- France will replace Microsoft Teams and Zoom with the domestic Visio platform
- Visio has been tested for a year and supports forty thousand users
- Visio’s AI transcription and speaker diarization is powered by French start-up Pyannote
The French government has confirmed that it will replace Microsoft Teams and Zoom with a domestically developed video conferencing platform called Visio.
The shift is planned to roll out across all government departments by 2027 and is part of a wider strategy to reduce reliance on foreign software vendors.
Officials cited concerns about security, data sovereignty and the potential for foreign surveillance as primary motivations for the move.
Superb digital ecosystem
Visio has been in testing for about a year and already supports about 40,000 users within French government networks.
It is a key part of France’s Suite Numérique plan to give government officials online collaboration tools to replace US online services.
Unlike commercial platforms, Visio and its associated tools are intended for public use only.
It is hosted on the sovereign cloud of Outscale, a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes, which ensures that all user data remains within French jurisdiction.
This infrastructure is expected to limit exposure to foreign network disruptions and potential regulatory pressures that have previously affected European reliance on US cloud providers.
Visio also incorporates AI-powered features, including meeting transcription and speaker diarization, developed in collaboration with French start-up Pyannote.
The government noted that switching to Visio could result in large cost savings and estimated a reduction of around €1 million per year for every 100,000 users.
Visio is part of a broader effort to integrate office software alternatives and productivity tools into government workflows.
By adopting local options, the French administration aims to create an internally coherent ecosystem capable of replacing several foreign applications.
The change also reflects broader European concerns about reliance on US IT infrastructure, particularly after major cloud outages last year.
“The goal is to stop the use of non-European solutions and guarantee the security and confidentiality of public electronic communications by relying on a powerful and sovereign tool,” said David Amiel, Minister of Civil Service and State Reform.
“This strategy highlights France’s commitment to digital sovereignty amid rising geopolitical tensions and fears of foreign surveillance or service disruptions.”
While the initiative prioritizes security and data sovereignty, implementation will require extensive coordination and training.
Public IT departments must integrate Visio with existing internal systems and ensure continuity of service during the transition.
Visio will offer more control, but its ability to fully match the functionality and scalability of established commercial platforms remains uncertain.
Via Euronews
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