There is still a lot of concern about whether there is going to a deal or not with the EU. The UK is due to leave the trading bloc in less than a month, an extension is possible but the chances of a deal seem slim.

Even if there is a deal, there are going to be a lot of changes in regards to what services you can get from the EU. Those companies with a .eu domain name will have to surrender those. In addition, those who are hosted on servers located in the EU might find either costs going up, or disruption to their websites being online.

Could the UK’s exit from the EU really affect hosting services?

It is really unknown at this point exactly what will happen with services when, or if, the UK exits the EU and its regulations. There could be massive changes to the laws within the UK that determine how web hosts operate, or the EU/UK governments could impose additional taxes on services being rendered across the borders.

The unknown element is the scariest part of Brexit. In the UK, there are already news stories of UK consumers and businesses stockpiling as a precaution of disruption due to the process. In contrast, services such as hosting cannot undergo stockpiling.

Therefore, if you want to pay the same amount for your website’s hosting and have no disruptions to your service, you should ensure you’re using services based in the UK. It isn’t just the support that you need, it is the assurance that all data and website hosting is held within the country.

What about data, will that be affected by Brexit?

One of the biggest areas that will see change will be within data compliance. One of the key selling points for the leave campaign was the removal of the UK from the red-tape of Brussels. When GDPR came into force, many companies had to suddenly apply new regulations to data.

When the UK leaves the EU, it is likely that these regulations will still apply. The regulations apply to any company transferring data across EU borders. In addition, the UK government is likely to adopt similar, if not the same, regulations.

Should the UK adopt stricter regulations, then it could cause problems for anyone not using UK based services. A major problem is that many UK businesses don’t know exactly where data they hold is being stored. Many of these organisations, according to a VMWare survey, wouldn’t be able to transfer all that data to UK centres.

If this is the case, it is highly recommended to check where your data is stored and move it to a UK server to protect your business from future complications. It is easier to do that now, when there are fewer businesses looking into this, when businesses have to and there is a rush by those who have not prepared for it.

Keep your servers in the UK

Brexit is going to have a wide range of effects on UK businesses whether there is a deal or not. However, your web hosting doesn’t need to be affected at all, especially if you are hosted by a provider based in the UK.

All our servers and our support team are based in the UK. This means that we won’t be affected at all by Brexit and we can still give our customers award-winning service.

We’ve been offering our hosting services for nearly two decades and during that time we’ve helped thousands of clients with their websites and become one of the most trusted web hosts in the UK. Along the way, we’ve picked up numerous awards including an ISPA for Best Consumer and Business Customer Service. We’ve also been nominated for awards in the Best Shared Web Hosting, Best Managed Web Hosting and Best Dedicated Server categories. So you know that when your website is hosted through us, it will be a great experience.