Cloud services offline: The power of Microsoft: Is Germany too dependent?

The failure of Microsoft services shows how dependent many companies and authorities are on the US provider. Since Donald Trump was re-elected, Germany has increasingly discussed digital sovereignty. What does dependency mean?

IT security experts, data protection officers and business associations have been warning about a so-called cluster risk for some time. In Germany, the majority of corporations, many medium-sized companies, schools and numerous authorities rely on the Microsoft ecosystem for office software, email and collaboration.

Critics criticize two problems: On the one hand, monoculture means that a single mistake can paralyze entire industries and administrations in this country. "The real risk is putting all of an organization's communications in a cloud with a single provider," explained Benjamin Schilz, head of a European messenger service.

"For a ministry, the armed forces or an energy network operator, hours without communication are not an inconvenience, but a security risk." Digital sovereignty not only means control over data and storage locations, but also being able to act in the event of a disruption, said Schilz. Another problem is that the deeper a provider has integrated administration, security tools and office programs, the more difficult it would be to switch later.

“If central digital services come to a standstill, the entire economy cannot come to a standstill,” says Alexander Rabe, managing director of the Internet trade association Eco. It is therefore crucial that companies and administrations are not dependent on individual applications, but rather have alternatives and functioning emergency plans.

European alternatives still in the niche

There are certainly alternatives for companies and administrations - but hardly any competing product is as integrated in all areas as Microsoft 365. The most direct US competitor is Google Workspace with Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Drive and Meet.

Those looking for more independence often turn to European open source solutions such as Nextcloud in combination with Collabora Online or OnlyOffice. This allows file storage, calendars, video conferences and collaborative document editing to be operated on your own servers with German cloud providers such as Ionos or Hetzner.

The Center for Digital Sovereignty (ZenDiS) is also developing the OpenDesk platform specifically for public administration, which bundles Nextcloud, Collabora, the Messenger Element and Open-Xchange under one interface and has recently seen strong growth in demand. In addition, many organizations rely on specialized European providers such as Wire for end-to-end encrypted communication.

Meanwhile, experts also warn that Microsoft could further increase prices for authorities in the future if no alternatives are available. Making yourself more independent of a software solution could also offer more scope for price negotiations in the long term.