Our use of data processors / service providers

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YouGov engages different types of service providers to help us create and deliver our products and services to our clients, and some of those service providers need access to personal data to provide their services to us.

  • If any of the service providers we use process or otherwise have access to YouGov’s personal data, these service providers are “data processors”.
  • If any of the service providers we use process or otherwise have access to personal data that we are processing on behalf of our clients, these service providers are “sub-processors”.

Our service providers are often both data processors for YouGov and sub-processors for client data. Whenever we engage data processors or sub-processors, we assess their privacy and security practices and require them to satisfy certain obligations by signing appropriate agreements (for example, a data processing agreement) that, among other things, ensures that they have adequate security controls in place and only use personal data as instructed.

This page outlines the types of sub-processors that we work with and explains the services that they provide to us. You can contact our Data Privacy team at dataprivacy@yougov.com if you have any questions or would like more information.

Sub-processing provided within the YouGov Group

We are a global organisation, so some of the personal data that we collect may be transferred within the YouGov Group of companies to enable us to provide our services. To ensure the secure transfer of personal data within the YouGov Group we use Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission.

There are three reasons that data may be shared with other YouGov Group companies:
  • 1
    Data processing
    Our Centres of Excellence in Romania, India and Mexico provide survey scripting and data processing services to other YouGov Group companies. Our Operations teams require access to personal data to create the research insights that we provide to our clients.
  • 2
    Storage
    YouGov Services Limited is a UK company that holds the contracts with our third-party data storage providers that are used by the YouGov Group to store personal data. Our data storage providers are listed below.
  • 3
    Multi-country research
    When our client’s ask us to carry out research across multiple countries, we may need to share information between our teams in different countries to coordinate the project and ensure it is being run as efficiently as possible.

Third party sub-processors

Data storage

We use a combination of co-located, cloud and offline data storage providers to hold the data that we use to provide our services. These providers are in the United Kingdom, European Union and the United States, and we ensure that any data originating from the United Kingdom or EU is only stored in those regions. The table below provides more information about the processors that we use engage to securely store personal data.

Processor / service provider
Storage location(s)
Description of services
Processor / service provider
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Storage location(s)
Germany Switzerland United Kingdom United States Ireland
Description of services
Cloud data storage. AWS Germany, AWS Ireland and AWS United Kingdom are used for global data storage, except for the following data – AWS Switzerland – stores data sourced from telephone research in Switzerland. AWS United States – stores data sourced in the United States.
Processor / service provider
Arcade Solutions AG
Storage location(s)
Switzerland
Description of services
Physical hosting provider with data storage for data sourced in Switzerland.
Processor / service provider
Backblaze
Storage location(s)
United States
Description of services
Cloud data backup for data sourced in Switzerland.
Processor / service provider
Digital Realty
Storage location(s)
United Kingdom
Description of services
Co-located data centre storage. Digital Realty’s London data centre hosts the infrastructure that stores data collected globally (acting as a backup for US-sourced data stored on Equinix). Data stored in Digital Realty’s infrastructure is replicated to AWS Ireland.
Processor / service provider
Equinix, Inc.
Storage location(s)
United States
Description of services
Co-located data centre storage. Equinix’s Silicon Valley data centre hosts the infrastructure that stores data collected in the United States. Data stored in Equinix’s hosted infrastructure is replicated to Digital Realty’s co-located data centre.
Processor / service provider
Iron Mountain
Storage location(s)
United Kingdom United States
Description of services
Offline data storage back-ups. Data stored in Digital Realty’s London Data Centre is backed up and stored in Iron Mountain’s storage vault in the United Kingdom. Data stored in Equinix’s US data centre is backed up and stored in Iron Mountain’s US storage vault.
Processor / service provider
Winet
Storage location(s)
Switzerland
Description of services
Physical data storage for data sourced from telephone research in Switzerland.

Data security

We use the data processors outlined in the table below for web application security and performance.

Processor / service provider
Storage location(s)
Description of services
Processor / service provider
Akamai
Storage location(s)
EU
Description of services
A web application firewall that filters all HTTP and HTTPS based traffic to certain YouGov websites. The storage location is set on each website, so US-specific web applications are stored in the US and EU based web applications are stored in EU.
Processor / service provider
Imperva Incapsula
Storage location(s)
EU United States
Description of services
A web application firewall that filters all HTTP and HTTPS based traffic to certain YouGov websites. The storage location is set on each website, so US-specific web applications are stored in the US and all other web applications are stored in EU.

Communication technology

We use the data processors outlined in the table below to store information and to communicate internally and with our clients.

Processor / service provider
Storage location(s)
Description of services
Processor / service provider
Google
Storage location(s)
EU United States
Description of services
Google Workspace subscription
Processor / service provider
Microsoft
Storage location(s)
United Kingdom
Description of services
Microsoft 365 subscription (including email and OneDrive storage).

Customer Relation Management (CRM) & Marketing Automation

We use the data processors outlined in the table below to store client and prospective client data, streamline internal processes and send marketing communications.

Processor / service provider
Storage location(s)
Description of services
Processor / service provider
Marketo
Storage location(s)
United Kingdom
Description of services
Marketing automation platform used to send marketing communications to clients and prospective clients.
Processor / service provider
NetSuite
Storage location(s)
Netherlands
Description of services
Cloud-based business management platform used as YouGov’s core ERP system for financials, and reporting.
Processor / service provider
Salesforce
Storage location(s)
United Kingdom United States
Description of services
Cloud-based CRM platform used to manage client relationships, track opportunities and sales workflows.