Awarded the German Fairness Prize 2025: Why fairness in the cloud must be measurable

SecureCloud was honored in 2025 as part of the German Fairness Award - one of the largest consumer-based studies in Germany. The prize is awarded by the German Institute for Service Quality (DISQ) and ntv on the basis of a large customer survey. This year, over 66,500 votes were included in the evaluation and 70 categories were awarded. For us, the award is both a confirmation and an incentive: fairness is not a marketing label, but a question of transparency, reliability and verifiable promises.
Sources: DISQ - German Fairness Award 2025, ntv Report 2025, DISQ/ntv press release

"Fairness begins where promises become measurable: clear SLAs, comprehensible prices, data portability without hurdles - and support that is available when it counts."
- Marcus Müller, CEO & Founder, SecureCloud

What the Fairness Award measures - and why it is relevant for cloud customers

The German Fairness Award evaluates criteria such as transparency, reliability and price-performance from the customer's perspective. For cloud solutions, this means: no hidden costs, clear contract logic, reliable availability, comprehensible processes. It is precisely these expectations that are reflected in public tenders, compliance requirements and the requirements of regulated industries.
To classify the continuity of the award, please refer to the publications from previous years: DISQ Issue 2024 (E Paper) and DISQ Issue 2023 (E Paper).

Fairness translated into product & operation: our principles

1. Transparent packages & prices
   Clear service descriptions without price traps, understandable upgrade paths, no "data hostage-taking" through proprietary lock-ins.
   
   
2. Data residency & sovereignty
   Located in Germany, end-to-end encryption, client separation, customer key (BYOK). Jurisdiction and key sovereignty remain with the customer.
   
   
3. Traceability & evidence
   Seamless logs, signed exports, verifiable backups - relevant for audits, invoice verification and exit scenarios.
   
   
4. Support that is accessible
   Defined SLAs, realistic response times, escalation paths. We communicate openly if something doesn't go according to plan - and document fixes.

"Fairness is tangible in everyday cloud life: when teams reach their goal without ticket ping-pong, when prices are predictable and the exit is just as well documented as the onboarding."
- Sebastian Deck, CMO, SecureCloud

Practice: What customers can expect in concrete terms

• Portability & exit path: Data can be exported in a verified manner; metadata remains traceable.
• Secure collaboration: release policies, expiration dates, watermarking, SSO/MFA as standard.
• E-signature workflows: From advanced to QES - embedded in existing processes, with archive capability and timestamps.
• Resilience by design: Separate backups, tested restore paths, defined RTO/RPO.

FAQ

What is the German Fairness Award?

An annual consumer prize awarded by DISQ and ntv, which recognizes companies in numerous sectors for transparency, reliability and price/performance. It is based on a large customer survey.
Read more: DISQ - Fairness Award 2025

How many votes were included in the 2025 evaluation?

According to the organizers, over 66,500 customer votes in 70 categories.
Sources: DISQ, press portal

Where can I view the reporting?

In the ntv overview article and the DISQ publications:
ntv Report 2025, DISQ - Fairness Award 2025

Where can I find information on previous editions?

The publications from previous years provide context and methodology: DISQ E Paper 2024 and DISQ E Paper 2023.

After the award is before everyday life

Awards are pleasing - but the benchmark remains the company: reliable services, clear contracts, verifiable security. Anyone who would like to know how we implement fairness in architecture, processes and support is invited to talk to us.