San Francisco-based AI notetaking app Focal has selected a data centre in Toronto to host information from Canadian financial advisors on its platform, the tech firm announced.
The firm has chosen Microsoft’s data centre in Toronto, which it said offers enterprise-level security and is compliant with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.
While Canadian law doesn’t require data to be domiciled in Canada, some Canadian financial institutions prefer it, John Connell, CEO of Focal, said in an interview. Keeping all client data domestic and in one data centre simplifies compliance compared to using multiple foreign data centres.
Some Canadian firms have been hesitant to adopt AI tools in a data centre outside of the country, Connell said. He hopes that having one in the country’s largest city will make it easier to expand in Canada and attract large financial institutions to use Focal.
Thirty firms in Canada, including Woodgate Financial Inc. and Assante Financial Management Ltd., are Focal customers.
Focal’s transcription feature supports English and French and can recognize financial terminology specific to the Canadian market in both languages.
While the transcription tool works with French input, the output and user interface is still in English only. A French version of the user interface is “on the roadmap,” but there’s no firm date for its release yet, Connell added.
Zocks, another San Francisco-based AI notetaking app, opened its own Canadian data centre in the fall.