It is therefore time that many people become familiar and comfortable with the new possibility of easily switching providers in the digital domain. You decide what you want to eat.

Since the end of last year, it has been possible to easily switch providers of data processing services, such as cloud, edge and related services. Unfair contractual terms, vendor lock-ins, restrictions on choice and control, and other practices that limit competition, service levels and fair pricing in the data market: governments, businesses and citizens can now take effective and targeted action against these practices on the basis of the Data Act.

Will it be that unhealthy, unexpectedly expensive takeaway, or something without vendor lock-ins, with healthier choices, more autonomy and more control? To ask the question is to answer it:

The recipe for Healthy Digital Switching.

Helpful tips before you start

• For whom: Customers of cloud, edge or other data processing services, including governments, companies, and providers who are themselves customers of such services
• What: Switching to another data processing provider or to another service from another provider, or claiming data and services processed by data processing service providers for the customer including login data and other metadata
• With whom: The original (source) provider, its customer and, if desired, the destinated provider
• Consider: Where am I today, where do I want to go, what and who do I need, how do I get there and how do I keep it optimal?

Ingredients

• Existing data processing service provider (the source provider)
• Exportable data and digital assets, currently still with the existing provider
• An interdisciplinary team: management, strategic, tactical, operational
• One or more new destination providers (cloud, edge or other)
• The Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) [1], the official spice mix of, among other things, transparency, elimination of information asymmetry, clear provisions on termination, switching and exit, information security, business continuity and risk allocation.
• Knowledge, some comfort, situational awareness, destination awareness, and a sense of timing
• Pen and paper (the process and arrangements must be documented)
• Some level of trust (provider and customer must cooperate in good faith to ensure that the transfer process runs smoothly, enable the timely transfer of data and maintain the continuity of those services).

Preparation

• Peel off the needs of your organisation and customers (colleague organisations, citizens, businesses or others) with regard to data, processing, use and re-use, focusing on today and tomorrow, but also on the longer term
• Slice data into clear data and risk classifications and add the data flows and access and user authorisations
• Season it with the right level of trust, both organisational, technical and operational, as well as dynamic and contextual.
• Add the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) and cook according to the instructions on the SCCs packaging.
• Taste, perfect and serve, and don't forget to delete the data from your original provider.

Dietary restrictions

• Suitable for practically any customer (public, private, small, large)
• Works for all (cloud) service models and related services (IaaS, PaaS or SaaS)
• Free of obstacles (commercial, technical, contractual or organisational)
• A high level of security must be maintained throughout the entire transition process by the provider (and others)
• In certain sectors, additional requirements may apply to cloud computing (e.g. in the public sector, finance, healthcare and other critical infrastructure).

Allergy information

• The ingredients are not entirely free of a certain level of abstraction. Therefore, always check the law and consult the information in the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs).
• The set of SCCs contains clear signs of serious transparency, elimination of information asymmetry, clear options for switching and exits, clear provisions on termination, information security, business continuity, liability, and agreements that cannot be unilaterally amended. Therefore, be prepared that the existing provider may deny or delay the rights and obligations under Article 23 et seq. of the Data Regulation, but know that as a customer of a data processing service, you are completely in the right and in the lead.

Enjoy your meal!

Chef Support

If you require support, whether it is an initial introduction to how you and your organisation can prepare for and successfully implement a Healthy Digital Transition comfortably, confidently, and with well-informed courage and decisiveness, or expert support behind the scenes of Healthy Digital Transition:

• ARTHUR (Arthur's Legal, Strategies & Systems) is a preferred knowledge partner providing specialist and practical services in the fields of technology, policy and law to governments and businesses in and throughout Europe.
• ARTHUR is a member of the Board of the EU Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud, and has been one of the main driving forces behind the development and design of the Standard Contractual Clauses in the Data Act as Expert Member of Expert Group of European Commission on Data Sharing & Computing Continuum (Article 41 Data Act).

So, there is always a team of chefs available who know all the ins and outs. Do feel free to contact us to learn more.

[1] Standard contractual clauses for cloud computing contracts (SCCs): https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/draft-recommendation-non-binding-model-contractual-terms-data-access-and-use-and-non-binding. The published SCCs are final.