HubSpot launches new data center in Europe!

The nature of data processing is constantly changing. The scope of data collection is steadily increasing, and the large amount of data being handled today has created much uncertainty, especially around how we should process this type of information when it comes to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Now, HubSpot is opening a new data center in Europe to give its customers increased flexibility and secure storage of personal data.

Most industries have had to change the way they process data since GDPR was established - and this has undoubtedly meant a lot of changes for a lot of companies. Fortunately, however, GDPR was not created to make it more complicated for companies to process personal data. It was created to securely hand some integrity back to individuals.

One of the groups that have had to make such changes are software developers. They have had to be able to assure their customers that they can use their tools and collect their data based on these new rules. Regulations for the processing of personal data, on the other hand, are constantly changing. The latest regulation, Schrems II, concerns transferring personal data to countries outside the EOS.

This changing landscape has led to HubSpot announcing that they will open a completely new data center in Europe. Why has HubSpot chosen to set up this data center? What will it mean for companies that use HubSpot's CRM in Europe? Read on for the latest details.

Increased flexibility for storing customer data

At an individual level, we are constantly becoming more aware of how our personal data is processed and stored. For many companies, this means that it is important to take great care when processing personal data. Yet at the same time, it is important to keep up with existing regulations.

In July 2020, the European Court of Justice decided to impose a judgment called Schrems II. Before that, companies could send their data to countries such as the United States, as long as those who were supposed to process the data had a so-called Privacy Shield certificate. This did not make the transfer of personal data illegal, but required some extra work with the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) on why the transfer of personal data to countries outside the EOS were necessary. HubSpot has ensured that this does not happen and can therefore technically now process personal data that pertains to EU citizens.

However, the new changes that came with Schrems II have led to a great deal of uncertainty and increased complexity of legal advice for companies transferring personal data to the United States. To address this uncertainty and to make customers feel more secure about where companies process their personal data, HubSpot has chosen to establish a data center in Europe. This ensures that all HubSpot customers can store and process personal data in their CRM system without having to worry about its legality.

Feel safe with HubSpot

HubSpot hopes that its new data center will give users greater flexibility when choosing how information about their customers is stored, so they don’t have to think about whether the processing is done correctly or not. A proactive provider that helps with these challenges can therefore be a good asset to have on your side. This is also one step closer to HubSpot's goal of becoming the most used CRM platform for companies whose goals are scalability and growth. It has therefore been important for HubSpot to be able to stay up-to-date and offer all of its European users a new data center.

The benefits

A data center in the EU will increase the security of compliance with GDPR. But there has been a lot of uncertainty about this and we have received several guidelines from lawyers since GDPR came into force.

The data center can remove a potential barrier for companies considering using HubSpot. However, it will not be necessary for those who already use HubSpot to store their data in data centers in the USA to migrate to the new EU center. This in turn means that this change will primarily affect new HubSpot users. Apart from this, the ability to share data between different data centers will lead to further benefits, such as improved performance and increased reliability.

What does this mean for your data storage?

Existing HubSpot customers already have a solution that means they store their data in the US - this means no changes. It is of course an option to migrate the data to a portal that stores data in the EU, but for now, you must have a significant reason as to why you want to do this, as it is far from a simple process. This would require migrating to a completely new portal, which would mean a lot of work. In that case, much of the existing content in the platform would need to be copied and entered into the new portal manually, including the configuration with - among other things - workflows and CTAs.

However, some elements could be transferred to a new portal fairly easily, but we should not underestimate the fact that it would be a big project for most of HubSpot's customers today. At the same time, not everything can be migrated. System-generated data, properties such as ‘create date’, ‘become a sales qualified lead date’, ‘number of sessions’ and ‘number of page views’ will not be possible to move to a new portal.

Do you want to more about HubSpot and their new data center in Europe and how it can affect your business? Get in touch!