Switzerland’s federal administration is preparing to test a sovereign, open-source digital workplace designed to reduce long-term dependence on Microsoft 365 for sensitive government operations.
The Swiss Federal Council was informed on September 2, 2026, about the results of a feasibility study examining whether browser-based open-source office software could support defined federal workflows.
Following the assessment, the Federal Chancellery will begin a follow-up program to build and deploy an independent workplace platform for selected government employees.
Switzerland Launches Open-Source Alternative
The initiative is not an immediate replacement for Microsoft 365 across the federal government.
Instead, Swiss authorities intend to operate the sovereign workplace alongside Microsoft’s cloud productivity suite, initially providing critical employees with an alternative environment during outages, supply chain incidents, geopolitical disruptions, or other crisis scenarios.
By the end of 2027, approximately 3,000 federal employees involved in particularly critical business processes are expected to receive access to the new platform.
The planned environment will include the core services required for day-to-day government work: email, calendar functions, document and presentation editing, telephony, file storage, collaboration tools, and audio and video conferencing.
The first implementation phase is expected to cost about CHF 9 million, funded through money already approved by Parliament for the development of a sovereign Swiss open-source office automation platform.
Swiss officials have positioned the project as a digital sovereignty and resilience initiative rather than solely a software migration.
Maintaining a locally controlled workplace environment could provide authorities with an additional operational option if a major cloud provider experiences disruption or if access to external technology services becomes restricted.
Digital sovereignty has been identified as a priority within the federal government’s Digital Switzerland strategy. The objective is to ensure that agencies can continue operating essential services during crises without relying entirely on a single foreign productivity ecosystem.
The program follows the Proof of Concept for Office Automation with Open-Source Software, known as PoC BOSS.
The Federal Chancellery used the feasibility study to determine whether an open-source, browser-based workplace could handle common administrative tasks across participating departments.
The assessment involved 172 participants from several federal departments. According to the Federal Chancellery, users reported positive results in document creation and editing, file storage, collaboration, and email and calendar functions.
Officials concluded that the browser-based platform is suitable for standard office work and could strengthen contingency planning if Microsoft 365 became unavailable.
This capability is particularly important for public-sector organizations, where identity services, document workflows, communications, and access to operational data must remain available during major incidents.
However, the proof of concept also identified technical limitations. Large-scale video conferencing was an area where the open-source environment did not yet match the capabilities expected from enterprise collaboration platforms.
The finding highlights the challenge of moving beyond basic productivity functions toward resilient, government-scale communications infrastructure.
The sovereign platform will initially operate as a standalone alternative rather than a full migration target. This approach reflects the federal administration’s reliance on existing business applications and specialized tools closely integrated with Microsoft technologies.
Before Switzerland can consider wider deployment, the program must address interoperability, performance, identity management, access controls, security monitoring, support processes, and integration with government-specific applications.
Authorities will also need to develop operational expertise to maintain and secure the platform over time.
The 2027 pilot will provide evidence on costs, user experience, resilience, and maintenance requirements. A broader replacement of Microsoft 365 has not been approved and will depend on the results of the sovereign workplace program.
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