Breaking free from Big Tech dependency and achieving 40% cloud savings: the story of Siderian

About Siderian and Nash Hoogwater

• Customer since: Mar, 2025
• Industry: Business Intelligence & Analytics
• Size: 11 - 50 employees
• HQ: Amersfoort

Customer website

Nash Hoogwater

Siderian provides the platform Siderian Cloud. With Siderian Cloud, you have a modern composable platform at your disposal to build digital solutions, automate processes, and use data intelligently to create an agile, streamlined organization: a so-called composable business. Changes go to production in just a few minutes instead of months!

Dutch platform company Siderian migrates from Microsoft Azure to Cyso Cloud, delivering substantial cost savings and complete control over sensitive client data.

Siderian has been a Cyso Cloud customer since March 2025. This Dutch software development and business intelligence company, founded in 2016 by CEO Nash Hoogwater, provides a platform that combines business process management applications with advanced business intelligence capabilities.

The company serves clients primarily in the housing association sector and other markets with their generic platform approach, specialising in building workflow-based applications with an integrated BI stack. Originally based entirely on Microsoft technology, including .NET Core and Power BI, Siderian handles privacy sensitive information for Dutch clients, making data sovereignty a critical business requirement. With a small development team supported by global partners, the company has evolved from its origins to become a provider focused on maintaining client data security within European borders.

The breaking point: when geopolitical risks became business reality

Siderian's migration from Microsoft Azure wasn't driven by technical limitations, but by a pivotal moment that highlighted the risks of dependency on American cloud infrastructure. The company's journey illustrates how geopolitical tensions can force immediate business decisions.

The catalyst came in early 2025 when news broke that Microsoft had restricted access to mailboxes of the International Court of Justice, preventing judges from working. "That was really a decisive moment for me when I thought: okay, now we're really going in the wrong direction. Essentially, any organisation that does something wrong in the direction of America runs the risk of having access denied or data being requested."

Operating primarily in the Dutch housing association market, Siderian handles highly sensitive privacy data. "My starting point is that the data should simply remain in the Netherlands. Even though we have EU regulations that should not matter from a business perspective, we are dealing with privacy-sensitive information from Dutch clients."

Despite extensive Microsoft experience, Siderian recognised growing dependency risks, including deep Azure integration making migration difficult, potential data access requests under US legislation, limited infrastructure control, and rising costs with complex pricing models.

The search and migration: finding a European Cloud partner

When evaluating alternatives, Siderian needed more than just technical capabilities. They required true European cloud infrastructure with genuine ownership, open-source compatibility to avoid vendor dependency, Dutch data residency for housing association clients, and OpenStack compatibility for multi-cloud flexibility.

I wanted to move to a real Dutch solution. The fact that it was a Dutch provider was important to me. What I found very pleasant was that it simply runs in the Netherlands.

Nash Hoogwater / CEO at Siderian

Siderian implemented a dual-track strategy addressing both internal operations and client platforms. The company leveraged their existing Kubernetes expertise to accelerate migration, transitioning from Office 365 to Nextcloud, replacing Teams with open-source video conferencing, moving from Azure DevOps to Gitea, and switching its Power BI stack to Apache Superset.

"We were already running a lot of Kubernetes because it's scalable. So that was already something that was very much in our DNA. The advantage was that we already knew Kubernetes well. Then it's more a matter of: okay, how does OpenStack work or how does it work in the cloud?"

Substantial results: 40% cost savings and data sovereignty

The migration to Cyso Cloud delivered remarkable financial and operational benefits that exceeded expectations. Beyond cost savings, Siderian gained strategic advantages that strengthen its market position and client relationships.

"A rough estimate: I think we could be 40% cheaper if we do everything completely within Cyso Cloud and open-source." The cost advantages come from more efficient resource utilisation through Kubernetes, transparent pricing without hidden fees, elimination of multiple Microsoft service costs, and better scaling economics.

Siderian can now confidently tell clients their data remains within Dutch borders, processed on infrastructure owned and operated by a Dutch company. "Everything runs in the Netherlands with a Dutch company behind it, which aligns perfectly with my target market, which is also the Netherlands. It all fits together beautifully."

The migration delivered reduced vendor dependency, improved transparency with full infrastructure control, enhanced security with data under European jurisdiction, and future flexibility through a multi-cloud strategy. Siderian proactively communicates benefits to clients: "I think it's important to tell clients because it's something for the clients too: watch out, you run the risk... The same reasons why we switched should actually apply to other organisations as well."

Strategic advice for businesses

Nash Hoogwater's experience provides valuable guidance for organisations considering similar transitions. His perspective combines practical insights with strategic business thinking about the changing geopolitical landscape.

"From a business risk perspective: just do it. You can talk about it at length, and everyone has their ifs and buts. But you'll only discover the feasibility when you do a scan of your organisation, your IT landscape, and see what we can do with this."

He emphasises scenario planning: "Go ahead and work out a few scenarios: what will happen if Microsoft pulls the plug? Does your company still exist from that perspective? That's certainly my advice to take a look at that, purely because of what's happening in the world now."

The migration provides Siderian with a unique selling proposition. "When I talk to managers about this, often there's no awareness at all of how risky it actually is that we're running everything within Microsoft. That understanding is starting to land more and more."

Siderian's journey reflects a growing trend among European businesses seeking digital sovereignty. "I see a split: some aren't concerned at all, while others are interested or actively making changes. But I notice that the group that's waiting but interested is growing larger than the group that's not talking about the matter."

Take action: explore your European Cloud possibilities

Are you concerned about your organisation's dependency on American cloud providers? Siderian's possible 40% cost reduction demonstrates that European cloud alternatives deliver both sovereignty and significant cost benefits.