How data residency unlocks innovation

In our borderless digital economy — with digital information circling the globe in milliseconds — it may seem like your data lives everywhere. But in reality, where your data resides can have legal and compliance implications. While data privacy laws mandate how personal data should be processed and stored, they can also dictate where data should be stored. This type of requirement is called data residency.  

Below, we’ll dive into the importance of complying with data residency and Miro’s solutions that can bring about greater innovation in the process. 

What is data residency?

Data residency refers to the physical location where data is stored, including on-premises servers, cloud storage, or remote data centers. 

Data residency has become increasingly important in the past decade with the passage of regulations like GDPR. The main rationale behind these types of data residency regulations is so countries or economic zones like the EU can enforce stronger protections of their citizens’ data — and penalize companies that don’t comply. Because when data leaves its borders, that’s much harder to control.

Data residency can be complex: Here are 3 reasons why you want to get it right

For global enterprises, complying with data privacy regulations is a monumental challenge. According to FTI Consulting, 71% of CEOs and COOs list data privacy as their number-one risk, yet implementing localized solutions is difficult. Complying with a patchwork of regional laws like GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, and Australia’s Privacy Act adds complexity. Here’s why data residency is worth the effort and why it matters for your business. 

1. Avoid legal and compliance issues

Companies must comply with data residency laws specific to each jurisdiction they operate in, which can vary significantly across countries and regions. Companies out of compliance expose themselves to risks, including lawsuits or losing the right to do business in a country. 

2. Skip hefty fines

Fines for violating data privacy regulations can cost companies up to 20 million EUR or 4% of global turnover in the EU or up to 50 million AUD in Australia. The financial implications of these fines are enough for companies to take notice — and take action to stay compliant. 

3. Create trust and transparency

Showing that you have data residency in a country demonstrates that you understand the local compliance environment and are invested on the ground level in that country. This can go a long way in building trust with customers and breaking into new global markets. 

Miro’s data residency solutions

At Miro, we believe that security shouldn’t be a barrier to innovation, which is why we’ve invested in capabilities to enable enterprise companies to safeguard and control their data. Our Innovation Workspace brings the most advanced data protection and governance features —

including data residency — to online collaboration. The benefits bring more control and better performance:

  • Miro is designed so customers have enhanced control over personal data stored in collaboration workspaces. 
  • Built-in data residency removes barriers to integrating new software into your existing tech stack and gives companies confidence that they can meet regulatory compliance and protect user data. 
  • In-region compute infrastructure enables faster performance. 

How it works

Miro’s data residency ensures that in-scope production data, metadata, and backup data are stored in data centers in-region, making it easier to meet compliance needs. We also use in-region compute infrastructure, eliminating the need for cross-border data transfers between in-scope IT elements. 

We’re committed to helping enterprises navigate these data protection complexities with easy-to-use solutions that give users clarity and control over your data. Companies that use Miro for innovation can also implement data residency to meet their needs. For example:

  • Miro provides a higher level of control and compliance over your company’s data by ensuring all your board content is hosted in EU-based or Australia-based data centers to meet the highest standard of data residency compliance.
  • U.S. enterprise customers can opt to host their data in U.S.-based data centers.
  • Companies doing business in Australia have the choice to host all of their board content —  including compute infrastructure, production data, backup data, and metadata — in Australia. 

Prioritizing data residency for trust and compliance

Understanding where and how data is stored in your organization is crucial as part of your security and compliance strategy. Miro’s flexible data residency solutions empower companies to store and manage data in-region, ensuring regulatory compliance while maintaining the trust and confidence of their customers. 

By aligning with local data privacy laws, you can mitigate risk without inhibiting innovation. Whether you need your data hosted in the EU, U.S., Australia, or all three, Miro’s solutions make it easy to protect and manage your data, so you can focus on building great things.

Are you an enterprise doing business in Australia?

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