QBS Privacy Policy
Introduction
QBS Technology Group (“QBS”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. We value the privacy of everyone whose personal data we process and/or store in the course of doing business, including visitors to our website. We will only collect and use personal data in ways that are described here and in a way that is consistent with our obligations and your rights under the law. This privacy policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
It is important that you read this privacy policy 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 notices and privacy policies and is not intended to override them.
1. Information about us
Controller
QBS is made up of various different legal entities. This privacy policy is issued on behalf of QBS Software Limited, so when we mention QBS, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy policy, we are referring to the relevant company in the QBS Technology Group responsible for processing your data. We will let you know which entity will be the controller for your data when you purchase a product or service with us.
Contact details
Our Group Legal Counsel, Steven Turner, is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact QBS in any of the following ways:
Full name of legal entity: QBS Software Limited (company registration number: 02119414)
Email address: legal@qbssoftware.com
Postal address: QBS, Queen’s Court, Wilmslow Road, Alderley Edge, SK9 7RR UK
Telephone Number: +44 (0)20 8733 7199
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator 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 we ask that you please contact us in the first instance.
Changes to the privacy policy and your duty to inform us of changes
We keep our privacy policy under regular review. This version was last updated in January 2023. Historic versions can be obtained by contacting us.
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
Third-party links
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. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.
2. The data we collect about you
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about business contacts, including but not limited to customers and resellers and their employees and representatives, suppliers and their employees and representatives, software publishers and their employees and representatives, hardware manufacturers and their employees and representatives, software end users and their employees and representatives and anybody else who contacts us or we do business with. We have grouped the data together as follows:
- Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.
- Customer Data includes data relating to any purchases of goods and/or services such as your name, title, billing address, delivery address email address, phone number, contact details, occupation and invoicing details.
- Profile/User Data includes your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses and data about how you use our website, products and services.
- Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have transacted with us.
- Technical Data includes data about your use of our website and online services such as your IP address, your login data, details about your browser, length of visit to pages on our website, page views and navigation paths, details about the number of times you use our website, time zone settings and other technology on the devices you use to access our website. The source of this data is from our analytics tracking system.
- Communication Data includes any communication that you send to us whether that be through the our online forms, through email, text, social media messaging, social media posting, telephone, orders or any other communication that you send us.
- Marketing Data includes data about your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences and information provided in relation to incentives and events such as clothing size and food allergies.
We may also collect, use, store and transfer personal data for QBS personnel as follows:
- Employee Data includes name, contact details, national insurance number, date of birth, bank account details, gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, details of sick leave, medical conditions, disabilities, prescribed medication, interview notes, CVs, application forms, covering letters, assessments, performance reviews, details of remuneration including salaries, pay increases, bonuses, commission, overtime, benefits, expenses, details of trade union membership (where applicable), employee monitoring information, records of disciplinary matters including formal and informal reports and warnings, details of grievances including documentary evidence, notes from interviews, procedures followed, and outcomes; and results of disclosure and barring service checks (where relevant and depending on the role).
We may also collect, use, store and transfer personal data for external applicants to QBS job vacancies as follows:
- Applicant Data includes name, contact details, areas of interest, CV, experience, education, academic and professional qualifications, information provided as part of interviews and assessments, diversity and equal opportunities data, pre-employment screening information if your application is successful, information about your financial information if your application is successful, bank account details if your application is successful, interview and assessment results and feedback, job offer details, references from your named referees, results of disclosure and barring service checks (where relevant and depending on the role applied for) and verification of information provided during the recruitment process by contacting relevant third parties (for example, previous employers, education and qualification providers) or using publicly available sources (for example, to verify your experience, education and qualifications).
We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. 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 policy.
Other than where specifically stated above, 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.
If you fail to provide personal data
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with goods or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
3. How is your personal data collected?
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
- Direct interactions. You may give us your personal data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
- purchase or supply products or services;
- create an account on our website;
- subscribe to our service or publications;
- request marketing to be sent to you;
- enter a competition, promotion or survey;
- attend an event;
- give us feedback or contact us;
- commence employment with us; or
- apply for employment with us.
- Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy https://www.qbstechnology.com/cookie-policy/ for further details.
- Third parties or publicly available sources. We will receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources including but not limited to from analytics providers, advertising networks and search information providers, from providers of technical, payment and delivery services, data brokers or aggregators and from publicly available sources such as Companies House and the Electoral Register based inside the UK.
4. How we use your personal data
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
- Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you 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 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 obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.
- Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.
- Comply with a legal obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to.
Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although we will get your consent before sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.
Purposes for which we will use your personal data
We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground 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.
| Purpose/Activity | Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest |
| To register you as a new customer or supplier or other business contact |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to enable us to conduct business with you) |
|
To process and deliver your order including: (a) Manage payments, fees and charges (b) Collect and recover money owed to us |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us) |
|
To manage our relationship with you which will include: (a) Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy (b) Asking you to leave a review or take a survey (c) Contacting customers about their requirements for our products and for customer service purposes (d) Contacting prospective customers about their requirements for our products |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services) |
| To enable you to partake in a prize draw, competition or complete a survey |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them and grow our business) |
| To administer and protect our business and our websites (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
| To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you | Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy) |
| To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences | Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our products and services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy) |
| To make suggestions and recommendations to you about goods or services that may be of interest to you | Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our products/services and grow our business) |
| Contacting our suppliers, professional advisers, trade bodies and associations, bankers and finance providers | Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
| Contacting parties in legal claims and disputes | Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
|
For employees and job applicants:
|
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services) |
We do not use any automated systems for carrying out decision-making or profiling.
Our websites use Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”) encryption, which is the most advanced encryption technology currently available, to protect your personal data when you visit our website.
Some of our websites have e-commerce functionality which enable visitors to order goods and make online payment. However, your payment card details are not stored or processed in our systems at any time. Instead, your payment card details (i.e. card number, expiry date and CVV) are sent directly to our payment processor, Trust Payments Limited, without passing through our servers.
Trust Payments Limited is PCI-compliant (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) and GDPR-compliant.
For more information see: https://www.trustpayments.com/
Marketing
We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. We provide communication preference questions when third parties sign up to received communications from us.
With your permission and/or where permitted by law, we may also use your personal data for marketing purposes, which may include contacting you by email and/or telephone and/or text message and/or post with information, news, and offers on our services or of business opportunities we wish to introduce to you. You will not be sent any unlawful marketing or spam. We will always work to fully protect your rights and comply with our obligations under the GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, and you will always have the opportunity to opt-out.
Promotional offers from us
We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).
You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased goods or services from us and you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.
Third-party marketing
We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any third party for external marketing purposes. Our Ethical Marketing Policy can be found here: https://www.qbstechnology.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/QBS-Ethical-Marketing-Policy.pdf
Opting out
You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time.
Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of a product/service purchase, warranty registration, product/service experience or other transactions.
Cookies
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 this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please see https://www.qbstechnology.com/cookie-policy/
Change of purpose
We will only use your personal data for the purposes for 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. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.
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.
Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
5. Disclosures of your personal data
We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table above.
- Internal Third Parties including other companies in the QBS Technology Group acting as joint controllers or processors.
- External Third Parties including but not limited to:
Service providers acting as processors such as IT and system administration service providers, marketing and event service providers and cloud-based storage platforms.
Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based in the United Kingdom who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
- Specific third parties as follows:
– Jotform – cloud-based survey tool used for web forms and questionnaires: (https://www.jotform.com/gdpr-compliance/dpa/)
– Active Campaign– cloud-based email tool: https://www.activecampaign.com/legal/gdpr-updates/gdpr-overview
– Matomo – analytics provider: https://matomo.org/matomo-cloud-privacy-policy/
– Hubspot – cloud-based CRM and email tool: https://legal.hubspot.com/privacy-policy
– Smartsheet – third party software: https://www.smartsheet.com/legal/privacy
– Exponential E – cloud hosted services: https://www.exponential-e.com/privacy-policy
– Third party payroll company, details of which may be provided upon request;
– Third party HR portal, details of which may be provided upon request;
– Third party pensions provider, details of which may be provided upon request;
– Third party credit insurers, details of which may be provided upon request;
- Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.
Other than as set out in this policy, we will not share any of your personal data with any third parties for any purposes, subject to the following exceptions.
I. Where you have expressly consented; or
II. Where sharing the personal data in question is necessary for the performance of a contract between you and us. This includes sharing your credit/debit card details with payment processors; or
III. Where sharing the personal data in question is necessary for the performance of a contract between a third party and us which is in your interests; or
Iv. In some limited circumstances, where we may be legally required to share certain personal data, which might include yours, if we are involved in legal proceedings or complying with legal or regulatory obligations, a court order, or the instructions of a government authority.
v. We may share your data within the “group” of companies with substantially common ownership to us.
If any of your personal data is required by a third party, as described above, we will take steps to ensure that your personal data is handled safely, securely, and in accordance with your rights, our obligations, and the third party’s obligations under the law. If any personal data is transferred outside of the EEA, we will take suitable steps in order to ensure that your personal data is treated just as safely and securely as it would be within the UK.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers 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.
6. International transfers
We share your personal data within QBS. This will involve transferring your data outside the UK.
Some of our external third parties are based outside the UK so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the UK.
Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we 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; or
- Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved for use in the UK which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK.
Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the UK.
7. Data security
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. 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.
We have 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.
8. Data retention
How long will you use my personal data for?
We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.
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, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.
Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available in our retention policy which you can request from us by contacting us.
In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data and further details of this are set out below.
In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.
9. Your legal rights
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data:
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:
- If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy.
- Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
- 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.
- 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.
If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please use the contact details above.
No fee usually required
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
What we may need from you
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.
Time limit to respond
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.