The post-Brexit landscape is surprisingly similar to the one that preceded that momentous vote on 23 June. Far from bringing an end to months of political and economic uncertainty, the Leave vote and the ambiguity over what happens next continues to cause consternation amongst both UK companies and foreign investors alike.
[easy-tweet tweet=”The post-Brexit landscape is surprisingly similar to the one that preceded 23rd June.” user=”m7msuk” hashtags=”cloud, tech, Brexit”]
The technology sector, which has been attempting to resolve the US vs. European data protection conundrum now faces further uncertainty, and many businesses are particularly concerned about what form the UK’s data protection laws will take once the country has formally completed its divorce from the European Union.
Although the UK is capable of making its own data protection laws, as with the 1998 Data Protection Act, as a member of the European Union it was also subject to EU laws, including the Data Protection Directive. Upon leaving the EU, the UK will no longer have to abide by this ruling, or its replacement, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The new rules, which come into effect on May 25 2018, concern users’ ‘right to be forgotten’, the right for them to know when their data has been compromised as well as the right to transfer data to another service provider without the fear of vendor lock-in.
While it is highly likely that the UK will continue to abide by EU data protection regulations post-Brexit, it is understandable that some UK businesses are looking at the current uncertainty with some concern. Fortunately, there is a way for UK organisations to put this worry to one side and start planning for the future.
The role of the MSP in a post-Brexit world
As the growth of Public and Private Cloud offerings attract more IT investment, it becomes more important than ever for businesses to choose their managed service provider (MSP) wisely. By opting for a Managed Services partner who operates from UK-based data centres, businesses based here can ensure that national data protection regulations are met. That way, even if the UK and EU opt for different data protection laws, your UK business can continue as normal.
[easy-tweet tweet=”It’s understandable that some UK companies look at the current climate with some concern.” user=”m7msuk” hashtags=”brexit, tech, cloud”]
Although M7 Managed Services have always taken a global approach to our customer and vendor partnerships, managing applications in IBM SoftLayer for example, our Private Cloud and Managed Services offerings are hosted on leading technology infrastructure, located in UK data centres.
All of our customers’ data remains in the UK, ensuring that it meets compliance and regulatory standards. With more than 15 years of experience in infrastructure hosting and managed services and boasting a broad range of industry accreditations, we believe we have the expertise and resources to keep data safe and secure, while still allowing customers to collaborate with their partners all over the world.
Whether your business needs application hosting, off-site data replication or disaster recovery, M7 has a UK based solution to offer a solution that takes away the post-Brexit data conundrum.
Neil Cornish, Managing Director, M7 Group Ltd
Neil Cornish has spent the last 35 years in the European IT Industry working for IBM or as a Director for one of their Channel Partners.
He has a wealth of industry experience including new business start-ups, acquisitions and management buyouts as well as General Management and Blue Chip experience.
The opportunity to acquire WASP IT in Cardiff, an early SaaS provider, arose in May 2007. The company, renamed M7 Managed Services Limited, has grown organically over the past nine years to become one of IBM and latterly Lenovo UK’s strategic Managed Service Partners, MSP.
The company hosts applications and provides Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) for a wide range of UK and international companies on a virtualised infrastructure hosted in the UK.
Utilising both technical and physical resources, the company offers a long established service to ISVs exporting their solutions to global markets. Build, test and staging services are provided prior to international delivery and installation. Destinations to date include India, Egypt, Argentina and Nepal along with most European countries and US States.
An early partnership with IBM SoftLayer has seen the deployment of M7 Hybrid Cloud Solutions. By deploying latest Servers and Storage Technology into the NGD Tier 3 data centre facility in Newport, combined with IBM SoftLayer, M7 are now servicing Customers and ISVs under the tagline “Global Solutions, Delivered Locally”.