Caritas Switzerland fights poverty in Switzerland and worldwide. To further their mission, the Caritas team needs a secure, stable, and scalable IT infrastructure.
For a humanitarian organization handling highly sensitive data, digital sovereignty – keeping that data under Swiss law and beyond the reach of foreign authorities – is not a feature but a precondition of trust.
As its on-premise infrastructure approached the end of its lifecycle, Caritas Switzerland took the strategic decision to modernize and, above all, to strengthen its digital sovereignty. Rather than simply renewing hardware, the organization chose a Swiss Cloud platform that keeps sensitive data under Swiss jurisdiction. "For an organization like ours, an infrastructure refresh is a strategic decision in its own right. We wanted a modern, sovereign foundation that reflects the responsibility we carry for the data entrusted to us", explains Prabjot Singh, CISO and Interim Head of Infrastructure at Caritas Switzerland.
At first glance, a global hyperscaler seemed like the obvious comparison point. Despite discount offers, the cost remained high – and more critically, it could not fully address Caritas's data sovereignty requirements.
Why data sovereignty is more than just a feature
"As a humanitarian organization, we work with highly sensitive data belonging to people in vulnerable situations, as well as the personal information of our donors. We have a special responsibility to protect that data," says Jürgen Enderle, CIO and member of the Executive Board at Caritas Switzerland.
However, under the US CLOUD Act, even data stored in a hyperscaler's Switzerland-based data centers can be accessed by US authorities on request. For an NGO working closely with government contracts, this was unacceptable and Caritas decided against a hyperscaler Cloud.
Xelon and Caritas Switzerland: How a fruitful partnership started
In a next step, Caritas evaluated several Swiss providers. What set Xelon apart was not a feature list, it was the quality of the first conversation. "The other Cloud providers gave us more of a selling point rather than a solution to our challenge. With Xelon, I asked the same tough questions and always got honest as well as helpful answers”, recounts Prabjot Singh.
From the very first call, Prabjot Singh felt a sense of trust that he rarely encounters in the industry. Xelon's willingness to say "no" when something wasn't possible, rather than overpromising, was a decisive factor. "If Xelon couldn't provide something, they simply said so. The Xelon team didn't just try to sell something. There was trust between us from the start." That trust translated into a clear procurement decision.
How legacy servers were successfully migrated to a Swiss Cloud by Xelon
The Cloud migration was structured carefully to protect business continuity. Xelon and Caritas divided the infrastructure into critical and non-critical servers and planned a four-phase migration approach. Work was deliberately scheduled during weekends and outside business hours to minimize disruption. A shared communication channel kept all parties aligned throughout each phase, and Prabjot Singh described Xelon's response times during critical moments as "fast and rapid". "We completed the Cloud migration ahead of the time limit! That was a bit surprising, but I was really happy. There were no hiccups. The transition was very smooth and very communicative."
The risk that loomed largest beforehand – whether all legacy servers could be successfully migrated – was mitigated. According to Prabjot Singh, the operational benefits were felt immediately after the migration to the Xelon Swiss Cloud. The move gave Caritas the ability to scale and upgrade capacity on demand, matching resources precisely to the organisation's needs. "On the Swiss Cloud we can upgrade and scale exactly what we need, when we need it. That flexibility has changed the way we plan our infrastructure", says Prabjot Singh.
The next goal: one consolidated Swiss Cloud provider
The collaboration between Caritas Switzerland and Xelon got off to a strong start – and stayed that way. "The partnership was on equal footing from the very beginning. Direct communication, a technically competent counterpart, and support in our language made the step-by-step migration considerably easier. We particularly appreciated the pragmatic, solution-oriented approach. We never felt like just a customer, but part of a genuine partnership," says Jürgen Enderle.
Caritas Switzerland is now in the process of fully consolidating its remaining hyperscaler environment to Xelon, aiming for a single Swiss Cloud provider in course of 2026. Once the migration is complete, the cost reduction will be substantial. "Consolidating onto one Swiss provider simplifies our operations, and from early 2027, we anticipate significant cost savings”, says Prabjot Singh.
Caritas Switzerland is in full control of their data
From a compliance perspective, Caritas now knows that its data resides fully in Switzerland, which is a requirement increasingly demanded in public sector contracts. "The Swiss data location means not only compliance with the revised Data Protection Act, but above all control: our data is subject to Swiss law and is protected from access by foreign authorities. Digital sovereignty is therefore not a technical detail for us, but a question of trust towards the people we are here for," concludes Jürgen Enderle.
Jürgen Enderle
CIO and member of the Executive Board
"Direct communication, a technically competent counterpart, and support in our language made the step-by-step migration considerably easier. We particularly appreciated the pragmatic, solution-oriented approach. We never felt like just a customer, but part of a genuine partnership."
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