Cloud-Rolls. The Big Mid-Air Plane Swap!

Roll-backs make for great headlines. Cloud repatriation makes for delicious IT media ink. But there is so much that goes before, and during, this U-turn that we seldom get a glance of. Who better than the horse-whisperer’s mouth to give a peek of why, and how, Cloud shifts are happening. Frank Karlitschek, CEO and Founder of Nextcloud takes us into the trenches. Or shall we say, 30,000 feet up there.

- By Pratima H

What has been your traction- so far- in giving enterprises alternatives to hyperscaler environments- how do you address performance, functionality and reliability needs here?

Is it easy for enterprises to lift-and-shift from major Cloud setups? In the first five months of 2025, demand for Nextcloud has more than tripled. We are seeing the greatest demand for a secure and reliable collaboration platform from European countries. But we are also seeing a significant increase in global inquiries, for example from Canada, Latin America and even the US.

Anything in India?

Interest from India has also increased significantly. Many organisations we talk to are specifically asking for a migration from their Microsoft or Google platform.

How does this work? Is the jump easy?

The customer decides where to host Nextcloud: on their own server in a private cloud or with a trusted provider. Nextcloud is designed for scalability and already serves major enterprises and public institutions.

Migration is not an insurmountable challenge - it's a manageable process. We offer migration support. Nextcloud is an integrated platfrom but has a modular design. Customers can start with Files to edit and share documents and then later use Groupware for managing emails, calendars and contacts, and then Nextcloud Office or Talk for chat and videoconferencing.

For a switch from Microsoft365 or Google, user acceptance is often the biggest challenge. For example when an app is in a different colour than what they are used to.