A client or insurer asked you in writing
That's often the trigger: a client demands to know where data resides before renewing. You discover nobody in your company knows the answer.
By situation
"Where is my data?" — the question asked at the wrong time, six months after signing.
Data residency isn't just the country of the main server. Four things matter as much: where backups live, which subprocessors see the data pass through, who can access it for support, and in what form you can retrieve everything if you leave. A vendor who answers the first question but not the other three has answered nothing.
What brought you here
Your tool is American and its security page is vague
"Bank-level encryption", "industry-standard compliant". None of those phrases says which country the database lives in, or who can open it.
You want to leave and you can't
The export is a PDF, or a file that loses the links between records. Technically your data is returned; practically, it's no longer usable anywhere else.
What we actually do
The hosting region is written into the contract
Not in a help page that can change without notice: in the document you sign, with backups covered explicitly.
You get the list of subprocessors
Payment gateway, email delivery, hosting, SMS provider. Each sees something pass through, and you must know what before signing, not after an incident.
Full export is a feature, not a favour
Your data comes out in an open format that preserves the relationships between records, on request and without negotiation. You remain the owner of the system and the data — one of the site's standing commitments.
Support access is logged
When someone on our side opens your data to fix a problem, it leaves a record you can consult. Unlogged access is not controlled access.
When this isn't for you
This isn't for you if Canadian hosting is your only criterion: on its own it says nothing about the quality of the system, and bad software hosted in Montreal is still bad software. Nor is this a certification — we hold none, and won't pretend otherwise.
No sales page writes this section. That's precisely why it's here: it saves you a thirty-minute call, and saves us an engagement we'd decline anyway.
Questions we get on this
Does Canadian hosting cost more?
Rarely in a meaningful way at SME scale: the major providers offer Canadian regions at comparable rates. The real cost of switching is the migration, not the monthly hosting.
What if I already use American tools?
You don't have to throw everything out. The useful step is knowing which ones see personal information, then dealing with those first. The rest can wait, and sometimes stay.
Neighbouring situations
Sources
Facts external to H&S are linked to their official source. Programs and laws change: check the source before deciding.
Fifteen minutes to find out whether we can be useful.
You leave with what we saw, in writing, even if we never work together.