For years, the answer from IT teams asked about migrating off Google Workspace has been the same: too risky, too disruptive, too much downtime. Proton is betting that the answer is about to change.
The Swiss privacy company has launched Easy Switch for Business, a migration tool designed to move organisations’ email, calendars, contacts, and domains from Google Workspace to Proton, without taking anything offline. The key feature is parallel running: businesses can keep Google Workspace fully operational while data transfers in the background, allowing IT and security teams to test and validate the new environment before committing to a full switch.
The launch lands at a moment of mounting unease about US technology dependency. Scrutiny of American cloud providers has intensified across Europe, and UK organisations in particular face a confluence of pressures: post-Brexit data flow considerations, ICO compliance requirements, and growing board-level conversations about what happens to sensitive business data when it sits inside an American platform subject to US law.
The disruption problem
Migration of business communications infrastructure has long been treated as a last resort. Unlike switching a SaaS tool, moving email means moving the nervous system of an organisation, and the traditional approach requires a hard cutover that leaves no margin for error.
Easy Switch for Business is designed to remove that calculus. Organisations can onboard teams gradually, with user accounts and domains moved through a guided process while day-to-day operations continue uninterrupted. The parallel-running architecture means there is no cliff edge: the decision to fully switch becomes a formality once IT is satisfied, rather than the starting gun.
The sovereignty angle
Proton’s pitch goes beyond product features. Headquartered in Geneva and protected by Swiss privacy law, the company is positioning itself as a structurally different kind of provider. Ownership sits with the Proton Foundation, a structure that legally prevents the company from being acquired, an increasingly relevant point for organisations that have watched US tech consolidation reshape data-handling practices across platforms they rely on.
The company now serves more than 100,000 businesses globally, with customers spanning law firms, newsrooms, NGOs, consultancies, and public sector bodies, sectors where data confidentiality is not optional. According to Proton, the consistent driver for organisations making the switch is not cost but control: reducing dependence on providers whose terms of service, data-sharing practices, and jurisdictional exposure fall outside the customer’s reach.
What’s included
Easy Switch for Business migrates email, calendars, and contacts from Google Workspace to Proton Mail for Business. Domain and user account transfer is handled through a guided process, with the option to run both platforms in parallel during the transition to mitigate disruption.
The tool is available now. Full details and a migration walkthrough are available here: https://proton.me/business/blog/proton-mail-easy-switch-for-business
