Hi r/Finland community!
For decades, European firms have leaned on Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 rather than home-grown tools.
At Proton we’re running a study mapping just how deep that dependency goes and it should concern anyone focused on European privacy, security, or innovation.
Finland’s snapshot: 92% reliance overall; all listed companies valued >€10B use US email. Software/hardware/telco are especially dependent.
📊 Read the full report and explore interactive charts: https://proton.me/business/europe-tech-watch#finland
Why email choice matters (beyond “IT tools”)
- Selecting a US suite can place EU business data under extraterritorial legal reach, even when servers sit in the EU.
- Communications and documents may end up in model-training pipelines (depending on provider policies/opt-outs).
- Once email is chosen, orgs typically inherit the same vendor’s cloud, docs, identity, and security, deepening lock-in.
- Centralized reliance increases the blast radius during political or trade tensions.
- Over-reliance on non-European stacks slows the EU vendor ecosystem and skills base.
We believe Europe needs strong, privacy-first alternatives hosted under EU/Swiss law. That’s why we’re backing €100 million toward the EuroStack initiative.
Disclosure: Posted by Proton to share research; methodology on the page. Mods pls remove if not appropriate.
by Proton_Team
9 comments
If only there were legitimate EU alternatives
For what it’s worth, I think your products are excellent and if it ever was my choice and it made sense, I would probably pick your option. Though I’m not actually sure what kind of business options you have. Anyhow, I plan to switch to your stack for personal use, once I’m properly in the workforce and can afford it.
Agreed on the issue of reliance on non EU companies. It can be a risk.
I use proton as an individual and it’s great. The issue at corporate level is not about email but ecosystem. From MS they get Teams, Office, etc. Switching emails would mean having to find alternatives for all those (and making sure they work). It would cost a fortune in money, effort and time. Unless this euro stack becomes a standard, it’s not going to happen.
Whats the ratio of on-prem to cloud?
Maybe consider developing a competent business platform first. A company, even a small business, utilizing Proton services for their critical business operations would be a fucking joke and using nationality as an argument for an incredibly inferior system is just pathetic.
Browser : vivaldi + Search Engine: Qwant + Email : Proton
This is obviously a Proton ad so should be removed but here’s a few points.
Email service itself is just one of the useful productivity services in a bundle that come with cloud, identity etc. Having multiple systems is management nightmare and adds cost, and therefore having them all in a bundle is a huge plus. Cost is always important.
Using integrated services doesn’t mean dependency. It’s up to you to decide how integrated you are. It can also help enabling a partnership
American operators in Europe must follow EU law, just like Swiss.
It’s a bit ironic to be talking about privacy when people are getting arrested and imprisoned in the UK for tweets and facebook posts. I know it’s not exactly the same thing but my point is it’s not like Europe is some sacred place that respects privacy and free speech. Hopefully other countries don’t follow the UK’s example.
I applaud your drive for a European alternative. Right now the switch is hard to justify. Email is not enough. Google and Microsoft provide an entire integrated suite of services that are essential today. Office programs, collaboration tools, video conferencing etc.
Even for SMEs this integrated suite is essential. Perhaps even more so than to a large corporation that can have their own IT department and might have heightened sensitivity to geopolitical risks.
It is exceedingly difficult for an SME to patch together a collection of software that could together do what Microsoft and Google provide as a single suite. If their business is not IT, they often don’t have any dedicated IT personnel. SMEs especially need a solution that just works AND also allows collaboration and meetings with companies that are in different ecosystems. You must be able to e.g. easily have a video meeting with someone who is used to using Teams.
It would be great if you can develop an alternative! Just pointing out that for SMEs the switch might actually be harder, not easier, since the linked article takes specific aim at SMEs.
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