forgetheweb.com / Made in France
100% French software

Orizen is designed,
hosted and supported
in France.

Your data stays on OVH servers in France. Your team is supported by French professionals who understand the constraints of French SMEs—VAT, GDPR, Pennylane, and everything else.

GDPR compliant OVH France FR team FR code
Infrastructure
OVH Managed Kubernetes — Gravelines, FR
Data location 🇫🇷 France only
Host OVHcloud
Database PostgreSQL — FR
Compliance GDPR — active
Backups Daily — FR
Support French team
Development Paris, France
The full article

Beyond the "Made in France" marketing badge: which SMEs truly choose sovereign software for the right reasons, how the Cloud Act concretely changes things vs. EU GDPR, and why we built Orizen 100% FR by design — not opportunism.

I Who it’s for

A French software for SMEs that take sovereignty seriously, not as a marketing gimmick.

Choosing a sovereign software is more than patriotism: it’s a legal, economic and strategic decision. Four profiles stand out in particular.

SME leader aware of Cloud Act issues

You understand that the US Cloud Act allows US authorities to access data stored by a US provider, even outside the United States. You want to step out of this legal grey area.

OVH Gravelines hosting, French publisher, French jurisdiction. Your customer data is subject to EU GDPR, not US law.

IT Director or Compliance Manager for SMEs (50-500)

You need to document for the CNIL, your DPO or an auditor that your subcontractors are compliant. US providers make this more complicated.

DPA available, processing register, attested French hosting. Your compliance file fits on 2 pages, not 20.

Sensitive sectors: healthcare, defence, legal, public

You handle patient data, case files, strategic information. Any transfer outside the EU could be disqualifying.

No data transfers outside the EU, ACPR certification for our DSP2 providers, optional HDS compliance. The legal boundary is clear.

Public sector, social economy, mutual insurers

Your tenders often require a French publisher, data hosted in France, and a French support team. Many US providers claim to meet these criteria—few actually do.

French SIRET publisher, team in Toulouse + Paris, hosting in France, FR support. Response file in hours, not weeks.

II Sovereignty through architecture

Native GDPR, hosting in France, French publisher. Three inseparable pillars.

The visual breakdown below: three concrete reasons to choose French software, native GDPR vs added GDPR, and design tailored to French realities (VAT, Pennylane, legal notices, legal statuses).

Why it matters

Three concrete reasons to choose
a French software for your SME.

Your data stays in France

With US solutions (Salesforce, HubSpot, Monday, etc.), your customer data, quotes and contracts transit and are stored outside the EU. With Orizen, everything stays on OVH servers in mainland France. No Patriot Act, no transatlantic transfers, no questions asked.

Native GDPR, not added later

Orizen is built to be compliant by design: consent, right to erasure, portability, processing register. We don’t just add a "GDPR compliant" badge to an American product. Compliance is built into the architecture.

Designed for French realities

French VAT, DGFiP-compliant invoices, Pennylane integration, mandatory legal notices, French legal statuses... Everything is designed for French regulations and business practices, not hastily translated from a US product.

GDPR compliance

Not a checkbox.
An architectural commitment.

GDPR is not a certificate to display. It is a set of principles that must be respected in how the software is built and hosted.

  • Data hosted in France — no transfers to third countries
  • Right to be forgotten — data deletion on request in a few clicks
  • Portability — export of all your data in a readable format
  • Traceable consents — customer consent history retained
  • Role-based access — each team member only sees what they need to
  • Audit log — full traceability of access and changes
Data minimisation
Orizen only collects the data necessary for operation. No intrusive behavioural tracking, no data reselling.
Encryption in transit and at rest
TLS 1.3 for all communications. Data at rest encrypted on OVH infrastructure.
DPA available
A Data Processing Agreement (DPA) is available for all businesses that need it for compliance.
Configured retention
Set your retention periods by data type. Inactive leads can be archived or automatically deleted.

Honest comparison

Orizen vs US solutions.
What you don’t see in the demos.

Orizen — French software
  • Data in France
    OVH servers, no transfers outside the EU
  • Native GDPR
    Built for European regulation
  • Integrated French VAT
    Rates, legal notices, DGFiP format
  • French-language support
    France-based team, no bots
  • Pennylane integration
    Native accounting synchronisation
  • Stable pricing in euros
    No exchange rate surprises
US solutions
  • Data in the USA
    Subject to CLOUD Act / Patriot Act
  • GDPR added as an afterthought
    Partial compliance, opaque clauses
  • VAT to be configured manually
    Not tailored to French tax law
  • Offshore support
    Tickets, chatbots, English-only responses
  • Paid third-party connectors
    Zapier or plugins at €50/month extra
  • Prices in $, fluctuating
    +20% in 18 months for several vendors

Experience feedback

What a DPO says
after migrating to Orizen

III How it works

From a migration from Salesforce or HubSpot, to a 100% FR environment, pain-free.

Three clear milestones: Day 1 compliance audit, Week 1 guided migration, Month 1 DPO/validation.

Day 1 — The compliance audit

You know what changes for your GDPR file.

  • Current data mapping (where, who, what)
  • Orizen DPA submitted for legal validation
  • Migration estimate and timeline
Week 1 — Migration

Your data leaves US servers.

  • Import from Salesforce/HubSpot/Pipedrive (CSV or API)
  • French VAT configuration, Pennylane, FR legal notices
  • Human support video call with Orizen included
Month 1 — Compliance validation

Your GDPR file is up to date.

  • Updated processing register
  • DPO or auditor validates compliance
  • Previous US tool deactivated, clean exit
IV Frequently asked questions

Answers to the questions we’re asked most often.

What is sovereign software and why does it matter?

Sovereign software is designed, hosted and operated under a specific jurisdiction—for Orizen, France and the EU. The issue goes beyond server location: it includes the jurisdiction governing the data (GDPR vs US Cloud Act), control by the publisher (French vs foreign capital), and technological dependence (can you easily switch providers?). For a French SME handling customer data, contracts and B2B invoices, sovereignty is not a slogan—it is a legal guarantee.

What is the practical difference between GDPR-native and GDPR-added later?

A natively GDPR-compliant software has compliance built into its architecture from day one: data minimisation, right to erasure implemented, audit logs, role-based access. Software with GDPR added later typically includes a marketing badge but retains an architecture that collects more data than necessary and complicates export or deletion. Orizen is natively GDPR-compliant: account deletion = complete erasure within 30 days, export available in CSV/JSON, processing register accessible.

Is my data really hosted in France?

Yes, entirely. All Orizen servers (application, database, backups) are hosted on OVHcloud in Gravelines (Pas-de-Calais). No data transits through servers outside the EU. Backups remain in France. You can request a DPA (Data Processing Agreement) that contractually specifies this location and commits Orizen to compliance with these conditions.

Why choose Orizen over Salesforce or HubSpot?

Three sovereignty reasons: (1) Your data stays in France, subject to GDPR and not the US Cloud Act. (2) Orizen is published by a French company (ForgeTheWeb, Toulouse) with no US capital investment. (3) In the event of major geopolitical tension, you do not depend on a publisher subject to extraterritorial decisions. Functionally: Orizen natively integrates French VAT, Pennylane and 2026 e-invoicing—something US tools achieve imperfectly through partial translations and adaptations.

Is Orizen support also based in France?

Yes. Our entire technical, sales and support team is based in France (Toulouse and Paris). You communicate in French with people who understand the challenges of French SMEs—VAT, BIC/BNC, URSSAF, Pennylane, your EC. No outsourced call centres, no chatbots giving irrelevant answers.

What happens if I want to leave Orizen?

Orizen respects the GDPR portability principle: you can export all your data at any time in a readable format (CSV, JSON, or via API). No commercial lock-in, no exit fees. The contract is monthly and can be terminated at any time. This approach differs radically from publishers that deliberately make exit difficult to maximise retention.

V Our conviction

“Made in France” is not a slogan. It’s an entire chain of decisions.

Many foreign vendors label themselves "Made in Europe" or "GDPR compliant" by simply hosting a few servers on the continent. The legal reality is more nuanced: a vendor under US jurisdiction remains subject to the Cloud Act, regardless of server location.

True software sovereignty means an entire chain: French capital, French team, French jurisdiction, French host, source code controlled in France. Break one link, and you break the chain.

We’ve seen too many SMEs sign with US vendors claiming to be "GDPR compliant", only to discover during an audit that their DPO didn’t know how to export data for a customer exercising their right to erasure.

So we built Orizen 100% French. Not for marketing opportunism, but for architectural consistency. French company, French team, French hosting, code controlled in France. Five links, one chain — the only way to seriously address sovereignty.

French software — Orizen

A software that respects your data and legal obligations.

Join the French SMEs that have chosen a tool designed for their reality. Data in France, team in France, effortless compliance.

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