The following information explains how and why we collect information from you, to whom such information is disclosed and what your rights are.
Personalised services
User accounts
What information do we collect and how do we obtain it?
We store information when you register for personalised services on the Business Companion website. The information we collect when you register is your first name, surname and email address so that we can provide services that are specific to you. There are optional fields that will help us understand who is using the site.
How do we use your information?
We use the information that we collect about you to enable you to watch content and be updated by email when it's updated and to create collections of content specific to your identified business needs.
In the future we may send messages about website developments or changes that affect registered users; you will be able to unsubscribe from these emails.
AI-powered agent
What information do we collect and how do we obtain it?
The Business Companion website has an AI-powered agent that allows you to ask questions and receive automated responses. The agent uses internal knowledge to generate replies, and in some cases may request additional information from you to better answer your query.
How do we use your information?
When you use the agent, we collect and process the content of your messages and technical information about your device. This data helps us diagnose faults and check and/or improve the agent’s performance. Whilst your data may be used to generate responses, it is not used to train public AI models.
Data processor
Microsoft acts as a data processor for interactions with the AI agent.
Will the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) disclose the information it collects to outside parties?
We use information about you only for the purpose of providing you with details on Business Companion; we do not disclose your information to third parties.
CTSI does not sell, trade or rent your personal information to others. CTSI may provide aggregate, anonymised statistics about our users, website traffic patterns and related site information to reputable third parties, but these statistics will include no personally identifying information.
How do we protect your information?
We endeavour to protect your information in the following ways:
- we will not request or store information that is excessive for our purposes
- the data will be updated directly if you update or delete your profile details
- we will delete any information we hold about you that is no longer relevant, or within a reasonable period of the date such information becomes no longer necessary for our purposes
- we will protect your data against unauthorised use
Receipt of information
You can request, at any time, that we stop using your information simply by deleting your account.
Your consent
By registering with us and using our website and/or service, you consent to the collection and use of this information by CTSI. If we change our privacy policy, we will upload the changes to the website immediately, so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we disclose it.
Cookies
Our website uses a 'Drupal.visitor.key' cookie to store your country selection to deliver advice based on your country's laws.
We use Google Analytics to track and report website traffic. More information about Google Analytics' use of cookies can be found on the Google cookie information page.
We embed videos from our official YouTube channel and from other third-party channels where appropriate. This may set cookies on your computer when you click on the YouTube video player. To find out more please visit YouTube's embedding videos information page.
We also advertise on third-party platforms, such as Facebook, who use their own methods to track 'click throughs' to our website. Facebook's cookie information can be found on the Facebook website.
In summary
We are committed to protecting your privacy. We use the information we may collect on the site to enhance your overall experience. We do not sell, trade or rent your personal information to others.