The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is enforceable from 25 May 2018, provides new rights to individuals and requires organisations to provide information about their processing in a clear and transparent way. We have published this updated Privacy Statement to take into account new requirements and to explain how we collect, store and use personal data.

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The SSW makes every effort to protect and respect your privacy. We aim to maintain consistently high standards in our use and storage of your personal data, and have procedures in place to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (amended) and other relevant legislation. This privacy notice aims to clearly inform you of how we use your personal data, how we ensure it is kept secure and your choices about its use. This is to help you make informed decisions when using our websites and the other services we provide. Personal data, as defined by the GDPR, means any information which can directly or indirectly identify a living individual. For example your name, email address, postal address and telephone number. We will review and update this notice regularly, so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you are happy with any changes. In addition to this Notice, each service offered by us may have additional privacy provisions that are specific to the particular service. You will always be informed of these supplemental provisions at the time you provide your personal data.

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Links to other websites

Our websites may contain links to websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our websites‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website. 

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In addition, if you linked to our website from a third party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third-party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site.

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Collection of your personal data

Personal data you provide directly to us

We collect personal data from you when you enquire about, or request a product or service directly from us. For example when you;

• Register on our website

• Subscribe to a magazine

• Sign up for a digital product or service

• Register to attend a conference, an exhibition, an award or forum event

• Request a newsletter/bulletin

• Enter a competition or prize draw

The information we collect will include your contact details (e.g. name, email address, phone number and postal address).

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When you visit our website

When you visit one of our website for the first time, you will receive a notice informing you that we use Cookies. Some personal data (for example a unique identifier, your IP address and geographical location) will be collected through our and our technology partners' use of cookies and similar technologies.

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We use essential and functional cookies to ensure our websites function properly.

 

Your control options

When you use any of our websites for the first time you will be notified about our use of cookies via a "pop up" banner. This is to inform you that cookies or similar technologies are deployed on your device. Some of these cookies or similar technologies may facilitate the processing of personal data.

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Managing your cookies

You can choose to disable your web browser's ability to accept cookies. Please note that if you choose to do this, you may not be able to access or take advantage of many features of the service and some parts of the website may not work properly.

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You can control how cookies are set within your browser settings. Each browser is different so check the ‘Help’ menu of your particular browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.

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From other organisations or publicly available sources

We sometimes combine information we have collected from our websites or other sources, with information received from other organisations. This is used to:

• Verify the personal data we hold for you (e.g. to check your postal address is correct)

• Enhance the content and relevance of the advertising we provide to you.

We may also research publicly available sources (e.g. websites and LinkedIn) and use external suppliers who do the same, to identify business contacts who are likely to be interested in the products and services we have to offer. We will collect the minimum amount of information required for this purpose (e.g. name, job title, company and contact details) and when we contact you we will provide you with a simple way to object to further contact from us.

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The Lawful Bases for Processing your data

Under GDPR there are six lawful bases under which organisations can collect, use and store personal data. We have identified four which we rely upon for our business activities:

Contractual

In many circumstances we rely on the lawful basis of "performance of a contract", this enables us to respond to you when you express an interest in our products and services and to execute any sales.

Consent

In some circumstances we rely on your specific consent, whereby you actively agree and "opt-in". We will always make it clear how you can withdraw your consent at any time.

Legal Obligation

There will be circumstances where we are legally obliged to hold your personal data or to disclose it to a third party. You cannot object to this lawful basis, but we will always verify the source prior to any disclosure.

Legitimate Interest

For some of our activities we rely on our legitimate business interest to collect and use your personal data. In such cases, we have balanced our interests with yours and do not believe these activities will have a negative impact on your privacy rights and freedoms.

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We specifically rely on Legitimate Interest to:

• Manage specific aspects of our events.

• Send you marketing communications about our products and services.

• Send you marketing communications related to other companies' products and services (in a business-to-business context).

• Personalise the marketing content we provide you.

• Share your contact details with a named sponsor, when you access specific sponsored content.

• Undertake business sales and advertising activities.

• Research publicly available business contact details.

• Customise the content you see on our websites.

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How we use your personal data

Fulfilment of a service

We will use your personal data for the purposes of fulfilling a product or service you have requested, which includes:

• Responding to your enquiries about our products and services

• Fulfilling your requests and delivery of a product or service. For example when you:
  - subscribe to a magazine
  - register to attend an event
  - register to access online content
  - register to access site functionality

• Administering your account

• Sending you specific service or transactional communications about a product or service

• Fulfilling prize draws and competitions

• Delivering customer services

Conference events

Please find below information about how your personal data will be used when you register to attend one of our conferences.

If you are making a group booking please ensure you have permission from others to share their name and contact details with us.

We will share your details (name, job title and company name ONLY) with events sponsors, to ensure that any content and activity on the day is tailored specifically to the audience attending. If you would prefer us not to do this please contact us. We will share the delegate list with the venue for fire regulation purposes.

Please note that photographs and video footage may be taken at our events and used in post-event publicity.

Award events

Please find below information about how your personal data may be used when you register to attend one of our Awards.

If you are making a group booking please ensure you have permission from others to share their name and contact details with us.

We will share your details (full name & company name ONLY) with the Award sponsors and with other attendees via an Award brochure, an attendee list, table plan and/or screen presentation

We will also share the attendee list with the venue for fire regulation purposes.

Please note that photographs and video footage may be taken at this event for use in post-event publicity.

Forum events

Please find below information about how your personal data may be used when you register to attend one of our Business Forums.

These events are specifically designed to invite delegates to meet and network with service suppliers. We believe it is in everyone's interests for business contact details to be shared between delegates and suppliers. You will always be informed of this. We will also need to share basic details to facilitate your travel and accommodation.

Please note that photographs and video footage may be taken at this event for use in post-event publicity.

Sponsored content

We provide sponsored content, such as webinars, expert reports, whitepapers, surveys or events.

We will share the details you provide to access this specific content with the named sponsor. However, this is always your choice and you will be provided with a clear opportunity to indicate if you would prefer us not to share this information.

Marketing communications

When we collect your personal data we will include a specific notice to inform you and give you choices about future direct marketing communications from us.

We will only send you direct marketing communications when you have either:

• provided your consent (e.g. ticked a box or clicked a "button" to submit a form)

• where we believe we can demonstrate a legitimate business interest and have balanced this with your interests and privacy.

It is always your choice and you can stop receiving direct marketing communications from us at any time. We will provide a clear and easy way to do this on any communication you receive.

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How to stop receiving marketing communications

We don't want to send you marketing communications if you do not want to receive them. You can object to these messages from us at any time.

Emails: There will always be an unsubscribe link on any marketing email you receive from us.

If you wish to stop ALL marketing communications from us please email us with the subject header "Stop Marketing" (remember this will stop all marketing communications from all of our brands). Please include your personal details (Name, Company name, address, email and telephone number) so we can make sure that we do not contact you again. Please note that this process will only stop marketing to the individual named in the email and not your company or organisation as a whole. 

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Sharing your personal data

We may share your personal data with other organisations, as specifically approved by you or under the circumstances described below.

Our events

We may share limited personal data about you with event sponsors, other delegates and venues.

We will always make it clear and provide you with choices if another organisation wishes to use your personal data for their own marketing purposes.

Our service suppliers

We use a number of companies to help us in providing a professional service to our customers. For example, stand contractors and cloud software suppliers. These companies only act under strict contractual instruction from us. We limit the personal data we share with our suppliers to only those necessary to fulfil the specific service they provide to us.

Legal Disclosure

We may need to disclose your personal data to comply with any legal obligation. These requests will be verified before we share your details.

Changes to our company

In the event we go through a business transition such as a merger or acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your personal data may be among the assets transferred.

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Protecting children

All of our products and services are aimed at adults and are not designed for use by children. However, we accept that on occasion children may visit our websites. Where we believe any of our products and services may attract children under the age of 18, we will clearly provide information notices to try and deter children from providing their personal data.

We clearly stipulate that entry into any of our events or competitions is only available to over 18s.

We do not knowingly send marketing communications to children.

We actively encourage all our staff, whenever they are implementing new promotions, offers or events to assess whether these might be attractive to children and if so, will ensure clear information is provided to try and deter children from providing their personal data.

If you are a parent or guardian and are concerned that we may be processing personal data related to your child, please contact us.

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Your rights

Under data protection law you have a number of rights. These are intended to give you control over how we manage your personal data. If you are unhappy with any aspect of our handling of your personal data please contact us.

If you are concerned with the manner in which we have handled your personal data, you have the right to complain to a supervisory authority.

Right to be Informed

You have the right to know what data we hold on you and what we will do with it. This privacy notice is the way in which we communicate this to you.

Right to Access

You can request a copy of the personal data we hold relating to you and our reasons for processing it. This is known as a Subject Access Request. In responding to such a request we may ask for proof of your identity, to ensure we do not inadvertently send your personal data to another person. We will endeavour to respond to any such requests as soon as possible, but within one calendar month.

Right to Rectification

If you discover or believe the personal data we hold for you is out of date or incorrect please let us know and we will rectify this as soon as possible.

Right to Erasure (to be forgotten)

If you wish for your personal data to be deleted we will assess any such request on a case-by-case basis. We will respond to you as soon as possible, but within one calendar month of receiving your request.

Right to Restrict Processing

If you wish you can request to restrict or supress the processing of your personal data. This means that we will continue to store your data but will not process it. You may choose to do this instead of asking for your data to be deleted because we can then make sure that we do not collect your data again.

Right to Object

You have the right to object to the processing of your data. You have an absolute right to object to direct marketing but we may have to continue processing data for other purposes if we have a compelling reason.

Rights related to automated decision making

You have the right to object to any automated decision made by us regarding you. We do not presently undertake automated decision making but will monitor our business practices and update this section if this changes.

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Keeping your data secure

Where we store your personal data

Ensuring your personal data is stored and transferred securely is of the highest importance to us.

We hold your personal data on our secure systems, mainly based within the European Economic Area (EEA). Where we employ service providers, we have appropriate agreements in place to ensure your personal data is protected. Your personal data may be transferred to a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA). This may be required for the purposes of our staff based outside the EEA or where a supplier of a service is based outside the EEA. We will take all reasonable steps necessary to ensure your personal data is treated securely. This includes the use of Binding Corporate Rules and Model Contractual Arrangements as approved by the European Commission, and the EU-US Privacy Shield.

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How we keep your personal data secure

We are committed to protecting the security of the personal data we hold. We deploy appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure your personal data is kept securely and to prevent any unauthorised access. We have robust procedures and features in place to prevent such unauthorised access. We also require any parties to whom we transfer personal data to ensure they have appropriate security measures in place.

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How long do we keep your personal data

We hold personal data for a variety of different purposes and the length of time we keep your information for will vary depending on the products and services we are providing to you. We will only keep your personal data for a reasonable period of time and we base this on the purpose for which we are using it. There will be circumstances in which we keep a strictly minimal amount of information about you, for example to ensure we can honour an objection to receiving direct marketing. We will also, in specific circumstances, be required to retain personal data for a longer period of time for contractual or legal reasons.

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Reporting security vulnerabilities

We are committed to the privacy, safety and security of our customers. If you discover a potential security vulnerability, please let us know as soon as you can so that we can take appropriate action.

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How and why we use cookies and tracking technologies

We use these to provide adverts on our sites that we believe are more relevant to you. Without these cookies, online adverts you encounter will be less relevant to you and your interests. We also enable some advertising partners to set cookies specifically to enable them to analyse advertising campaign performance.

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Technology partners

We work directly with a number of technology partners to maintain and enhance our websites such as Google, Google AdWords, Google Analytics etc.

We also use a number of web services to display external content, e.g. Facebook, Instagram,YouTube etc.