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Proton Easy Switch Lets Businesses Move From Microsoft 365 In Just Days, Rather Than Months

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  • Proton Easy Switch now covers Microsoft 365 migrations as well as Google Workspace
  • It helps admins port over emails, contacts and calendars, but not documents
  • 74% of EU business leaders are worried about US tech vendors

With so many European governments and public bodies starting to opt for sovereign, open-source software options in a bid to reduce reliance on foreign tech vendors, Switzerland's Proton has expanded its Easy Switch for Business to support Microsoft 365 migrations.

Previously, Easy Switch was only available for Google Workspace customers, but now, both major US vendors are being threatened by customers potentially switching to Proton.

For M365 in particular, Proton will automatically handle migration across three main categories – emails, contacts and calendars.

Proton Easy Switch for Microsoft 365

The company explained three in four (74%) European business leaders are worried that a US tech provider could cut off their access, and with the US Cloud Act threatening digital privacy, Europe's push to go sovereign has never been greater.

Migration is designed to be pretty easy, so admins only need to choose which data to migrate, connect to the relevant M365 account and select which user accounts to transfer.

But importantly, Proton's designed the process not to be disruptive, so users can continue to use their existing Microsoft 365 accounts in the meantime. For example, they can send emails from Proton or Microsoft during the transition, meaning workers are unlikely to even know what's going on behind the scenes while admins are busy configuring the migration.

However, while the Easy Switch migration tools might help guide admins through some of the more complex elements of switching email accounts, there's no simple switch for other parts of the M365 stack, like file storage. "Every week we hear from IT leaders who thought switching email providers would take months of disruption," Chief Operating Officer Raphael Auphan explained.

Despite not offering a simple switch for all of its apps, Proton has been quietly adding new tools and features in recent years amid ongoing geopolitical pressures. Its Workspace now includes apps like Drive, Docs and Sheets, as well as Meet for video conferencing, Pass for password management, VPN and Lumo, a private generative AI chatbot.