FAQ
Everything people ask us before choosing Oworks.
Search for a question, or browse the themes: general, sovereignty and security, day-to-day use, deployment, pricing, partners.
26 questions
General
What is Oworks?
A complete collaborative suite — mail, calendar, contacts, tasks, meetings, chat, files and documents — with a single admin console. It assembles leading open source software and installs where you decide: in your data center, with your operator or online.
Who is it for?
Governments and public administrations that want a shared platform for all their ministries; businesses of every size; and the telecom operators and integrators that want to offer it to their customers.
How is it different from Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace?
The day-to-day features are comparable. The difference lies elsewhere: with Oworks, your data is hosted in your country, on infrastructure you choose, with code you can audit, and with no license paid to a foreign vendor.
Which open source software does it use?
Carbonio for webmail, Zimbra for mail and calendar, Postfix and Rspamd for mail routing and filtering, Matrix and Element for chat, Meet from La Suite numérique for meetings, OpenCloud and OnlyOffice for files and documents, Keycloak for identity.The details on the Product page →
Who is behind Oworks?
The Ivorian group VEONE, which has run mail platforms since 2011: it designs the suite and installs it for large accounts, and its subsidiary Cloud4Africa offers it online and with operators.Our story →
Sovereignty and security
Where is our data hosted?
Wherever you decide, and it is written into the contract: in your data center, with your operator in your country, or online with Cloud4Africa, on the continent.
Can the platform operator read our messages?
No, not on its own. The operator sees your organizations, your subscriptions and your usage, not your content. If it has to intervene on your platform, access is requested from you, is limited in time and appears in your audit log.
How is user access protected?
Single sign-on for all the applications, a second factor, a password policy, and access rules based on network or country. Accounts can be federated with your directory.
How is mail protected?
Filtering of spam, phishing and dangerous attachments, with quarantine; authentication of your domains (SPF, DKIM, DMARC); transport encryption between servers (MTA-STS, DANE).
Can we track what administrators do?
Yes. Every administrative action is recorded in a log you can browse and export, and which you can also receive directly in your own monitoring tool.
Is our data backed up?
Yes, the platform is backed up and encrypted. You can also receive a copy of the backup in your own storage, which can be locked against deletion.
Day to day
Can our staff keep Outlook?
Outlook connects over IMAP, CalDAV and CardDAV; the native connection over MAPI over HTTP and EWS, with the offline address book, is on our roadmap.
Can it be used on a phone?
Yes, with the Oworks apps for iPhone and Android, or with the phone’s built-in mail app. Your administrators can approve, block or remotely wipe a device.
Are Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents supported?
Yes. They open, can be edited by several people at once and are saved in their original format, directly from your files.
Is there an artificial intelligence assistant?
It is on our roadmap: writing, summarizing, search and meeting minutes. You will choose the model (hosted on your side, or supplied by a provider) and the country where the data is processed.
Deployment and migration
How long does it take to get started?
Online or with an operator, a few days. On-premises, a few weeks depending on scale; for a government, we start with a pilot ministry before rolling out in waves.
Can we keep our email addresses?
Yes. Your domains are added and verified in the console; your users keep their addresses.
How do we migrate our existing mailboxes?
From the console: you declare the source (Zimbra, Exchange, Microsoft 365 or any IMAP server), select the mailboxes and follow the progress of each batch.
Will there be a service outage?
No. The old and the new system run side by side on the same domain during the migration; users switch over in groups, at your own pace.
What is needed for an on-premises installation?
A Kubernetes cluster, storage and, ideally, a second site for disaster recovery. Our architects size the platform with you.The deployment options →
Pricing and contract
If it’s open source, why pay?
You pay no license. The Community Edition is free. The Enterprise Edition is a subscription: updates, security fixes, an integrated and tested suite, the production features and support.
How much does it cost?
Online, a price per user per month, set by Cloud4Africa or your operator. On-premises, an annual subscription per user, with volume discounts, or a plan for a government, plus onboarding. We draw up a quote based on your situation.
What happens if we stop?
Online, your organization remains restorable for 30 to 60 days depending on the plan. In every case, your data belongs to you and can be exported in standard formats.
And what if your company disappeared?
The Community Edition stays public, the code of the Enterprise Edition is deposited with a trusted third party, and your teams are trained to run the platform.The Editions page →
Partners
We are a telecom operator: how can we offer Oworks?
By becoming an approved sovereign operator: you host the suite in your data center, under your own brand, and Cloud4Africa invests in the infrastructure alongside you, with revenue sharing.
We are an integrator: can we deploy Oworks?
Yes, by becoming a certified integrator. Your engineers are trained and certified, and you benefit from our level 3 support.The partner program →
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