Escape from the USA: European Alternatives to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
Swiss and German alternatives to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, covering email, office suites and AI. None of them are based in the USA.
[ 00 ]
the person whose job your technology is
“Can't somebody else do it?”
Yes. Me.
I'm the person whose job your technology is. The website, the domains, the email, the AI questions, and the decisions nobody has been making.
[ 01 ]
who I work with
Who I work with
It's ten on a Thursday night. The website's down, or the domain's lapsed, and you're trying to remember who set it up and whether anyone still has the password. None of it is anybody's job until it breaks, and then it's yours.
That's when people call me. I sort it out, and then I keep it sorted.
It happens to small businesses with nobody whose job this is. Five to fifty people, often selling service and maintenance contracts: fire and security, trades, garages, care providers, accountants. Somebody set the technology up years ago and nobody has owned it since.
With me, you hear about the renewal, the backup or the certificate that expires on a Sunday from me — not from a customer who couldn't find you.
[ 02 ]
What clients say
“We've had the pleasure of dealing with Axel for nearly 15 years now and we couldn't recommend him highly enough. Prompt, professional, courteous and extremely thorough.”
15
years with one client. There is no contract keeping them there. They stay because they want to.
25
years doing this.
[ 03 ]
ai
AI, since everyone is asking
Everyone is telling you to use AI. Nobody is telling you which, or how, or what your staff are already pasting into it on a Tuesday afternoon.
I work out where it earns its place and set it up so your data stays yours. Sometimes the honest answer is not yet, and I will say so.
There is also an hour-long session on it, for you and however many of your people you want in the room. £750, and you leave with a written rule your team can follow.
[ 04 ]
why one person
What a firm with a sales team cannot say
The most useful word in this job is no. No to the rebuild you don't need, the subscription nobody has opened since March, the tool that solves a problem you haven't got.
It costs me work every time I say it, which is the reason you can believe it. Twenty-five years at this is mostly knowing what to leave out.
[ 01 ]
No ticket number
You speak to the person doing the work, every time.
[ 02 ]
Nothing to sell you
I sell no licences and take no commission. There is nothing I make more money by recommending.
[ 03 ]
The same fee either way
My fee is the same whichever platform I recommend, so the advice is honest.
[ 04 ]
No account manager
There is nobody between us. Nothing gets lost being passed on.
[ 05 ]
a recent job
You find out who really owns your website on the day you try to change it
A company selling maintenance contracts came to me stuck. Their old web company held the domain and the social accounts and would not hand them over.
I got it all back into their name and rebuilt the site so they own it outright.
the maths
A small maintenance contract is worth a few hundred pounds a year, and it renews. The site has to win less than one customer, ever, to pay for itself.
[ 06 ]
how to sack me
How to sack me
Everything is in your name and on your card: the domain, the hosting, the accounts, the code. I hold nothing that would make leaving awkward.
There is no twelve month minimum, which is the standard everywhere else in this market. Stop at the end of any month and I will hand over whatever you need.
Being without me for a fortnight should be an inconvenience rather than a crisis. That is the thing I build to.
[ 07 ]
what it costs
What it costs
So you know before you ring.
retainer
Your technology, my job
£600 a month
None of this is your problem any more: the domains, the hosting, the email, the website, the accounts and the renewals. You stop having to hold an opinion about technology — I make the call, tell you what it costs and why, and you say yes or no.
Keeping it running is included. Building something new is a project, quoted before it starts. Domains, hosting and licences stay in your name, on your card. No minimum term.
project
A day at a time
£1,200 a day
For a piece of work with a beginning and an end: a move, a rebuild, a supplier you need untangling from. Priced by the job wherever I can, never by the hour.
Quoted before I start. The number does not move.
What you are comparing it to
| What it is | What it costs | What it covers | When they turn up |
|---|---|---|---|
| An IT freelancer | £50 an hour, ad-hoc | Whatever you ask for, if they happen to know it | After it has broken, if they are free |
| An IT support contract | From about £30 per person a month | Laptops, email, the helpdesk. Not your website or your domain | When you raise a ticket |
| Me | £600 a month, no minimum term | All of it, including the decisions | Before you notice. That is the job |
An IT support contract will answer the phone at three in the morning. I won't. If that is what you need, you need a contract rather than a person, and I will tell you so.
I'll take on a website somebody else built, including one you built yourself with an AI tool. It has to be in a form I can control first.
Let's talk[ 08 ]
writing
What I think
I write about AI, privacy and the technology small businesses actually run on. Opinionated, and free.
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[ 09 ]
let's talk
Let's talk
About twenty minutes. You tell me what isn't working, I ask a few questions, and I tell you what I would do about it. It costs nothing, and it sometimes ends with me saying do nothing.
Be braver now.
