Switzerland’s federal administration is preparing to test a sovereign, open-source digital workplace that could reduce its long-term dependence on Microsoft 365 for sensitive government operations.
The Swiss Federal Council was informed of the results of a feasibility study on September 2, 2026, and the Federal Chancellery will now begin a follow-up program to build and deploy the platform for selected federal employees.
The initiative does not represent an immediate, government-wide replacement of Microsoft 365. Instead, Switzerland plans to introduce an independent open-source workplace environment alongside Microsoft’s cloud productivity suite.
Switzerland Moves Away From Microsoft 365
By the end of 2027, approximately 3,000 employees involved in particularly critical business processes are expected to have access to the sovereign platform.
The planned environment will provide core office capabilities, including email, calendars, document and presentation editing, telephony, file storage, collaboration tools, and audio and video conferencing.
The Federal Chancellery expects the first implementation phase to cost around CHF 9 million, using funds already approved by Parliament for developing a sovereign Swiss open-source office automation platform.
Swiss officials are framing the program as a digital sovereignty and resilience project rather than simply a productivity-software migration. A locally controlled workplace platform could give the federal administration additional options during service disruptions, geopolitical tensions, supply-chain risks, or outages affecting a major cloud provider.
The Federal Council has identified digital sovereignty as a priority in its Digital Switzerland strategy and wants federal agencies to remain operational during crises.
The platform will initially operate as a standalone alternative, allowing participating staff to work outside the Microsoft 365 environment when required. This dual-platform approach is important because the federal administration has numerous existing applications and specialist tools closely integrated with Microsoft technologies.
Any larger transition would therefore require substantial technical work, security validation, operational testing, and new in-house expertise.
The program follows the PoC BOSS feasibility study, short for Proof of Concept for Office Automation with Open-Source Software. The Federal Chancellery used the assessment to determine whether browser-based, open-source workplace software could support defined federal administration workflows.
It also consulted Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein state government, which has already pursued a broad open-source deployment in the workplace.
The study involved 172 participants from several departments. Test users reported positive results for document editing, file storage, collaboration, and email and calendar functions.
The Federal Chancellery concluded that the browser-based solution is well-suited to standard office processes and could support contingency planning if Microsoft 365 were unavailable.
However, the proof of concept also uncovered technical constraints. Large video conferences were identified as an area with limitations, underscoring the difference between basic office productivity and enterprise-scale collaboration services.
The coming program will need to address performance, interoperability, security controls, identity management, support models, and integration with government-specific applications before Switzerland can assess whether a full-scale rollout is practical.
The 2027 pilot will give Swiss authorities operational evidence on costs, user experience, platform resilience, and ongoing maintenance requirements. A future decision on replacing Microsoft 365 more broadly has not yet been made; it will depend on the results of the sovereign workplace program.
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