Updated: December 2022

Your privacy matters to us.  Whether you are an employee, contractor, existing customer or a new user, we understand that your information has to be protected.  Not only because we are bound by the Australian Privacy Act.  Or because some of you may be affected by the regulation in other countries. But because your information is precious.

The policy explains why and when we collect your personal information, and what we do with it.  It also tells you how you can access and update that information.  

Why and when we collect your information

It’s simple.  We collect information to provide better services to our customers. 

This can happen when you sign up for a service.  We will collect information such as your name (including company names and relevant individuals), email, ABN, address, phone number, email address, details of the services provided to you and potential future services and payment details.  We may also collect information when you email us or respond to surveys or other communications.  We supply some of our services through resellers or as a contractor and they will also provide customer information to us.

We use cookies and web storage on our website to collect and store information when you visit our website. 

A cookie is a small message given to your web browser by our web server in order to store information about user preferences and web storage. Web storage is similar to a cookie.  It can store data locally on your browser.  They provide product information to you through content networks across the internet, track your interaction with our website and personalise your experience on our website. You always have the option to disable cookies by turning them off in your browser but this can affect our website functionality. 

If you are an employee or are otherwise a user of our internal systems, we may collect information via the usage of any of our technology or access to systems that is provided to you (including but not limited to access to emails, internal messaging systems, laptops, phones and any other software or hardware used by you). We may also collect information via cameras or other monitoring around the non-private areas in our office. This information will primarily be used for security and human resources purposes, but may also be used for internal project purposes such as monitoring the number of personnel in our offices or to monitor the use of the space by our employees and guests. 

How we use your information

If you contact us, we will use your information to provide support.  From time to time, we will also need to notify you of maintenance windows, system changes and other matters that may affect your service. We also use your information for sales (including approaching you for new services and refreshing your current services), billing purposes and credit control.  When your service term ends, we will need to send you renewal notices or extensions.  These are just some of the ways we use your information.

We may use your information to measure your experiences of our services, improve existing services, develop new services and perform research and analysis associated with your services.  We also use the information to provide you with special offers and promotions, newsletters or invitations to events.

All our marketing communications will contain an unsubscribe function.  You can use that function to opt out of our marketing at any time.

We may monitor and record telephone conversations with you for staff training and to maintain our high levels of customer service.  You will always be informed before we start recording so that you may opt out if you wish.

Arq Group operates under a number of different subsidiaries.  Your information may be shared within the internal company group but you can be confident that each member of the group has the same commitment to protect your personal information. 

Sharing your information with others

We use third parties in our business and may have to share your information with them.  They help us perform these functions:

• market research and distribution of marketing information to you;
• supply of hosting, including hosting through your systems or through our datacentres;;
• call centre sales and support services, including utilising Salesforce and other sales-based software;
• cloud services such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

We have contracts in place with these third parties that contain protections of your personal information. Whilst where possible we will keep your information locally, these businesses may be based overseas and your data may be held overseas as a result. 

Sometimes, we are required to disclose your personal information to law enforcement and other government and regulatory authorities.  This disclosure will only occur if it is properly authorised by law. 

What do we do to protect your information?

The transfer of information across any media involves a degree of risk.  The internet is no different.  We have taken steps to protect the information we receive.  Our web servers support the use of the Secure Socket Layer Protocol where appropriate. Using this protocol, information transferred between our systems is encrypted.

You can also use simple precautions to help protect your security.  Keep your username and passwords safe.  Do not respond to suspicious emails.  If you have any concern about an email which appears to come from us, please contact us immediately.  

Notifiable Data Breach

A data breach happens when personal information is accessed or released without authorisation.  This can happen from malicious acts or simply through human error.  Sometimes, personal information is lost. 

From 22 February 2018, certain data breaches must be reported to affected persons and also to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).   We have to report a breach that is likely to result in serious harm to individuals.  Serious harm may include physical, financial, emotional, psychological or reputational harm. 

Whilst we hope it will never be required, we do have procedures in place to ensure that a data breach is properly identified, assessed, contained and reported if necessary. 

Do you need to contact us? 

If you’ve moved, changed phone numbers or email address, please let us know.  We can’t help you if we can’t contact you.  If you want to know what information we hold of yours, you can always ask us.  If you have a complaint or a question, we’re here to listen.  Email us at privacy@arq.group