Ensuring data privacy and compliance: why we moved to an EU-hosted product analytics platform

At YAGRO, we understand that data is a crucial component of our services and that's why we take data security and protection very seriously. We use a combination of physical, digital, and administrative safeguards to protect all data. This applies to the business data you provide, which we process to provide you with all insights through Analytics and Tracker, and to the data we generate from the use of our platform. The latter, 'product analytics data', helps us understand how our products are used, identify potential problems and make data-driven decisions to improve the user experience.

For years, we used Google Analytics to gather product analytics data. Although we had configured it in a GDPR-compliant way (IP addresses were anonymised, data sharing with other services was disabled and retention periods were minimised), recent developments led us to search for a replacement. Various EU data protection authorities raised concerns about user data being sent to the United States, and although the personal data had been removed from our data, we wanted a more transparent and better solution. So we were drawn to PostHog, an EU-hosted, open-source analytics tool that gives us complete control over our data.

So why did we make this change, and what sets PostHog apart from Google Analytics?

• Data privacy and compliance: Data privacy is a top priority for us at YAGRO. The EU has some of the most stringent data privacy regulations in the world, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). By hosting our analytics platform within the EU, we can ensure that our product data is being handled in compliance with these regulations and that our customers' data is being protected.

• Better insights/features: Google Analytics works well for basic quantitative metrics (and is a decent fit for websites), but lacks the depth to properly measure a large-scale and complex SaaS platform like ours. PostHog, on the other hand, analyses both quantitive and qualitative metrics through a suite of product and data tools. By switching to PostHog, we were already able to identify some key friction points and make improvements that mean users now have a better experience than before.

• Performance and reliability: Our PostHog setup is optimized for high performance and reliability. EU hosting means faster ping times for people based in the EU. This means that our customers can access and use our platform without experiencing additional delays or interruptions.

• Customization and integration: The new analytics platform is highly customizable and can be configured to our specific use cases and requirements. This gives us a more comprehensive and granular view of the usage data of our platform. It also integrates with other tools we use for our platform, allowing us to add context to errors and performance issues to resolve them even faster.

Overall, moving to PostHog was an excellent decision for YAGRO that aligns well with our overall vision and approach to data. It helps us ensure compliance with data protection regulations, provides reliable and efficient tracking of our product usage data and allows us to customise our analytics to get a more comprehensive view of our platform's performance. By continuing to prioritise data security, privacy and compliance, we increase trust among our customers and can assure them that we handle their data responsibly.