What is Data Residency and Why is it Important?

Have you ever wondered about “the cloud’ and what it means to keep your data secure on the cloud? Different countries and regions have different regulations around data security, and one major part is data residency. Ensuring your data stays securely stored in your local environment is very important when handling sensitive employee data. Andgo takes this seriously and ensures we go above and beyond when dealing with data security and residency.

So, what is data residency?

Data residency means that your data is being stored in a specific geographical location. With Andgo, you have the option to keep your data in the country where it originated, not just for storage but through any external services we use. Data residency is extremely important to us, and we consider it paramount when discussing data management and safety.

But isn’t the internet everywhere? How is this managed? 

We work hard to ensure that the data generated in your country stays within the country. This is managed by only using data centers with guaranteed Canadian Data Residency for Canada. We took this so seriously that we created our own Interactive Voice Response (IVR) service because no vendors could guarantee Canadian Data residency.

We continue to enforce these regulations when working with customers outside of Canada. Every country has its own laws surrounding data residency and security, and we build that into our plan to ensure the data stays local and secure.

Why is data residency important?

Data residency is important for health information. In fact, in Canada, it’s the law. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) applies to transfers of personal information to a third party, including a third party operating outside of Canada, for processing. This act sets clear rules and regulations around data security and residency. 

Challenges to data residency

Hosting

This used to be very difficult. When Andgo first started, there weren’t Cloud Infrastructure providers that had Canadian data centers. Now, due to the demand for data residency, the big three cloud providers, Amazon Web Services, Azure (Microsoft), and Google Cloud Platform, all have at least one Canadian data center.

3rd party software (services)

There are a bunch of services we would like to use (Google Text-To-Speech, Twilio, etc.). However, this might not be possible depending on our customers’ data residency requirements, so we work hard to ensure effective alternatives are available. Until these services adapt to meet the requirements set in place by data residency laws, they are functions we will not utilize. 

How Andgo keeps data safe

Andgo prioritizes data residency and security. It has to be at the forefront of our operations so that we can confidently keep our customers’ data secure. Here are the ways Andgo ensures its customer’s data is safe:

• We only store data that  is needed to provide our services
• We are vigilant in staying up to date on leading data residency trends, technology, and regulations
• We encrypt data at rest and in-flight
• We have robust data access segregation (i.e. no shared resources for customers)
• We have strong data access controls. Only the people who should see the data have access to see it.

More about Andgo

Andgo Intelligent Shift Fill Automation Suite was developed specifically for complex scheduling environments. By working with Andgo, you get the benefits of working with a knowledgeable and experienced team familiar with complex scheduling processes, procedures, and requirements.

Andgo’s Intelligent Shift Fill Automation Suite has created immense value for each of our customers through the automation of complex scheduling workflows. At Andgo, we understand that no two organizations are the same. With this in mind, we have designed our system to accommodate the unique requirements and use cases of your organization.