Privacy Policy

1. About this policy

This policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect personal information when you visit pivotautomation.co.za, submit our contact form, book an introductory call, or otherwise engage us for AI training, consulting or automation work.

We process personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). Where we work with clients or visitors in other jurisdictions, we apply equivalent standards.

By using this website you agree to the processing described below. If you do not agree with any part of this policy, please do not submit information to us through the site.

2. Personal information we collect

Information you give us directly

When you complete the contact form on this website, we collect:

• Your name (required)
• Your email address (required)
• Your message to us (required)
• Your company or organisation name (optional)
• Your telephone number (optional)
• The area of interest you select, such as training, consulting or automation (optional)

When you book an introductory call, your booking details are collected through Microsoft Bookings. That booking page is operated by Microsoft on our behalf, and the information you enter there is governed by this policy together with the Microsoft privacy terms.

If you contact us by email, telephone or WhatsApp, we hold the contact details and the contents of that correspondence.

Information collected automatically

When you browse the site, our analytics and hosting providers automatically collect technical information, including:

• Your IP address, which Google Analytics truncates before storage
• Device type, operating system, browser and screen characteristics
• The pages you view, the order you view them in and how long you spend on each
• The website or advertisement that referred you to us
• Approximate location derived from your IP address, at city level
• Interactions we measure as events, such as submitting the contact form or clicking through to our booking page

We do not deliberately collect special personal information as defined in POPIA, such as health, religious, political or biometric information. Please do not include such information in the free-text message field.

This website is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect the personal information of anyone under 18.

3. How we use your personal information

We use the information described above to:

• Respond to your enquiry and answer your questions
• Prepare and deliver proposals, quotations and scoping conversations
• Arrange, deliver and follow up on training, consulting and automation work
• Tailor training examples and exercises to your industry and roles, where you have asked us to
• Send you information you have specifically requested from us
• Understand how our website is used so that we can improve its content and structure
• Measure the effectiveness of our advertising, including which campaigns lead to genuine enquiries
• Meet our record-keeping, tax and other legal obligations

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it with third parties for their own marketing purposes. We will not add you to a marketing mailing list on the strength of a contact-form enquiry alone.

4. Our lawful basis for processing

POPIA requires us to have a lawful basis for processing your personal information. We rely on the following:

• Consent: you provide your details voluntarily when you complete the contact form, book a call or write to us.
• Performance of a contract: where we are preparing to work with you, or already are, we process what is necessary to deliver that work.
• Legitimate interests: we have a legitimate interest in understanding how our website performs, in protecting the site from abuse, and in measuring our advertising. We balance this against your privacy and limit ourselves to aggregated and pseudonymised analysis wherever possible.
• Legal obligation: we retain certain records to meet tax, accounting and other statutory requirements.

5. Cookies, analytics and advertising

This website uses Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads conversion tracking, both provided by Google. These services set cookies and similar identifiers in your browser to recognise returning visitors and to attribute enquiries to the advertising campaign that produced them.

These cookies load when you arrive on the site. We use them for measurement rather than to build advertising profiles about you, and we do not use them to target you with adverts elsewhere on the basis of your individual behaviour on this site.

How to opt out

You can prevent this collection at any time, without affecting your ability to use the site or contact us:

• Install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available from tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
• Block or delete cookies in your browser settings, which every major browser supports
• Use the private or incognito mode of your browser, which discards cookies when you close the window
• Manage the adverts Google shows you through your Google account ad settings at myadcenter.google.com

Blocking these cookies does not prevent you from browsing the site, submitting the contact form or booking a call.

6. Who we share your information with

We share personal information only with the service providers that operate this website and our business systems. POPIA refers to these providers as operators, and each processes information on our instructions:

• Microsoft: hosts our email and delivers contact-form submissions to our mailbox through the Microsoft Graph service, and operates the Microsoft Bookings page used for introductory calls. Your enquiry is stored in our Microsoft 365 mailbox.
• Google: provides Google Analytics and Google Ads conversion measurement for this website.
• Vercel: hosts this website and processes technical request data, including IP addresses, in its server logs.

We may also disclose personal information where we are required to do so by law, by a court order or by a regulator, or where disclosure is necessary to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

If our business is sold or restructured, client and enquiry records may transfer to the acquiring party, which would remain bound by the terms of this policy.

7. Where your information is processed

Our service providers operate global infrastructure, so your personal information may be processed on servers outside South Africa, including in the European Union and the United States.

Section 72 of POPIA permits these transfers where the recipient is subject to laws or binding agreements that provide an adequate level of protection. Microsoft, Google and Vercel each contract with us on data-processing terms that impose such protections, including the standard contractual clauses issued by the European Commission.

8. How long we keep your information

We keep website enquiries and the personal information contained in them for 24 months from your last contact with us, after which they are deleted from our active systems.

Where you become a client, we retain project and financial records for the longer periods required by South African tax and company law, generally five years from the end of the relevant financial year.

Analytics information is retained according to the retention period configured in Google Analytics, and is held in a form that does not identify you individually.

You may ask us to delete your information sooner, as described below.

9. How we protect your information

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to safeguard personal information against loss, unauthorised access and unlawful processing. These include encrypted connections to this website, access controls and multi-factor authentication on the mailboxes and systems that hold enquiry data, and limiting access to those who need it to respond to you.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If we become aware of a compromise affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

10. Your rights under POPIA

You have the right to:

• Ask whether we hold personal information about you, and request a copy of it
• Ask us to correct or update information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, misleading or out of date
• Ask us to delete or destroy information we no longer have a lawful reason to keep
• Object, on reasonable grounds, to processing that relies on our legitimate interests
• Withdraw your consent at any time, which does not affect processing already carried out
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator

To exercise any of these rights, email info@pivotautomation.co.za. We may ask you to verify your identity before we act, so that we do not disclose your information to someone else. We respond to requests within a reasonable period and in any event within 30 days.

We do not charge for reasonable requests. Where a request is repetitive or excessive, POPIA permits a prescribed fee, and we will tell you before any fee applies.

11. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first so that we can try to resolve it directly.

You are also entitled to complain to the regulator at any time:

• The Information Regulator (South Africa)
• Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
• Enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
• Telephone: 010 023 5200, or toll free 0800 017 160
• Website: inforegulator.org.za

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our services, systems or legal obligations change. The effective date at the top of this page always reflects the current version. Where a change materially affects how we use your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to bring it to your attention.

13. Contact us

For any question about this policy, or to exercise your rights, email info@pivotautomation.co.za or use the details on our contact page.