Many US managed service providers support customers who have grown beyond the United States. An office in London, a store in Dublin, a sales team in Munich or a few racks in a Frankfurt colocation facility. Remote tools handle most of the work. The trouble starts when something needs hands: a failed switch, a new starter's desk, a facility asking for a person on site.
This guide lists what changes when a customer site is in Europe and what to set up before the first on-site ticket. It is written for MSPs and integrators. It is not legal or tax advice, and local rules differ by country, so treat each point as a question to settle for each site.
What changes when a customer site is in Europe?
Mostly the practical details around the work, not the work itself. A switch swap in Dublin is the same task as in Denver. What differs is when it can happen, who can get into the building, what the equipment plugs into, which data rules apply and who is allowed to do the work.
- Time: Western Europe is several hours ahead of the US East Coast, so a European morning is the middle of the night in California.
- Holidays: public holidays differ by country and sometimes by region within a country.
- Access: offices, landlords and colocation sites often require named visitors registered in advance.
- Power and hardware: mains power, plug types and spare parts differ from the US.
- Data protection: work on EU sites that touches personal data falls under the GDPR.
- People: who performs the work, and under which country's rules, needs a clear answer before you promise a visit.
What should you set up before the first ticket?
A site sheet for every European location, kept with the customer's records. It turns an urgent request into a routine one, because nobody has to discover the basics while a system is down.
- Full address, floor, room or cage, and any loading dock or service entrance.
- Site contacts for access and sign-off, with phone numbers and languages spoken.
- Access rules: visitor registration, ID needed, escort rules, opening hours and lead times.
- A short equipment list with rack positions, labels and photos where possible.
- Who may raise requests and approve extra work, on your side and the customer's.
- Escalation contacts and the out-of-hours route.
- The reporting format you want back: notes, photos, test results, ticket references.
How do time zones and holidays affect scheduling?
Plan visits for the site's working day while someone on your team can follow along. A European morning visit overlaps with an early US East Coast start, which is often the easiest window for a live handover by phone or chat.
Check public holidays per country, not per continent. Even within one country they can differ: in the UK, for example, Scotland has bank holidays that England and Wales do not, such as St Andrew's Day. Building access and colocation staffing can change on those days, and change freezes around the end of the year are common.
What do you need to know about power and hardware?
Do not assume US equipment will plug in. Residential mains power in the UK, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and France is 230 V at 50 Hz, while the US uses 120 V at 60 Hz. Plug types also differ: the UK and Ireland use type G, Germany and the Netherlands use types C and F, and France uses types C and E.
In practice, most IT equipment with auto-ranging power supplies works on both voltages, but it needs the right power cords. Rack equipment often uses IEC connectors such as C13 and C14, which avoids wall plugs entirely. Check the voltage range on each power supply before shipping, and send or source the correct cords.
Shipping parts across the Atlantic adds customs time and paperwork. For urgent break-fix, a spare held in Europe or a part bought from a local distributor is usually faster than a box from the US.
What data protection terms should you agree for EU site visits?
If an engineer's work involves personal data, such as devices, screens or drives belonging to staff in the EU, the GDPR applies to that processing. Article 28 says a controller may use only processors that provide sufficient guarantees, that processing by a processor must be governed by a contract, and that a processor may not engage another processor without prior written authorisation.
For an MSP, that usually means your contract with the customer and your agreement with any field partner need to line up. Settle these points in writing before the visit, and take advice on the wording.
- What data the engineer may see or touch, and what is out of bounds.
- Whether photos may show screens, labels with names or documents.
- How drives and devices leave the site, and how they are wiped or destroyed.
- Whether the field partner is a sub-processor, and that the customer has authorised it.
- How an incident, such as lost media, is reported and how fast.
Who should do the on-site work?
There are three common options: fly your own engineer, use a technician marketplace, or use a coordinator that scopes and staffs the work locally.
Flying your own engineer keeps quality in your hands but costs days and travel, and it raises its own questions. Within the EU, a posted worker is defined as an employee sent by their employer to carry out a service in another EU country on a temporary basis, and receiving countries have their own employer obligations. Check them before sending staff.
A marketplace gives direct access to independent technicians, but you write the work order, choose the technician, approve the job and own the result. A coordinator takes the request, writes the scope, briefs a vetted local engineer who knows the site's language and rules, checks the work and reports back. Our comparison of marketplaces and coordinators sets out when each fits.
What should the scope and closeout include?
Every European visit should start with a written scope and end with evidence your customer can see. The same discipline you use at home matters more when you cannot walk over and check.
- Scope: site, task, steps in order, what not to touch, time window and language for the site contact.
- Access: who registers the engineer and what ID to bring.
- Communication: how your team follows the visit, by phone, chat or ticket updates.
- Evidence: before and after photos, labels, indicator lights, test results.
- Closeout: notes in your ticket and a report you can pass to the customer under your brand.
Key takeaways
- Prepare a site sheet for every European location before the first ticket.
- Schedule for the site's working day and check holidays per country, even per region.
- Plan for 230 V power, local plug types and local spares.
- Settle GDPR terms with the customer and any field partner in writing.
- Decide in advance who does the work: your staff, a marketplace or a coordinator.