About this information piece:
By October’19 the BREXIT debate and leaving Europe with or without a deal is a very hot, controversial and sensitive topic that is hopefully in its final stages. Hampshire Chamber along with other UK bodies are seeking to inform and advise UK business. Datanet are a trusted, long standing data centre and hosting business in Hampshire and have been invited to sit on a panel to discuss with other business leaders. Conleth McCallan from Datanet engaged with some of his key customers to solicit their feedback and views.
Garry Miller, Coretek.co.uk – Expert, Trusted IT Support (Hampshire)
What effect, if any, is BREXIT having or expected to have on your business: [GM] Planning and forecasting, as we don’t know the impact, we are unable to accurately forecast our revenue stream from our EU clients. We currently have 2 large projects for France which we have just started and expect to complete mid-2020, I am concerned about the finances which are signed off but not yet realised.
What impact or changes will BREXIT have on GDPR and data privacy in your opinion: [GM] We simply do not know, we are relying on clear direction from government, which has yet to be announced
General comment: [GM] We are very unsure of the overall impact to our business, we have a number of clients based in Europe and trying to identify the impact and cost has proven impossible, we are left playing the waiting game. I really don’t think the government appreciate the uncertainty we and our customers are facing
Mitul Patel, CBRE.com – Global Data Centre Solutions (London)
What effect, if any, is BREXIT having or expected to have on your business: [MP] Most of the demand ~80% for data centre space in the UK is coming from the hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) they are building to service UK demands whilst the small local operators are servicing local demand.
Editor (speaking with other DC operators): What impact or changes will BREXIT have on GDPR and data privacy in your opinion: [Ed] Decisions are waiting to be made, some data will come back into the UK and some data will leave. Data on citizens, personal data the banks will be keeping local, some countries have very strict personal data requirements and so that data will reside in the local country. UK hosting will lose European data and gain UK data.
Antony Johnson, HSBC.co.uk – personal comment, not those of the bank (Hampshire)
What effect, if any, is BREXIT having or expected to have on your business: [AJ] Business decision makers are deferring investment decisions and those who have made decisions are delaying implementation.
What impact or changes will BREXIT have on GDPR and data privacy in your opinion: [AJ] If you have data in Europe, you need to think if it can stay there and if you have data in the UK on European citizens you need to know if you can retain it.
Matt Gaskin, Unigold.co.uk – IT & Facilities Services (Surrey)
What effect, if any, is BREXIT having or expected to have on your business: [MG] At present no difference. We trade all over the world buying and selling into Europe every week. We expect no real change apart from costs may increase slightly.
What impact or changes will BREXIT have on GDPR and data privacy in your opinion: [MG] Everyone selling to the EU will require a EU Representative if we go out without a deal. At the moment we should all have a UK representative to handle data. UK-based companies selling to the EU, with no EU office: Any company in the UK which processes personal data as a result of selling to the UK or wider EU will now be familiar with their obligations under GDPR. These obligations will continue under UK law, but for companies with no office in the EU there will be additional obligations under the extra-territorial scope of GDPR, as the UK will be treated as a ‘third country’ for its purposes; they need to appoint an EU Representative.
Robert May, ramsac.com – At the heart of IT (Surrey)
What impact or changes will BREXIT have on GDPR and data privacy in your opinion: [RM] I don’t see that Brexit will have any impact on the GDPR, GDPR was a much needed update to data privacy law, it replaced the DPA (Data Protection Act) which was 20 years old, think how our use of technology and our online lives have changed in that time. The law won’t change because of Brexit in my opinion and nor should it.
Lee Norvall, Blocz.io – Cloud Solutions for business (Hampshire)
What effect, if any, is BREXIT having or expected to have on your business: [LN] Importing hardware and software licenses from Ireland could be impacted or carry additional cost.
What impact or changes will BREXIT have on GDPR and data privacy in your opinion: [LN] We in the UK might be seen as a safe haven for data e.g. Backups as we may implement GDPR more securely.
Dan Baker, Pens.co.uk – The Pens Warehouse (Hampshire)
What effect, if any, is BREXIT having or expected to have on your business: [DB] We have some major competitors who operate factories in EU countries that benefit from cheaper labour than the UK. This makes it difficult for us to compete with them on price, however we are more than competitive on service and lead times. Much of our industry thrives on quick turnaround so it would actually be beneficial to us if our competitors were to experience delays and/or additional costs when bringing their goods into the UK. On the other hand, we do have customers in Europe and additional delays/costs with us exporting to them would likely result in a loss of business. The extent to which the two ends of the equation might balance each other out is really going to depend on the type of Brexit deal we get however I would expect that the loss of European competition in the market would outweigh any damage to our export trade.
What impact or changes will BREXIT have on GDPR and data privacy in your opinion: [DB] The current terminology of the legislation is going to require some rewording in order to allow data portability between the EU and the UK, both from our end and from the member states of the EU. I understand that the EU is already working on a proposal that would allow non-EU members to become voluntarily GDPR compliant. Whether we will need to piggyback onto that proposal or simply hope for a UK-friendly addendum to GDPR, I’m not sure. I certainly think that GDPR is one of many laws where we need some kind of temporary measures in place to ensure continuity whilst the final details are being ratified. Without that, I can imagine a difficult scenario where some businesses will take the definition of “data stored outside of the EU” quite literally, which could make life quite difficult.
Alistair Mackenzie NTsols.com – Net Technical Solutions (Surrey)
What effect, if any, is BREXIT having or expected to have on your business: [AM] Brexit has had no discernible effect on our business, and I don’t expect it to. The biggest risk is to do with our customers losing their business confidence as a result.
What impact or changes will BREXIT have on GDPR and data privacy in your opinion: [AM] I am unsure of the impact of Brexit upon GDPR, but in general terms GDPR is a positive move forwards and I would hope and expect it to remain largely as it is post Brexit.
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