Privacy Policy

This privacy policy ("Policy") describes how the personal information and business information (collectively "User Information") you may provide through www.exploretech.io ("Site") and any of its related features and services (collectively, the "Services") is collected, protected and used. It also describes the choices available to you regarding our use of your Personal Information and how you can access and update this information. Users of the Services may beBuyers and Suppliers (together the “Users”) (as each defined in our separate Terms of Service (collectively the “Terms”). This Policy is a legally binding agreement between you ("User", "you" or "your") and Insight Out Consultancy DMCC ("Operator", "we", "us" or "our"). By accessing and using the Site and Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the terms of this Policy. This Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that we do not own or control, or to individuals that we do not employ or manage.

Please also review our Terms of Service for Buyers and our Terms of Service for Suppliers which governs your use of the Services. By using the Services, you represent and warrant that you have also read and understood, and agree to be bound by, both this Policy and which the Terms are incorporated by reference and made part of this Policy.

Our Privacy Policy is GDPR Compliant. For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU 2016/679), the data controller is ExploreTECH, a division of Insight Out Consultancy DMCC. Insight Out Consultancy DMCC is based in the United Arab Emirates and is responsible for data collected in relation to the Site and Services managed by ExploreTECH.

We may make changes to this Policy from time to time in order to keep it up to date and compliant with legal requirements.

Contact Details:

If you have any questions about this Policy or our privacy practices, or wish to contact us concerning any matter relating to individual rights and your User Information, you may send an email to our Data Protection Officer at exploremore@exploretech.io.

• INFORMATION COLLECTION
• What User Information do we collect?

We collect information, including Personal Information and Business Information, to provide better services to all our Users. We use the term “Personal Information” to refer to any information that identifies or can be used to identify you. We also collect business information. We use the term “Business Information” to refer to any information about the company or business you work for relating to details of goods, prices of goods, items, or services that may be provided by a Supplier for the Buyer to review on the Site.

• How do we collect User Information?
• Information You Provide Us.

We receive and store any Personal Information you knowingly provide to us when you create an Account on the Site, subscribe to our Services, give us feedback or contact us.

Personal Information includes the following:

• Identity Data includes your first name and last name;
• Contact Data includes your telephone number and your email address;
• Account Data includes your job title and role, your username and password.

We receive and store any Business Information you knowingly provide to us when you create a User Account, when Suppliers create a Supplier Profile, and when you fill any online forms in the Site. Business Information includes the following:

• Business Details:

• The name and address of the company you work for;
• Information about the company including the products and/or services provided by the company you work for.
• Work related emails.

• Requests Data:

• Information required to fill a ‘Request for Information’ (RFI) form sent by a Buyer through the Site; and
• Information required to fill a ‘Request for Proposal’ (RFP) form sent by the Buyer through the Site.

• Financial Data: including credit card information and billing address of the Supplier in order for the Supplier to pay for the subscription of the Services through the Site.

• Automatic collection of information

We and our third-party service providers may automatically collect certain information from you whenever you access or interact with the Service. This information may include, among other information, the browser and operating system you are using, the URL that referred you to the Service, the search terms you entered into a search engine that led you to the Service, areas within the Service that you visited, which links you clicked on, which pages or content you viewed and for how long, the RFI’s and RFP’s sent by Buyers to Suppliers and other similar information and statistics about your interactions, such as content response times, download errors and length of visits to certain pages, other information commonly shared when browsers communicate with websites. We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you. We do this to improve services we offer you, and to improve marketing, analytics, and site functionality.

• Information Received from Third Parties

Third parties may also give us information about you. If we combine that information with information about you collected through the Service, we will still treat that combined information as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

• User Accounts

You may register to join the Services by creating a User Account using your User Information.

• Supplier Profiles

Suppliers have the opportunity to create a profile, which consists of information about you as a Supplier, includes Business Information, screenshots, samples of your company’s products and services, information on work previously performed via the Services and outside the Services and other information. The information in your Profile may be visible to all Users of the Site who have an account. You may edit information in your Supplier Profile via your account.

• Messaging and Communications

Suppliers and Buyers may communicate with each other through the Services. For example, Buyers may wish to discuss their needs and the Supplier’s proposals. If you communicate with a Buyer or Supplier, that Buyer or Supplier will also be a “data controller” with respect to such communications. Users may also communicate with our Customer Service team who may use your User Information when responding to your comments, feedback, inquiries, questions, to give you appropriate support to fulfil your needs and requests.

• Financial Information and Payments

As a Supplier, if you use the Services to pay your subscription fees to access the Site and Services, we will collect certain payment information, such as credit card or other financial account information, and billing address. Payments shall be made on the Site through a third-party service provider.

No funds shall be exchanged between Supplier and Buyers through the Site or the Services, therefore, we do not collect any financial information from Buyers. Buyers shall make payments directly to Suppliers for products and/or services outside of the Site and Services. We are not liable for any transactions and exchange of information, including Buyer financial information, between Users outside of those we require to access the Site and Services.

• WHAT DO WE USE YOUR USER INFORMATION FOR?

In order to make the Site and Services available to you, or to meet a legal obligation, we need to collect and use the User Information. If you do not provide the information that we request, we may not be able to provide you with the requested Services.

We use the User Information for our legitimate business interests, including the following:

• Provide you with the Site and Services;
• To market relevant ExploreTECH Services (e.g., Product/Supplier alerts,) (by print DMs, eDMs, telemarketing calls, SMS or other platforms including Facebook, LinkedIn or through third party agencies;
• Create and manage User Accounts;
• Create and manage Supplier Profiles;
• Identify you as a User in our system and maintain a record of your transactions and interactions through the Site;
• Send administrative information;
• Respond to inquiries, comments and questions to give you appropriate support to fulfil your needs and requests
• Request User feedback;
• Improve User experience;
• Create contact lists for surveys and similar market research activities;
• Our technical support team may use your User Information to (i) facilitate internal purposes such as auditing, data analysis, and research to improve our Site and Services and improve your User experience, including providing more relevant customized content to you; and (ii) detect, investigate and prevent fraudulent transactions and other illegal activities and protect your rights and property as well as ours; and
• Use the data for purposes associated with our legal and regulatory obligations.

Note that we may process your User Information for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your User Information.

We may collect certain non-personally identifiable information about your use of the Site and Services, including, without limitation, to prepare analyses and compilations of aggregate customer data that do not identify you, statistics relating to the use of the Site and Services, performance metrics relating to the Site and Services, and configuration settings (“Data”). This Data may be used to determine trends and help us improve the Services. To the extent that any Data is collected by us, such Data shall be solely owned by us and may be used by us for any lawful business purpose without a duty of accounting to you, provided that the Data is used only in an aggregated form, but not in a manner that would identify you personally or the company or business your work for.

Business Information of (a) Buyers will be accessible to Suppliers and (b) Suppliers will be accessible to Buyers, to allow Buyers and Suppliers to interact with each other and use the Services.

• DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

Who Do We Share Your User Information With?

Depending on the requested Services or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any service you have requested, we may share your information with your consent with trusted third parties that work with us, any other affiliates and subsidiaries we rely upon to assist in the operation of the Site and Services available to you. We do not share User Information with unaffiliated third parties. These service providers are not authorized to use or disclose your User Information except as necessary to perform services on our behalf or comply with legal requirements. We may share your User Information for these purposes only with third parties whose privacy policies are consistent with ours or who agree to abide by our policies with respect to User Information. These third parties are given User Information they need only in order to perform their designated functions, and we do not authorize them to use or disclose User Information for their own marketing or other purposes.

We will disclose any User Information we collect, use or receive if required or permitted by law, Data protection authorities, regulatory authorities and law enforcement agencies, such as to comply with a subpoena, or similar legal process, and when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.

We may disclose or transfer your data to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of the Insight Out Consultancy DMCC business, assets or stock (including any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).

• RETENTION OF INFORMATION

How Long Do We Keep Your User Information?

We may retain your User Information for a period of time consistent with the original purpose for collection. For example, we keep your User Information for no longer than reasonably necessary for your use of our programs and Services and for a reasonable period of time afterward. We also may retain your User Information during the period of time needed for us to pursue our legitimate business interests, conduct audits, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements. When your personal information is no longer required, we will ensure it is either securely deleted or stored in a way which means it will no longer be used by the business.

In some circumstances, we may retain your User Information even after your business relationship with us ends if reasonably necessary to comply with our legal obligations (including law enforcement requests), meet regulatory requirements, resolve disputes, maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse, enforce our Terms, or fulfill your request to “unsubscribe” from further messages from us. Under normal circumstances this should not exceed 6 years from the date of the last engagement with you.

• DIRECT MARKETING

We may use User Information to send you direct marketing communications about our Site Services according to your preferences either with your consent or because we have a legitimate interest to do so, including our latest announcements and upcoming events and services. This may be in the form of emails, SMS, telephone calls or targeted online advertisement. We limit direct marketing to a reasonable proportionate level, and to send you communications which we think will be interesting and relevant to you, based on the information we have about you.

You have choices when it comes to how we use your data and we want to ensure you have the information to make the choices that are right for you.

If you no longer want to receive marketing-related emails, SMS, or printed materials, you may opt out by following the instructions in any such emails, SMS or printed materials you receive from us.

• PROFILING

Based on information we have collected about you as a Buyer and your viewing habits and analytics about performance of our Services, we personalize the content, offers and ads made available to you to make your experience more relevant. This constitutes profiling: We segment visitors by applying selection criteria and business rules using software code (and algorithms) to process relevant data semi-automatically to produce personalized content recommendations, e.g., recommended products which appear in marketing emails or online when you visit our sites. If you wish to opt-out of receiving personalized content, please contact theCustomer Service Team at exploremore@exploretech.io.

• THE RIGHTS OF USERS

You may exercise certain rights regarding your information processed by us. In particular, you have the right to do the following:

• Be informed if your User Information is being processed by us, obtain disclosure regarding certain aspects of the processing and obtain a copy of the information undergoing processing and be informed about third parties with which your personal information has been shared;
• Access Personal Informationabout you, including: (i) confirming whether we are processing your personal information; (ii) obtaining access to or a copy of your personal information.
• Right to Rectification of the accuracy of your information and ask for it to be updated or corrected;
• Request Deletion of your User Information from us under certain circumstances when User Information is no longer required for the purposes it was collected for, or your consent for the processing of that data has been withdraw, or the User Information has been unlawfully processed. Note that if your information is deleted, then your User Account may become deactivated. If your account is deactivated or you ask to close your User Account, you will no longer be able to use the Services. If you would like to close your User Account in our system, you can do so by contacting our Customer Service Team at exploremore@exploretech.io;
• Request Restriction of our processing of your User Information if the processing is carried out on a legal basis other than consent or the User Information is being corrected, in which case, you have the right to ask for a temporary halt to the processing of User Information; and
• Request data portabilityand receive an electronic copy of personal information that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
• Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling where you have a right no to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing.

Please contact the Data Protection Officerfor more information or to submit a request to us regarding your User Information.

1. LINKS TO OTHER SITES

Our Services contains links to other websites such as the Supplier Profiles may contain links to other websites that are not owned or controlled by us. If you choose to click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party’s website. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such third parties. The fact that we link to a website is not an endorsement, authorization or representation of our affiliation with that third party, nor is it an endorsement of their privacy or information security policies or practices. We do not exercise control over third party websites. These other websites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit Personal Information from you. We encourage you to read the privacy policies or statements of the other websites you visit.

1. INFORMATION SECURITY

We take security seriously. Whilst we cannot guarantee to keep your data 100% secure, we are committed to protecting you (and us) from unauthorized access to, or unauthorized alteration, disclosure, destruction of User Information that we hold.

• We secure information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.
• We maintain commercially reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards in an effort to protect against unauthorized access, use, modification, and disclosure of Information in its control and custody.
• We treat User Information as the confidential and proprietary information of the Explore Tech User, subject to the Terms, and no such User Information may be shared with any other User, including but not limited to sharing with other Users the commercial dealings of Buyers and Suppliers.
• We regularly review our information collection, storage and processing practices, including physical, logical and organizational security measures, to guard against unauthorized access to systems and data stores.

However, no data transmission over the Internet or wireless network can be guaranteed. Therefore, while we strive to protect your User Information, you acknowledge that:

1. there are security and privacy limitations of the Internet which are beyond our control;
2. the security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and the Site and Services cannot be guaranteed; and
3. any such information and data may be viewed or tampered with in transit by a third party, despite best efforts.

1. DATA BREACH

In the event we become aware that the security of the Site and Services has been compromised or User Information has been disclosed to unrelated third parties as a result of external activity, including, but not limited to, security attacks or fraud, we reserve the right to take reasonably appropriate measures, including, but not limited to, investigation and reporting, as well as notification to and cooperation with law enforcement authorities. In the event of a data breach, we will make reasonable efforts to notify affected individuals if we believe that there is a reasonable risk of harm to the user as a result of the breach or if notice is otherwise required by law. When we do, we will send you an email.

• INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER OF USER INFORMATION

The data that we collect from you may be transferred to third party data processers to be processed and stored at a location outside of the United Arab Emirates to a country that may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially provided the information. Please be aware that such countries which are outside of the European Economic Area (‘EEA’) may not have the same level of data protection as those in the ‘EEA’ however our collection, storage and use of your User Information will continue to be governed by this Policy. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely, in accordance with this Policy, and will only transfer your User Information to other countriesby ensuring that transfers are protected by appropriate contractual commitments.

You have the right to request more information about the safeguards we have put in place. Please contact the Data Protection Officer.

• CHANGES AND AMENDMENTS

We reserve the right to modify this Policy or the Terms relating to the Site and Services from time to time in our discretion and will notify you of any material changes to the way in which we treat User Information. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page. We may also provide notice to you in other ways in our discretion, such as through contact information you have provided. Any updated version of this Policy will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Policy unless otherwise specified. Your continued use of the Site and Services after the effective date of the revised Policy (or such other act specified at that time) will constitute your consent to those changes. However, we will not, without your consent, use your User Information in a manner materially different than what was stated at the time your User Information was collected.

1. ACCEPTANCE OF THIS POLICY

You acknowledge that you have read this Policy and agree to all its terms and conditions. By accessing and using the App and Services you agree to be bound by this Policy. If you do not agree to abide by the terms of this Policy, you are not authorized to access or use the App and Services.

This document was last updated on 01 January 2023.

Appendix 1: Summary of User Information used/Purpose/Legal Basis.