Last Updated on 6th February 2024

Introduction

About the Privacy Policy: Acuity Knowledge Partners (Acuity) is a leading provider of bespoke research, analytics and technology solutions to the financial services sector, including asset managers, corporate and investment banks, private equity and venture capital firms, hedge funds and consulting firms. This Privacy Policy is applicable to the personal data Acuity collects and explains how we collect your Personal Data (defined below) on those websites of Acuity Knowledge Partners brand names (collectively, “Acuity Knowledge Partners”) and its service providers that post or link directly to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Site”), how we use, disclose, and protect such data, and the choices you have concerning our use of such data. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. Acuity Knowledge Partners may from time to time update this Privacy Policy. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will become effective when we post or link to the revised Privacy Policy on the Site. Please review the “LAST UPDATED” legend at the top of this page to determine when this Privacy Policy was most recently revised.

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, “Acuity Knowledge Partners”, “we”, “us”, and “our” means Acuity Knowledge Partners brand names (collectively, “Acuity Knowledge Partners”).

You do not have to provide us with any Personal Data to visit the Site. However, if you choose to withhold requested information, you may not be able to visit all sections or use all features of the Site.
This Privacy Policy shall also apply to any Acuity Knowledge Partners mobile applications, BEAT custom solutions and other forms of Acuity Knowledge Partners online activity that reference this Privacy Policy. In such instances, the term “Site” shall include the applicable mobile application, BEAT digital services or other Acuity Knowledge Partners online activity whenever that term is used herein. In connection with your use of any Acuity Knowledge Partners mobile application, your Personal Data (and Other Data, as described below) may also be collected and used by your mobile device manufacturer, the mobile application store from which you obtained the Acuity Knowledge Partners mobile application, your telecommunication provider, or other third parties involved in the delivery of the application or data to your mobile device, and such collection and use shall be subject to the privacy policy of the applicable third party. Acuity Knowledge Partners is not responsible for any third party’s privacy practices.

Registration with, use of, and access to the Service is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of use.

What Information we collect

Collection of Personal Data

Personal data is information that identifies you or can be used to identify or contact you, e.g., your name, business email, phone number, company name, designation, city/location (“Personal Data”). We may need to collect and process Personal Data to provide requested information, products or services to you (including the Site) or because we are legally required to do so.

Acuity Knowledge Partners requests Personal Data from you if the Site requires registration. The registration process may request that you provide your name, business email address, business address, business phone number, and company affiliation, and agree to the User Agreement presented at the time of registration. You may also share your personal data with us while applying for a job opening on our website.

Account information, to create or update an account in our BEAT Digital Services and Applications or Applications, you or our enterprise customer (your employer) supply us with an email address, password, domain and/or other account set-up details. In addition, Customers that purchase a paid version of the Services provide us (or its payment processors) with billing details such as banking information and/or a billing address.

As an enterprise customer of our digital products, you may be required to share with us your business email address, domain name and/or other account set-up details. Such information with reference to BEAT Digital Services and Applications or Applications are referred to as Customer Data. In addition, Customers that purchase a paid version of the Services provide us (or its payment processors) with billing details such as banking information and/or a billing address. For personal details shared with the payment processors, the privacy policy of theirs would prevail and Acuity has no responsibility of it.

Our website has links to other websites worldwide. The privacy policies of these websites are not under our control. Once you leave our servers, use of any information you provide is governed by the privacy policy of the operator of the site you are visiting. It is advisable to read their privacy policies for further information.

Location information. We receive information from you, our customers and other third parties that helps us to approximate your location. We may, for example, use a business address submitted by your employer (who is our customer) or an IP address received from your browser or device to determine approximate location to assist with localization or for security purposes.

Information we collect via automated methods

Log data. As with most websites and technology services delivered over the Internet, our servers automatically collect information when you access or use our websites or digital services and record it in log files. This log data may include your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type and settings and the date and time that the Services were used. In some cases, it may capture details about the type of device you use and its operating system, website use details, the identification details of the device you use to access our website.

Collection of psuedonymised personally identifiable information

When you explore our website(s) or applications without signing up for any services, we automatically collect and retain certain data about your visit. This data doesn’t personally identify you and includes details like your browser type, operating system, and your internet service provider’s domain name. Additionally, we gather information like the date, time, and pages you visit, as well as geographic data such as Country, Region, or City. We utilize this anonymous information to enhance the design and content of our website(s), ultimately providing you with an improved browsing experience.

Website Viewership and Analytics Data

As you interact with our site, application, or service, we gather limited details about your computer’s internet connection and mobile number. This includes your IP address, which acts as a label for directing data from the internet to your device, such as the web pages you access. Information is automatically obtained and recorded from your browser, encompassing your IP address, computer’s name, operating system, browser type and version, CPU speed, and connection speed. Furthermore, we might also collect log information from your device, which incorporates your location, IP address, device name, serial number or unique identifier (e.g., UDiD on iOS devices), device operating system, browser type and version, CPU speed, and connection speed, among other details.

We might refer to additional sources of demographic and related data to enhance personalized communications and offers for you. Among these, we utilize Google Analytics to monitor user behavior on our websites excluding BEAT Digital Services and Applications or Applications. Google Analytics is configured to facilitate display advertising, helping us comprehend user demographics and interests. The collected data is anonymous and not linked to any personally identifiable information you’ve shared. If desired, you can opt out of Google Analytics for display ads and tailor Google Display Network ads through Google’s Ads Settings.

Furthermore, we also employ other analytics methods on our website and/or digital services. These methods utilize anonymous data that cannot be tied to individuals, aiming to assess content performance and analyze marketing effectiveness, reach, comparison, our digital services use to improve our services.

Usage information such as BEAT Digital Services and Applications or Applications meta data: When an Authorised User interacts with the BEAT Digital Services and Applications, metadata is generated that provides additional context about the way that an authorised user uses the services. For example, we log the pages within our applications that you view or interact with. This data cannot be used to identify you personally. Meta data do not contain any personal data. BEAT Digital Services and Applications do not use Google Analytics rather Pendo Analytics.

Promotions and Surveys

We may operate sweepstakes, contests, and similar promotions (collectively, “Promotions”). Please note, BEAT Digital Services and Applications do not operate any sweepstakes, contests, and promotions. If you choose to enter a Promotion, we typically ask you for certain Personal Data when you enter and, if applicable, win a Promotion. You should carefully review the rules of each Promotion in which you participate, as they may contain additional important information about our use of Personal Data about you. To the extent that the terms and conditions of such rules concerning the treatment of your Personal Data conflict with this Privacy Policy, the terms and conditions of such rules shall control. We use this information to operate the Promotions. In some cases, for promotions carried for our clients, the survey panelists can be a third-party, in such cases the protection of personal data will be taken care of as per the data privacy policy of the third-party, Acuity will not be accountable for the data privacy controls managed by such a third-party. The promotional information may be stored on a third-party database with the hosting provider.

How information is collected and used

As mentioned earlier, Acuity collects personal data that is submitted by the user either via the website contact us form or by sharing their resume on the website. You may also submit certain personal data of yours to avail our digital services if your employer is our enterprise customer.

We use Personal Data for legitimate business purposes, including the following:

Fulfillment of Requests. Acuity Knowledge Partners may use Personal Data about you to deliver products and services to you and provide you with information about products and services you’ve ordered. We will engage in these activities to manage our contractual relationship with you and/or to comply with a legal obligation.

Other Communications. From time to time, we may use Personal Data about you to inform you of products, programs, services, and promotions that we believe may be of interest to you. If your employer is Acuity Knowledge Partners customer, we may also inform you of such products, programs, services, and promotions using Personal Data about you that your employer provided to Acuity Knowledge Partners.

Customer Data BEAT Digital Services and Applications is used by Acuity Knowledge Partners in accordance with Customer’s instruction, including to provide the services, any applicable terms in the customer service agreement, customer’s use of Services functionality and as required by applicable laws.

Purpose of data collection

We collect data to gather interest in our services and to solicit our services for the benefit of the clients.

We may use Personal Data about you for other business purposes, such as data analysis (for example, to improve the efficiency of our services), editorial and feedback purposes, providing customer support, customizing and improving the content and layout of the Site, completing business transactions (for example, to confirm content requested is received by customers), development of marketing and promotion plans and materials, statistical analysis of user behavior (for example, to understand what parts of the Site are of most interest to users), product development, market research, administering individual accounts, and meeting government regulatory requirements such as sales tax collection, audits, etc. We may also use Personal Data of journalist/media contacts for press release distribution or sharing other newsworthy developments related to our business activities. We engage in these activities to manage our contractual relationship with you, to comply with a legal obligation, and/or because we have a legitimate interest.

We gather, process, and reveal information to deliver, assess, manage, enhance, and personalize our services and marketing endeavors. This aids in handling your registration, providing services, and communicating with you in connection with the aspects listed below. For instance, we might employ the information to:

  • Supply and oversee Our services.
  • Enable registration/sign-up and the upkeep of your accounts.
  • Deliver content tailored to your location.
  • Analyze and comprehend Our audience, refine Our service (including user interface experiences), enhance recommendation algorithms and delivery mechanisms, which could necessitate sharing personal information with Our group entities, affiliates, or third-party service providers.
  • Assist advertisers in comprehending Our audience and confirming the efficacy of advertising on Our Site (usually in the form of aggregated traffic statistics for various site pages), while also providing you with pertinent advertisements.
  • Present you with interest-based content such as articles, stories, and news on our site.
  • Facilitate your involvement in webcasts and webinars hosted on the Site.
  • Correspond with you regarding Our service (e.g., via email), to share updates on new features and content available, promotional announcements, surveys, and to assist you with operational needs like password resets.
  • Enable participation in interactive features offered through Our Services.
  • Share with Our customer support team to address your inquiries/concerns related to your rights or the services provided to you.

To offer BEAT Digital Services and Applications to our customers, we may collect or use customer data for the following limited purposes:

  • To provide, update, maintain and protect our services. This includes the use of information to support delivery of the services under a customer agreement, prevent or address service errors, security, or technical issues, analyse and monitor usage, trends and other activities, or at an authorised user’s request.
  • To develop and provide search, learning and productivity tools and additional features. It is in our interest and in the interest of customers to continuously improve and develop the customer support, features and user experience that we provide.
  • Account information is used to communicate with enterprise customers to resolve their queries or requests. Account information is used to send service emails and other relevant operational communications to enterprise customers. Additionally, account information is used for billing and invoicing tracking purposes, account management and other administrative matters.

Disclosure of information

We may disclose Personal Data for the following purposes:

Third-Party Service Providers

  • We may provide Personal Data to third-party service providers operating in the same or a different geographic jurisdiction where personal data is collected, who provide services to us, including but not limited to, data analytics, order fulfillment, payment processing, virtual computing, hosting, storage services, promotions and surveys and other services. Additionally, certain selected third parties may use tracking technology on our website services to analyse your interactions with them over time, helping us improve our content and understand online activity. Rest assured, we do not share, sell, rent, or trade your information with third parties for their promotional purposes unless explicitly stated in this policy. *Please note, personal data collected as part of BEAT Digital Services and Applications, it is not shared with any Third-Party Service Providers.
  • Business Transfers: Your information may be shared or transferred during events like mergers, sales of company assets, financing arrangements, or acquisitions involving all or part of our business with another company.
  • Certain personal data may be shared with Acuity affiliates operating from different geographical jurisdictions other than the location where you submitted the information to perform its legal duties or offer the necessary services required by the technology.
  • Your information may be disclosed to legal firms during the course of a regulatory investigation if required by the laws.
  • Business personal data disclosure handled in BEAT Digital Services and Applications, when an authorised user submits information, it is displayed or discoverable to other authorised users in the same or connected workspaces or Acuity Instance. For example, an authorised user’s email address at times may be displayed with their workspace profile, or other profile and organisational information may be displayed to authorised users.
  • BEAT Digital Services and Applications’ service collaboration with others, the services provide different ways for authorised users working in independent workspaces to collaborate with Acuity authorised employees based on need-to-know principle, and enterprise customer employees.
  • The customer’s instructions received in BEAT Digital Services and Applications, to enable us to follow our enterprise customers’ instructions, we provide several administrative controls to allow customers to manage their accounts. For example, we follow our customers’ instructions to enable or disable authorised users’ use of various features of the services.
  • Customers of BEAT Digital Services and Applications may also provide their authorised users with the ability to adjust the audience and visibility of certain customer data. To learn more, visit our Help Centre present in the BEAT Digital Services and Applications to understand what choices and settings are available.

Furthermore, we may disclose your information to specific third parties. We’ve categorized each party to provide clarity regarding the purpose of our data collection and processing practices. If your data was processed based on your consent and you wish to withdraw that consent, please do not hesitate to contact us at privacy@acuitykp.com

Data Retention

The data is collected and kept in our central CRM database. This data is required for actively selling our services. In case if someone is not interested in our services then they can unsubscribe from our mailing list.

We’ll retain your personal information only for as long as it’s essential for the purposes outlined in this privacy policy, unless the law mandates or permits a lengthier retention period, such as for tax, accounting, or legal obligations. None of the purposes mentioned in this policy will require us to hold your personal information beyond the duration of your account with us.

Once there’s no longer a valid business need to handle your personal data, we’ll either delete it or anonymize it. If deletion or anonymization isn’t immediately feasible, like in cases where your information is stored in backup archives, we’ll securely store it and segregate it from further processing until we can carry out the deletion.

For BEAT Digital Services and Applications, the personal data collected is retained for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this policy, or as required by law. We are also able to align the retention duration to meet customers’ retention obligations.

General data is retained by us for a maximum of 7 years, with regulatory and financial data retained for a maximum of 10 years.

We regularly review and delete any data that is no longer needed.

Cookies we use and its purpose of collection/use

We may use cookies on our website, which we categorize into four types: “Strictly necessary,” “Analytics and Performance,” “Functional,” and “Advertising and Targeting.”

  • Necessary cookies are essential for the Website to function properly and cannot be disabled in our systems. They are typically activated in response to actions you take that require services, such as setting privacy preferences, logging in, or filling out forms.
  • Analytics cookies help us track website analytics by counting visits and traffic sources, allowing us to measure and improve the Website’s performance. These cookies may be set by us or by third-party providers, and they help us determine which pages and videos are the most and least popular and how visitors navigate the Website.
  • Functionality cookies provide enhanced functionality and personalization based on your interactions with the Website. Like Analytics and Performance cookies, these may be set by us or by third-party providers, whose services we have incorporated into our pages.
  • Advertising cookies may be set by our advertising partners, such as Adobe, and they enable those companies to create a profile of your interests and display relevant ads on other websites.

Do Not Track

Do Not Track (“DNT”) is a preference in your browser that you can enable to warn websites you visit that you do not want them to collect certain information about you. Acuity Knowledge Partners does not respond to DNT signals. If you object to Acuity Knowledge Partners’ practice with respect to DNT signals, you may choose not to participate in or use Acuity Knowledge Partners’ services by following the procedure described below.

As part of Acuity Knowledge Partners’s Online Advertising Effectiveness Program, Acuity Knowledge Partners authorizes its contractors, partners or customers to discontinue, deploy or develop third-party technologies to facilitate audience measurement and advertising recall activities. Acuity Knowledge Partners assumes no responsibility for third parties’ compliance with or response to DNT signals.

Protection of Data

Acuity Knowledge Partners has established reasonable organizational and technical measures to protect Personal Data within our organization from loss, misuse, or unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. These measures encompass internal assessments of our data collection, storage, processing practices, and security procedures, involving appropriate encryption and physical safeguards to prevent unauthorized entry into systems containing personal data. All data collected through Acuity Knowledge Partners websites is securely stored in an encrypted database. This database is housed on firewalled servers, with access restricted by passwords and tight limitations. While our security measures are robust, it’s important to acknowledge that no security system is entirely invulnerable. We cannot ensure absolute database security, nor can we guarantee that information transmitted to us over the internet will not be intercepted. Additionally, any details shared in discussion areas can be accessed by individuals with internet connectivity.

International Transfer

Transferring your personal data outside the United Kingdom (UK) and People’s Republic of China (PRC)

Information we hold about you may be transferred to other countries (which may include countries outside the UK, PRC or the European Economic Area (“EEA”)):

  • where Acuity Knowledge Partners do business;
  • which are linked to your engagement with Acuity Knowledge Partners;
  • from which you regularly receive or transmit information; or
  • where Acuity Knowledge Partners third parties conduct their activities.
  • Locations that are contractually agreed with you as an enterprise customer.

These countries may have less strict privacy laws than the UK, PRC, or EEA, which could result in disclosure of your information to regulatory agencies, governmental bodies, or private individuals. When we or our permitted third parties transfer your data outside the UK, PRC, or EEA, we will impose contractual obligations on the recipients of the data to ensure that they protect your personal data to the same standard as required in the UK, PRC, and EEA.

Notice to Residents of the Peoples Republic of China

Your Rights Under the China Personal Information Protection Law (“PIPL”)
Pursuant to the China Personal Information Protection Law (“PIPL”), and subject to certain exceptions and limitations, residents of the Peoples Republic of China can contact us to exercise the rights described below with respect to certain personal information that we hold about them. Relatives of deceased persons about whom we hold personal information may, for their own lawful and legitimate interest, exercise these rights.  To the extent those rights apply to you, they are described below. 

Social Media Accounts: Hubspot will collect information on interaction with social media advertising campaigns. It will capture the history of visits on the Acuitykp website.

Acuity Knowledge Partners may receive Personal Data from social media platforms. For example, if you elect to use your social media credentials to log-in to your Site account, certain Personal Data from your social media account will be shared with us, which may include Personal Data that is part of your social media profile. Additionally, we may be taking third-party services to keep track of users who visited our websites.

Lawful basis for data collection and processing: define the lawfulness of collecting and processing personal data. It should be justified for the purpose it is collected and processed.

We use Personal Data for legitimate business purposes, including the following:

Fulfillment of Requests. Acuity Knowledge Partners may use Personal Data about you to deliver products and services to you and provide you with information about products and services you’ve ordered. We will engage in these activities to manage our contractual relationship with you and/or to comply with a legal obligation.

Other Communications. From time to time, we may use Personal Data about you to inform you of products, programs, services and promotions that we believe may be of interest to you. If your employer is Acuity Knowledge Partners customer, we may also inform you of such products, programs, services and promotions using Personal Data about you that your employer provided to Acuity Knowledge Partners. If you would prefer that we not send electronic marketing messages to you, please see the “Your Choices” section below.

Furthermore, we may process your data or disclose it based on the following legal grounds:

  • Consent: If you have provided us with specific consent to use your personal information for a particular purpose, we may process your data accordingly.
  • Legitimate Interests: We may process your data when it is reasonably necessary to pursue our legitimate business interests.
  • Performance of a Contract: In cases where we have a contractual agreement with you, we may process your personal information to fulfil the terms of that contract.
  • Legal Obligations: We may disclose your information if legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable laws, governmental requests, judicial proceedings, court orders, or legal processes. This includes situations like responding to court orders or subpoenas, including those from public authorities for national security or law enforcement purposes.

Vital Interests: Your information may be disclosed when we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential policy violations, suspected fraud, potential threats to safety, illegal activities, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.

Where can I file a request to access, rectify or remove my data?

We acknowledge and uphold the rights granted to individuals under their respective local Data Protection legislation. If these rights apply to you, you can exercise them regarding the data we have by reaching out to us at the address provided below. These rights encompass:

  • The right to receive information about the processing of your personal data and to understand what data we possess.
  • The right to correct or rectify the information we hold.
  • The right to access your data and exercise data portability rights.
  • The right to have your data erased (the right to be forgotten).
  • The right to withdraw any previously granted consents, such as those for direct marketing communications.
  • The right to opt out of the sale of your data (in accordance with the California Consumer Protection Act of 2018 “CCPA” and Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act “VCDPA”).
  • The right to non-discrimination for exercising your rights.
  • The right to object to or request human intervention in fully automated decisions.
  • The right to file a complaint with a local Privacy and Data Protection Regulatory body.
  • Additionally, there are additional rights outlined below pertaining to the China Personal Information Protection Law (“PIPL”), as described further in this document.

For any inquiries or comments regarding your privacy rights, please do not hesitate to contact us at privacy@acuitykp.com
Contact us

Force Majeure

Force Majeure Events may include, but are not limited to, acts of nature (e.g., earthquakes, floods, storms), government actions or regulations, wars, terrorism, strikes, riots, and other events beyond the control of the company. In the event of a Force Majeure Event that affects the performance of obligations under this policy, we shall promptly notify you of such event and provide details of its expected impact on performance.

Our obligations under this Agreement will be suspended for the duration of the Force Majeure Event, while we will make reasonable efforts to mitigate the impact and resume performance as soon as possible. Despite a Force Majeure Event, we shall take all reasonable measures to ensure the continued protection of your personal data and compliance with applicable data protection laws to the extent possible.

Use of this Site by Minors

This Site is not directed to individuals under the age of eighteen (18), and we request that these individuals do not provide Personal Data through this Site. We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent’s use of the Services. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records.

Privacy Policy revisions

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Revised” date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy policy, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy policy frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

Applicable Privacy Laws

This policy is defined and adopted to the best of our efforts to comply with the privacy laws EU GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA, PIPL, India’s DPDP wherever Acuity operates from.