To emancipate American solutions, the government continues to enrich the digital suite. Designed for public administration, this set of collaborative office tools now incorporates word processing which intended to replace Google Docs and Microsoft 365.
The recent behavior of American tech giants, which multiply the foot calls to Donald Trump by endorsing his protectionist policy, strongly worries French users, who fear for the security of their data and their digital sovereignty. Some even go so far as to call the boycott of large digital platforms and services (see our article)! But you still have to find European equivalents to meet our needs!
Fortunately, Government already has a European solution for the French administration. In May 2024, he launched The digital suitea set of collaborative office tools “Designed for the public sector and open to the commons“. Based on a partnership with German and Dutch governments, it offers a national and open source alternative to dominant American solutions of the market, while guaranteeing the security and confidentiality of state data in a sovereign work environment. A response to increasing concerns concerning dependence on foreign digital giants.
The digital suite: a European ecosystem for collaborative work
The digital suite consists of several software:
- Visio: the equivalent of Meet or Zoom, for videoconferences;
- Messaging: the alternative to Gmail for webmail;
- Tchap: the alternative to Slack or Teams for instant messaging;
- Grist: The collaborative spreadsheet to manage the databases, like AirTable;
- France Transfer: The equivalent to Wetransfer, for the exchange of large secure files.
This month, the ecosystem welcomes a new new, docs, which aims to be an alternative to Google Docs and Microsoft Word for the creation and collaborative publishing of documents. It focuses on content rather than the shape to avoid spending too much time on the layout. In addition to the usual formatting tools and the addition of text, Docs can support images, videos, sounds and even files. The software also incorporates AI in order to reformulate, summarize or translate text, as well as a quick export button in PDF and DOCX, and shortcuts to the other digital suite tools. In the coming weeks, other functions such as multi-pages support and comments should appear.
The digital suite: a solution for professionals
Free and open source, Docs is used from a web browser. It can be used offline or, conversely, online and in real time collaboration with other users. The management of publishing or reading rights of employees who have access to a document looks like what we find on Google Docs. However, the digital continuation is only intended for professionals. Thus, in order to be able to connect to it, you must identify with a Proconnect account, the PRO equivalent of FranceConnect, which notably requests a SIRET number.
The digital continuation must face several challenges before successfully winning. First of all, public officials will have to be convinced to adopt these new tools. Accustomed to solutions like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, some of them could be somewhat reluctant to change. It will also be necessary to ensure the interoperability of these tools with those existing, so that the transition is done gently. Because the rest will not be adopted by the administration overnight …