative document editing, calendar, and contacts. For chat and video conferencing, there's Element or Mattermost.

What's missing are some specialized features like Power BI or deep Outlook integration. But for 80-90% of typical office work, open source is perfectly sufficient.

The most important European cloud providers are:

IONOS (Germany) · Hetzner (Germany) · OVHcloud (France) · Scaleway (France) · Exoscale (Switzerland) · Open Telekom Cloud (Germany)

All are subject to European law and not subject to the US Cloud Act. We help you choose the right provider.

The US Cloud Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act) of 2018 allows US authorities to require American companies to hand over data — even when that data is stored on servers outside the United States.

This affects all major US cloud providers like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. For European organizations with sensitive data — especially in the public sector — this is a serious compliance risk.

Yes, there are several alternatives:

Element (based on Matrix) offers chat, video conferencing, and end-to-end encryption. Mattermost is a Slack-like solution that runs on-premise or in the cloud. For pure video conferencing, there's also Jitsi or BigBlueButton.

Which solution fits depends on your specific requirements.

For most office workstations: yes. Browser, email, office applications (LibreOffice or OnlyOffice), PDF editing — everything works smoothly.

Limitations exist with specialized industry software that only runs on Windows. We evaluate in advance which workstations are suitable and where Windows needs to stay.

We work with parallel operation — the old systems keep running until the new ones are stable. Our migrations have defined milestones and go/no-go decisions.

In the worst case, you can switch back to the old system. However, with careful planning, this is extremely rarely necessary in practice.