FAQ
Frequently asked questions
The questions we hear most often. Click a question for the answer.
What exactly does "sovereign IT" mean?
That you are the owner of your digital workplace: the hardware and the data are yours and stay within Europe. We build and manage the platform for you — your external IT department — while you decide who gets access to your data. No third party (such as a US cloud giant) decides that, and you can always leave with your data.
Where exactly does our environment run?
You choose between two variants. On your own server at your office: then your data literally never leaves the building. Or on an EU server that runs exclusively for your organisation: then everything stays within Europe, under European law. In both cases you share nothing with other clients and nothing sits 'somewhere in someone else's cloud'. Many clients start on the EU server and move to their own hardware later; that works without losing anything.
How do the switch and migration work?
We handle the entire migration. First we map your current situation: which files, mailboxes, calendars and accounts exist. Then we set up your new environment and move everything in phases (data, email and users), so your team can simply keep working. We plan the transition for a quiet moment, test everything beforehand, and only go live once it works. You lose nothing and there is no days-long downtime. Switching from Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or an existing server? That is exactly what we specialise in.
What if we ever want to stop?
If you run on your own hardware, you literally take your drives with you. If you run on an EU server, you receive a full export of everything (email, files, calendars, passwords) and we help with the handover. In both cases, zero bytes of client data stay behind with us; that is written into the contract. Because everything is open software, any experienced administrator can take over from us.
Aurivian is a small company. What if you are gone tomorrow?
A fair question. Do ask the big vendors too. Our answer: your workplace consists of open software any experienced administrator knows, your environment is documented including a tested restore procedure, and the keys and passwords live in your own vault. So your office keeps running, even without us. With a large cloud vendor you depend on their terms; with us you demonstrably do not.
Can we use AI safely with this?
Yes, that is exactly the point. Your team gets an AI assistant for summarising, writing and searching documents, running entirely inside your own environment. Not a single letter goes to an American AI service, nothing is trained on your data, and you pay no separate AI subscription per employee. A useful side effect: your staff no longer need to quietly paste confidential documents into free chatbots.
Is this more expensive than a regular cloud service?
Not necessarily. With cloud services you pay forever, per user, per month, and that adds up. With your own environment you invest once in hardware and pay us for management. Over several years that is often cheaper, and you keep your data.
What about maintenance, updates and outages?
That is our job. We monitor the environment, carry out updates and make a backup every night. If something goes wrong, we step in. You do not have to worry about a thing.
And security?
Everything sits behind encryption, two-factor authentication and your own secured connection with a single central login. Privacy and security are the starting point of the setup, not something you have to arrange yourself.
Is your question not listed?
Just ask. We reply within one business day.