Microsoft Azure sovereign cloud in Switzerland: security, compliance and control of your data
- Elise Dejour
- Aug 26, 2025
- 3 min read
The regulatory context around data protection is becoming increasingly strict (nLPD, GDPR, EU AI Act...). Indeed, the localisation of data has become a crucial issue, particularly in sectors such as health, finance, logistics or industry.
For Swiss companies, knowing where their data is stored is not a simple technical question: it is an issue of compliance, security and competitiveness.
What about the Microsoft solutions in terms of data hosting in Switzerland? Microsoft Azure sovereign cloud in Switzerland: security, compliance and control of your data, we explain everything to you!
What is Microsoft Azure and the sovereign cloud in Switzerland?
Microsoft Azure is a SaaS (Software as a Service) hosting mode, it is the Microsoft Cloud platform, where the applications and data are accessible via the internet, hosted and updated by Microsoft in its datacenters.
This hosting mode is chosen by more and more companies, because it eliminates the constraints of physical infrastructure management imposed by on-premise hosting mode (high costs, maintenance, updates), while offering flexibility, scalability and automatic security updates.
For Swiss companies, the challenge is clear: to benefit from the services of a hyperscaler while respecting sovereignty and compliance requirements. That’s why Microsoft opened datacenters in Zurich and Geneva in 2019, thus offering a geographical location of the data in Switzerland. These infrastructures allow companies to:
Store the data exclusively on Swiss territory.
Meet the requirements of digital sovereignty by hosting data exclusively on Swiss territory.
Facilitate compliance with local and sectoral regulations (nLPD, GDPR, ISO, sectoral standards etc.).
Swiss companies can host their Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central ERP and its data in a Swiss datacenter, ensuring that data such as production or customer data never leaves the country.
Why did Microsoft deploy datacenters in Switzerland?
The cloud in Switzerland responds to important strategic needs:
Digital sovereignty: local storage for sensitive data, in line with public and private sector expectations.
Regulatory simplicity: ease of compliance with demanding legislation.
Increased trust: companies have more confidence
In addition, the location of data storage is a key point: Switzerland is among the regions explicitly supported for the commitment to local data storage in Microsoft 365 (Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, Copilot, etc.).
This means that companies can configure their Microsoft services so that all critical data remains on Swiss soil, thus meeting the requirements of digital sovereignty, nLPD, GDPR and sectoral compliance. Which is a major asset for SMEs requiring confidentiality.
Swiss regulation and data protection requirements
The new Swiss law on data protection (nLPD), in force since 2023, requires:
Secure processing of personal data.
Full transparency on their use.
Strengthened rights for the persons concerned.
The sovereign cloud model meets these requirements by ensuring that sensitive data never leaves Swiss territory.
Control legal risks with the Microsoft sovereign cloud
Opting for a local cloud like that of Microsoft Azure in Switzerland means:
Limit cross-border data transfers.
Avoid legal complications related to out-of-jurisdiction accommodation.
Accelerate compliance audits with reliable location evidence.
This also avoids the costs and uncertainties associated with developing a 100% CAPEX cloud.
All companies, even an SME, must be responsible for the processing of their data. A wrong choice of hosting can:
Create security vulnerabilities.
Involve legal responsibilities (regarding customer data for example).
Block access to certain European markets.
Choosing a sovereign and certified environment, like that of Microsoft, means minimizing technical risks and therefore legal risks.
Security: a high level of requirement
Microsoft guarantees a high level of security via:
ISO/IEC standards.
The encryption of data.
Strict software isolation in a multi-tenant environment.
24/7 continuous monitoring, with automated incident responses.
Microsoft offers a reliable and transparent ecosystem, notably via very comprehensive documentation around its compliance commitments: GDPR, DORA, data governance etc. This transparency is an asset for any Swiss company wishing to evolve in an uncertain regulatory environment.
Why this choice is strategic for Swiss SMEs?
Even for smaller structures, the stakes are the same:
Security of business, client or HR data.
Access to European markets thanks to reassuring compliance.
Ease of technical and legal management, even without a dedicated IT team.
Almakom: your partner for a sovereign and compliant Microsoft cloud
At Almakom, we support Swiss companies in:
The audit of data localisation and their Microsoft ecosystem.
The migration to Swiss datacenters from Azure or Microsoft 365.
The secure integration of your ERP, CRM or business applications with an adapted governance.
With our approach based on change management, we accompany you at every step of your digital transformation.
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