Shadow IT: the systems nobody in IT ever chose
Almost every company runs tools no IT lead ever picked. A department needed a quick fix, someone built it, it worked. Two years later half the sales team depends on it and the data sits on a server in the US, under terms nobody has read. The trouble starts when someone asks how to get out again, and every year the exit gets more expensive.
Why the US CLOUD Act is your problem, even while everything runs
The US CLOUD Act obliges American providers to hand data to US authorities, even when the servers stand in Europe. So the question is not whether your tool has a data center in Frankfurt. The question is who owns the company behind it. Add customers who demand European data residency in their contracts, auditors who want evidence, and a data protection officer who sighs a little deeper with every new US tool.
For clarity: I am not a lawyer and not a data protection officer. The legal assessment of whether a system may stay or has to go belongs to your DPO. I do what comes after that decision: the technology of the move, and the proof that it was complete.
How the migration works
Every migration runs in three steps, and the first one is deliberately small. A data and process audit of two to three days gives you a map: which tools run in your departments, where the data physically lives, and what an exit would cost per system. Then the systems move onto European infrastructure one by one, while your teams keep working. At the end, a read-only verification program compares source and target, with record counts before and after. On my last project it ran 59 individual checks, and it honestly failed my own migration on the first run. It was right, the issues were fixed, and the client received a document instead of a promise.
What I am not: a data protection officer or a lawyer. I do the technology and the proof; the legal assessment belongs to your DPO.
Where the data goes: cloud providers in Europe or your own stack
The destination depends on the system. Sometimes it is a European cloud provider, sometimes a database on your own infrastructure, sometimes a purpose-built tool that replaces the old no-code app entirely and fits better than the original. That decision is made in the audit, per system, based on cost, dependency and what your people actually use.
As a developer I am not tied to any vendor. I resell no licenses and earn no commission. What I recommend, I recommend because it is right for your system.
Who this is for
This works best for companies between 50 and 500 employees. Big enough that real problems have piled up in the departments. Small enough that decisions still happen in one room. In my day job I work in the IT of an industrial company, so I know approval processes, legacy systems and the reason technically clean projects fail on organization. That inside view is the difference to consultants who have never seen a change ticket from the inside.
The entry point is deliberately small: an audit of two to three days. Afterwards you hold a map of your systems and can decide per system. No subscription, no framework contract, no obligation to take the next step.
After the migration: automation on a clean foundation
Whoever migrates a company knows every process in it afterwards. That map shows exactly which workflows are worth automating and which just sound like a good idea. Quotes that write themselves, invoices that go out on their own, AI agents that take over routine work: all of it only works on data that sits clean and reachable. More on CRM & Automation.
Frequent questions about the migration
Which systems can you migrate?
Everything departments built on their own: no-code tools like Airtable, Zapier or Make, US site builders, single cloud services and home-grown databases. After the audit you know exactly what moves where and what it costs.
What does a data migration to the EU cost?
The entry point is a data and process audit of two to three days at a fixed price. After that you get a quote per system, depending on data volume and entanglement. You decide per system, not wholesale.
How do I know nothing is missing after the move?
That is exactly what the acceptance report is for: a read-only verification program comparing source and target, with record counts before and after. On my last project it ran 59 individual checks. You receive the report as a document.
Does this replace data protection consulting?
No. I do the technology and the proof; the legal assessment belongs to your data protection officer or lawyer. I say that this clearly because the opposite would be unserious.