Privacy Policy

Context and scope 

The scope of this Privacy Policy is for the IQGeo, OSPInsight and Comsof websites and content (referenced below as IQGeo). It also covers the related services that we offer to customers.

This privacy notice provides information on how we collect and process personal data through the use of our technology and services and through our communications and other interactions with you. It is important that you understand this privacy notice together with any other privacy policy or fair processing policy we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements other privacy notices and policies and is not intended to override them. If your organisation is also an IQGeo customer, this and other applicable privacy notices should be read together with our software licence agreements and support policy.

When we refer to ‘your organisation’ in this privacy notice, we are referring to your employer or organisation you work for.

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. IQGeo reserves the right up update this information without advance notification.

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements or polices. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

About IQGeo 

IQGeo Group plc (company registration number 05589712) is the parent company of all IQGeo registered entities (“IQGeo Group”). This privacy notice is issued on behalf of the IQGeo Group so when we mention IQGeo, "we", "us" or "our" in this privacy notice, we are referring to the relevant company in the IQGeo Group responsible for processing your data. In respect of the data collected through this website, IQGeo Group plc is the data controller and is responsible for this website. This privacy notice strives to provide information about how we collect and process personal data in accordance with our obligations under UK and EU data protection laws, as applicable, (including UK GDPR, EU GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018). You can contact us at any time through our online enquire form. Or email to dpo@iqgeo.com

Our corporate headquarters:
IQGeo Group plc
Nine Hills Road
Cambridge, CB2 1GE
United Kingdom
01223 606 655

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO. So please contact us using our online enquiry form, email dpo@iqgeo.com or speak to your account manager in the first instance.

IQGeo Group plc is registered with the ICO, under registration number ZA509850.

As a responsible supplier we endeavour to help in any way that we can. Our data protection and privacy philosophy extends beyond personal data into the protection and privacy for all valuable information, as underpinned by our strong security credentials including certification for ISO 27001.

Personal data 

Personal data means different things to different people, so we adopt the meaning from UK GDPR. Personal data we process includes data such as first name, surname, email address, avatar/profile photo, IP address, job role, contact information along with any personally identifiable content in support requests. Payment and banking information is generally provided at a corporate information level, but it will also be considered personal data where, in the unlikely event, an individual is paying for the services from their own account, and we may need to know some of that banking or credit card information.

We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

We may also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your usage data (i.e. information and data about how you and/or your organisation use our website, products and services) to determine the attractiveness of a particular feature or evaluate website engagement performance. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you or your organisation and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we are negotiating with you or your organisation (for example, to provide you or your organisation with support for IQGeo). In this case, we may be relieved of that specific contractual obligation or choose not to proceed with a request, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

Collecting personal data

When individuals visit our websites, communicate, or interact with us or use our services, we collect personal data. The ways we collect it can be broadly categorised into the following:

• Information provided by you – For example by completing our website forms for a demo, signing up for our newsletter, applying for a job, participating in a webinar or online event or generally communicating or interact with us through our website, by email or other correspondence or when meeting our personnel on-site or via an internet video or telecommunications facility. It is our goal to ask only for the data that is required to execute the specified task, and that data subjects can ask IQGeo to remove their data at any time. If you choose not to share your relevant personal data, please keep in mind that this may mean we are unable to assist with requested enquires or services.
  
  
• Automatic collection – When you visit our website, we collect information such as IP address, device type, pages you visited and what links you clicked on. For our websites and marketing work this means we can get a better understanding of user journeys and areas of interest, so we can provide a better, more personalized customer experience. For IQGeo user activity we collect similar information to ensure the service is optimised, and for performing some of our contract obligations to our customers, such as keeping audit logs and forensic histories of work done. Some of this information is collected using cookies and related tracking technologies, including google ads.

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our services may become inaccessible or may not function properly. Our cookie policy explains this in more detail by defining the specific cookies used.

• Information we get from other parties – We might seek to find out more about someone from publicly available sources, or through reputable, qualified sources such as marketing and research organisations. We use this information to better personalise our services and on occasion to validate personal data you may provide.
  
  
• Information added by customers – A registered user of a customer or partner on the IQGeo software may add personal data into the secure cloud service as part of their purpose for using the platform. We have contractual obligations to those customers in our role as a data processor and those customers, as data controllers, are responsible for that data and providing their own privacy notice to individuals about that data.

Important note – If you’re someone who doesn’t have a relationship with us but believe that an IQGeo software user has entered your personal data into our platform, you’ll need to contact that user’s organisation for any requests. In this instance, they are the data controller and IQGeo is the data processor. This includes where you want to access, correct, amend, or request that the user delete your personal data, or address any other individual’s rights. If you do contact us regarding this situation, we will attempt to redirect you to contact the organisation that you believe may have entered the data.

This website is not intended for children and the IQGeo software and services are not intended to be marketed to, sold to or used by children. In our capacity as a data controller, we do not knowingly collect any data relating to children. Please contact us if you think children’s information is being processed by IQGeo in our role as a data controller.

How we share your personal data

We will not share your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes.

Your data may technically be shared for the purpose of sub-processing as part of a contract we have with a third-party supplier or service provider. For example, a third-party data centre processing information on our behalf. All personal data will only be transferred to such third-party supplier or service provider where there is a need to do so (for use in the course of providing services to us or you or your organisation) and these third parties will also be subject to agreements regarding the handling and use of your data. We require these third parties to respect the security and confidentiality of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow these third parties to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

We may also be required to share your data with law enforcement, government agencies, courts or regulators in order to comply with applicable laws. Where allowed, we will notify you of this type of disclosure. Your data may also be shared with a potential acquirer or investor of our company or business, or any part of it, and any other people where we have your consent.

Lawful basis for use of your personal data 

We will only use your personal data when its use is legal to do so and is following one of the lawful bases within the UK or EU GDPR. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to perform the contract, we are about to enter into or have entered into with you or your organisation.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests and, your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. In those instances, we will have conducted a Legitimate Interest Assessment.
• Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
• Where you have given your consent.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes in which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. Please contact us if you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

You have the right to withdraw consent or opt out at any time by contacting us or using the relevant mechanism provided in the communication at the time. For example, unsubscribe from a mail marketing campaign, or ‘do not contact’ response in a specific email sent by one of our staff. Once opted out, a minimal amount of data will be held in a suppression / do not contact list so that we avoid any future contact.

Purposes for use of your personal data 

The simple table below provides a description of the ways we might use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We may process your personal data for more than one lawful basis depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

Set out below is additional details about the types of lawful basis that we will rely on to process your personal data.

• Legitimate Interest – means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you or your organisation the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do this using a Legitimate Interest Assessment and you can learn more about that by going to the ICO website. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can also contact us for further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you.
  
  
• Performance of Contract – means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you or your organisation are a party or to take steps at your or your organisation’s request before entering into such a contract.
  
  
• Comply with a legal or regulatory obligation – means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.

Data protection and security

We have put in place measures to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your personal data. This includes achievement of UKAS certified ISO 27001:2013 and a host of other security practices. We strive to be a responsible supplier and customer (as the case may be) and prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, and avoid it being altered or disclosed where it shouldn’t be. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality and each one has relevant contracts in place to reinforce that aim.

We have also put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so. Our intent is to notify within 24 hours or as soon as we become aware of any breach.

Data retention 

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Following that period, we’ll make sure it’s deleted or anonymised.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements. For example, by law we must keep basic information about customers for 6 years for tax and other purposes after they cease being customers, and marketing related personal data is retained for no longer than 18 months once it becomes inactive through lack of engagement.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data and request erasure as one of your legal rights, as set out below.

International transfers

IQGeo Group has operations in the Unites States, Canada, EU and Japan. We may share your personal data within the IQGeo Group and this may involve transferring your data into and/or outside the UK or EU. In addition, some of our external third party suppliers or service providers may be based outside the UK or EU so their processing of your personal data may involve a transfer of data into and/or outside the UK or EU.

[If you or your organisation is based in UK or EU, your data will be stored on servers based in these territories. If you or your organisation is based in the Unites States, Canada or Japan, your data may be stored on servers based in these territories as well as UK or EU. ]

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK or EU (as the case may be) , we do our best to ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

• We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the UK or EU Supervisory Authority, as applicable.
• Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts or certification methods approved by the UK or EU Supervisory Authority, as applicable, which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK (as the case may be).
• Where we use providers or transfer data to organisations based in the US, we may transfer data to them if they are part of a recognised scheme which requires them to provide similar protection to personal data shared between the UK or EU (as the case may be) and the US or where our contractual arrangements with such providers or organisations otherwise provide an adequate level of protection for personal data as approved by the UK or EU Supervisory Authority, as applicable.

Your legal rights 

You have legal rights for your personal data and in summary these are:

• Request access to your personal data
• Request correction of your personal data
• Request erasure of your personal data
• Object to processing of your personal data
• Request restriction of processing your personal data
• Request transfer of your personal data
• Right to withdraw consent

IQGeo has policies and practices in place for each of these requests so if you wish to exercise any of them, please contact us and we will process your request accordingly. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response. We try to respond to all valid requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made multiple requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

You will not normally have to pay a fee for exercising your legal rights if the request is straightforward and valid. In the event the request is repetitive, excessive or unreasonable we will charge a reasonable fee. We may also choose to refuse a request. In this instance ICO guidance will be followed when choosing not to respond and this will include an explanation why, informing you of your right to complain to the supervisory authority and to a judicial remedy without undue delay and at the latest within one month.

Explanation about your legal rights

You have the right to:

• Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
• Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
• Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
• Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
• Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
• Request the removal at any time from marketing lists or change your marketing preferences.

You can contact us at any time through our online enquiry form. Or email to dpo@iqgeo.com.

Cookies 

Please visit our Cookie Policy for the latest information on the use of cookies by IQGeo. 

This version was last updated on 6 February 2023.