Mandara Systems

Cloud exit for SMEs

Microsoft 365 Alternative – Your office, in Switzerland.

Files, mail, calendars and office – without everything sitting at Microsoft and without a licence per head per month. I plan and build your exit from Microsoft 365: step by step, with Nextcloud, your own mail server and Proxmox, on Swiss infrastructure. You keep your data – and your independence.

Request a sovereignty check What I do

Sound familiar?

Dependent, expensive and out of house

  • Microsoft 365 licence costs rise every year – per head, per month.
  • Your business data sit on US servers – reachable under US law (Cloud Act).
  • You want data sovereignty – but no risky big-bang move.
  • A licence audit always looms, and the cloud obligation keeps growing.

What I do for you

The step-by-step way out of Microsoft 365

Sovereignty check & plan

An inventory of your IT and a realistic, step-by-step exit plan – as an affordable, no-obligation entry point.

Nextcloud instead of SharePoint

Files, calendars, contacts and office documents – shared teamwork, familiar Word/Excel formats.

Your own mail server

Professional business mail with SPF/DKIM/DMARC – without an Exchange licence, with your own domain.

Proxmox + backup/DR

A solid, open foundation (instead of VMware) with well-thought-out backup and disaster recovery. Optional managed IT at a fixed price.

Why this way

Independence instead of a licence treadmill

Data in Switzerland

On your own or rented Swiss infrastructure – not within reach of foreign authorities.

No per-seat licence

An end to rising monthly costs and the fear of the next licence audit.

Step by step, no lock-in

Migrate hybrid, open formats – switchable at any time, even away from me.

How a cloud exit runs

What a step-by-step exit actually means

A cloud exit is not a risky cut-over date on which you flip from Microsoft 365 to everything new. It begins with the sovereignty check: an inventory of what you use today – mailboxes, shared files, calendars, Teams storage, which licences, how many people. From that comes a staged plan that tackles the simple, low-risk parts first. Usually files and business email move to the new, Swiss infrastructure first; calendars, contacts and the rest follow later. During this phase the old and new worlds run in parallel (hybrid), so operations don't stop for a day and no one sits in front of locked doors.

The most common objections from SMEs revolve around compatibility – and most can be allayed. Word, Excel and PowerPoint: Nextcloud Office (based on Collabora Online) opens and edits the common Microsoft formats such as .docx, .xlsx and .pptx directly in the browser, so your staff carry on as usual. Existing documents stay usable, and exchange with customers and partners who still use Microsoft works. The only honest limitation: complex Office macros are not executed – where they are in use, we look at them in advance. Calendar and mail: appointments, invitations and shared calendars run over open standards (CalDAV, IMAP/SMTP) and are usable in Outlook, on the smartphone and in webmail; the own mail server is set up cleanly with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, so your mail is delivered reliably.

Because everything is built on Swiss infrastructure and with open formats, the step is nFADP/revDSG-compliant from the start and without lock-in – you could keep running the system later even without me. On request I accompany operations afterwards as managed IT with defined response times and a personal contact instead of a queue. So "out of dependence" becomes a plannable project instead of a jump into the deep end.

Price

Start small, then scale

Managed IT from CHF 300 · / month, depending on scope
  • Sovereignty check / cloud-exit workshop as an affordable entry point
  • Migration as a project with fixed key figures
  • A personal contact instead of a call centre
  • A concrete quote after the sovereignty check

Process

From the check to sovereign operation

Sovereignty check

Inventory & exit plan – an affordable entry point.

Concept & quote

A staged plan with fixed key figures.

Step-by-step migration

Files & mail first, then the rest – without downtime.

Operation & managed IT

Looked after at a fixed price on request.

Common questions

Good to know

Microsoft 365 or self-hosting? Read the comparison Nextcloud vs Microsoft 365.

Do we have to switch everything at once?
No, and that is deliberate. The realistic path is step by step and hybrid: we often move file storage and email first, because these bring the greatest benefit and can be isolated well; calendars, office collaboration and the rest follow in later stages. During the migration the old Microsoft world and the new Swiss environment run in parallel, so there is no risky big bang and your operations keep running throughout. That way each stage can be tested calmly before the next starts, and in the unlikely event of a problem the step is small and reversible. We set the exact staged plan together after the sovereignty check – matched to your processes, your seasonal peaks and a pace your team can handle.
What happens to our existing data and emails?
They are migrated in full – mailboxes with history, shared files, contacts and calendars. For email I take over the existing messages and folder structures via standard protocols such as IMAP, so nothing is lost and the familiar layout is kept. You keep your domain and therefore your email addresses; nothing changes outwardly for customers and partners. Old Microsoft documents stay usable and can be continued in open formats or saved in the original format. I plan the migration so that you can access your data at any time during the move – there is no time window in which mailboxes or files are unreachable. In the end you have a cleanly sorted state on your own, Swiss infrastructure.
Can we still open Word, Excel and PowerPoint files?
Yes. Nextcloud Office, which is based on Collabora Online, opens and edits the common Microsoft formats – including .docx, .xlsx and .pptx – directly in the browser. Your staff carry on working as usual, including together and at the same time on the same document. Existing files stay usable, and exchange with customers or partners who still use Microsoft Office works both ways. There is one honest limitation: complex Office macros (VBA) are not executed. That affects only a small share of users, usually specialised Excel templates. Where such macros are in use, we look at them specifically before the switch and find a solution – for example an adjustment or keeping exactly that file running in a desktop Office application.
Is this data-protection-compliant (nFADP/revDSG)?
Yes, the solution is set up from the start to meet the revised Swiss data protection law (nFADP/revDSG). The central point: your data sit on Swiss infrastructure and not on US servers that could be demanded under foreign law – such as the US Cloud Act. On request you receive a data processing agreement (DPA), which governs the cooperation cleanly in data-protection terms, plus a traceable overview of exactly where which data are stored and who has access. That also makes your own documentation duty easier. I am not a legal service provider and do not replace legal advice, but the technical implementation is consistently designed for data sovereignty – encryption, access control and clear data locations are part of it by default.
Do we need our own hardware?
Either way – both paths are possible and are set out in the concept. You can run your own hardware on your premises; then the data sit physically in your company, which gives many SMEs the best sense of control. Alternatively we rent servers in a Swiss data centre if you would rather not run hardware on site – for example because space, power or a suitable room are missing. In both cases the data stay in Switzerland, are subject to Swiss law and belong to you, not a foreign corporation. Which option suits you better depends on your size, your availability requirements and your budget. I advise you neutrally on this and recommend what makes technical and economic sense – not what brings the highest margin.
What if something fails?
Failure resilience is part of the build, not an afterthought. Backup and disaster recovery (DR) are included from the start: your data are backed up multiple times, one copy sits off-site, and I check that the backups can actually be restored in an emergency. The open foundation on Proxmox also makes it possible to restore whole systems quickly onto replacement hardware. With optional managed IT you add defined response times and ongoing monitoring that reports problems before they bring things to a standstill. If the worst comes to the worst, you reach a personal contact instead of an anonymous queue – someone who knows your system and can step in precisely. So operations are not only more independent of Microsoft, but also more robust day to day.

Contact

Start with a sovereignty check

An affordable, no-obligation entry point: an inventory and a clear exit plan for your SME. I'll get back to you within 24 hours.

Request a sovereignty check See example build