Last updated: 21 April 2023
AlphaSights Ltd, its subsidiaries and affiliates (“AlphaSights”, “we”, “us”, “our”) respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy & Cookie Policy covers our data collection and processing activities, including:
More information about your rights and how to exercise them is set out in Section 10 below. If you are a California resident please see Section 12.
It is important that you read this Privacy & Cookie Policy together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you, so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This Privacy & Cookie Policy supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.
AlphaSights is responsible for the processing of your personal data as described in this Privacy Policy and acts as the controller of such personal data. The Privacy Policy does not apply to the extent we process personal data in the role of a processor or service provider on behalf of our clients, including where we facilitate the provision of specific output submitted by or derived from experts or clients’ engagements with experts, in each case at our clients’ sole request. In these specific circumstances, our clients act as the controller and each have in place separate privacy and data security practices which will apply. AlphaSights will however, support our clients as necessary to respond to any requests you have in respect of the processing of your personal data.
The contact details of AlphaSights Ltd and our Data Protection Officer are provided in Section 11 below.
This Privacy & Cookie Policy may be updated periodically. We will update the date at the top of this Privacy & Cookie Policy accordingly and encourage you to check for changes to this Privacy & Cookie Policy, which will be available on our website. On some occasions, we may also actively advise you of specific data handling activities or significant changes to this Privacy & Cookie Policy, as required by applicable law.
Our website(s) may include links to or functionality from third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.
“Personal data” means any personally identifiable information belonging to an identifiable natural person, including but not limited to, an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or factors specific to the physical, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person, and for the avoidance of doubt includes the term “personal data” as defined in the GDPR and “personally identifiable information” as defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act.
We may collect, create, use, store and otherwise process different categories of personal data depending on how you use and interact with our products, services and online channels. We have grouped these categories below as follows:
We may collect such categories of personal data either directly from you or from third parties and publicly available sources. The table below sets out which categories of personal information are collected in which circumstances. From time to time, we may ask you to confirm the accuracy of the personal data we process about you.
Circumstance | Categories of Personal Data |
(i) Where you interact with us directly | |
If you are employed by a client of AlphaSights and your information has been shared with us for the purposes of you using our products and services | Identifier Data and Contact Data |
If you use and interact with our products, services and online channels including our website | Technical Data and Usage Data |
If you communicate with us by post, phone, email, surveys or otherwise | Identifier Data, Contact Data, Profile Data, Transaction Data and Marketing and Communications Data |
If you voluntarily submit certain information to us, for example during a call with our employees, by filling out a survey or by uploading information to our platform or one of our approved third party providers | Information you have provided as part of that request including Identifier Data, Contact Data, Profile Data, Identity Data and Finance Data. |
If you sign up to an event or webinar | Identifier Data, Contact Data and Profile Data |
If you request to be paid by AlphaSights | Financial Data |
If you express an interest in obtaining additional information about our products, services or employment opportunities, or otherwise use our “Contact Us” page or similar features | Identifier Data, Contact Data, Profile Data and Marketing and Communications Data |
If you are a supplier, contractor or service provider to AlphaSights (or work for a supplier or service provider) | Identifier Data, Contact Data and Financial Data |
(ii) Where we collect information about you from other sources | |
If we identify you as a potentially relevant expert for a specific client project | Identifier Data, Contact Data, Profile Data and Due Diligence Data |
If we need to conduct any vetting or verification processes in order to contract with you | Due Diligence Data |
If you interact with our products and services | Technical Data from analytics, technology and hosting providers |
We aggregate your Usage Data with the information of other website visitors, experts and clients, creating a dataset of information about the usage of our online channels, our apps, products and services, and other general, grouped information about our user base. It provides a valuable insight into the use of our services and we will share it with select third parties. This dataset is aggregated and anonymised, meaning it cannot directly identify you as an individual and is not considered personal data.
You do not have to provide personal data to access our website. However, we may have a legal obligation to collect and process your personal data, or we may require your personal data in order to provide you with specific products and services, including accessing our Platform.
If you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you and/or the quality of the products and services we provide to you might be affected. In these circumstances, we may cancel a service you receive from us or stop proceeding with a contract we are trying to enter into with you, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
Please note that this does not apply to the collection of biometric data provided by experts for identity verification purposes. The provision of biometric data is voluntary and will not in any way impact our payment obligations to you. However, we may be unable to engage you in any further interactions with AlphaSights without first completing our identity check.
Where we rely on legitimate interests we have carried out a balancing test to ensure:
You can obtain information on any of our balancing tests by contacting us using the details in Section 11 below.
We collect and process your personal data for the following purposes and rely on the following lawful bases:
Where consent is relied on, you have the right to withdraw it at any time by contacting us. See Section 11 for our contact details.
Your personal data may be combined from the different sources identified in Section 2 for the purposes outlined above.
We do not conduct any automated decision-making using your personal data.
Where we need to process special category data, data protection laws require us to meet one of the specific conditions in Article 9 of the GDPR. This includes where your personal data is manifestly made public by you, e.g. on the internet. We will also rely on your prior, explicit consent to process:
Your consent is entirely voluntary and failure to provide consent will not prevent us from fulfilling our contractual obligations to you.
We also use other forms of technology such as web beacons and embedded scripts which serve a similar purpose to cookies and which allow us to monitor and improve our sites and online services. We use these in connection with cookies to help operate our online channels and emails and collect information about online activity. When we talk about cookies in this Privacy & Cookies Policy, this term includes these similar technologies.
We use cookies for the following purposes:
You will be informed when you access any of our online channels if non-essential cookies are present. Non-essential cookies will not be used until you have provided your consent using our Cookie Consent Tool.
Session cookies are used for your current browser session and will expire shortly after you close your browser (subject to compliance requirements). Persistent cookies are used to enhance your experience between website visits and will remain on your computer until you delete them or until they expire. You always have the ability to manually delete cookies.
If you are accessing an online channel where non-essential cookies are present, you can change your cookie preference and withdraw your consent at any time by navigating to the “Cookie Preferences” page.
You may also set your browser to block all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being set, although our services may not function properly if your cookies are disabled. To find out how to control or disable cookies within most browsers, consult the “Help” section of your browser or device or visit www.aboutcookies.org.uk.
Affiliates: AlphaSights is a global business, headquartered in the UK. The personal data collected by us in accordance with this Privacy & Cookie Policy may be used and shared amongst our group companies (acting on behalf of AlphaSights Ltd) to support the effective functioning of the AlphaSights Group business and the provision of its products and services.
Service Providers: When we employ a third-party to perform a function on our behalf, for example to provide software and services that support the operation and delivery of AlphaSights’ business and its products and services, we provide it with the personal data that it needs to perform its specific function. These companies are contractually authorised to use your personal data only as necessary to provide these products or services to us. We use service providers for the purposes of delivering our products and services, managing your accounts, hosting, IT, security, support, billing, surveys, facilitating and recording conference calls, business development, marketing, identity verification services and communications. We also share personal data with our accountants, auditors, lawyers and other outside professional advisors to AlphaSights, subject to binding contractual obligations of confidentiality.
Clients: We share Identifier Data, Contact Data, Due Diligence Data, Profile Data and Transaction Data relating to experts with our clients in connection with a particular project as further described in our Compliance Due Diligence Packs, Access Terms and Terms of Engagement.
Experts: We share Identifier Data relating to our clients with our experts in connection with a particular project as further described in our Compliance Due Diligence Packs and Access Terms.
Legal Requirements: We disclose personal data to government authorities, regulators or other third-parties if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) comply with a subpoena, court order or similar legal obligation; (b) protect and defend our rights or property; (c) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of any website or the public; (d) protect against legal liability; (e) investigate fraud or other unlawful activity; or (f) as otherwise required or permitted by law.
Business Transfers: As we develop our business, we might sell or buy businesses or assets. In the event of a corporate sale, merger, reorganisation, dissolution or similar event, including in bankruptcy, your personal data may be part of the transferred assets. You will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our website of any change in ownership or uses of your personal data, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal data.
Third-Party Partners: with your consent, we may share your personal data (obtained through the use of cookies) with selected third-party partners for the purposes of servicing relevant adverts to you (see Section 5.1 above for more information).
If we transfer your personal data outside of the UK or the EEA (within our Group or to third parties), we ensure that the recipient of your personal data has appropriate safeguards in place to protect your personal data. These are:
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data transmitted to our website; any transmission is at your own risk. You are also responsible for protecting your password, limiting access to your devices and signing out of our online channels after your sessions.
Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available by contacting us using the details in Section 11 below. Any Identity Data processed on AlphaSights’ behalf by our third party provider for the purposes of identity verification checks will be automatically deleted no later than 50 days after collection.
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. These include the right:
To request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
To request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, although we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
To request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us to continue processing it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), or where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
To object to processing of your personal data. This is where we are relying on a legitimate interest to process your personal data and there is something about your particular situation that makes you want to object to that processing. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your personal data that override your objection.
To opt out of direct marketing. You have an absolute right to opt out of direct marketing or profiling we carry out for direct marketing at any time. You can do this by following the instructions in the communication or by contacting us using the details in Section 11 below. Please note that opting out of marketing communications does not opt you out of receiving important business communications related to your current relationship with us, such as communications about your account.
To request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
To request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, with your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to electronically held information which you originally provided to AlphaSights.
To withdraw consent. This occurs at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
All these rights may be limited by relevant exemptions under applicable data privacy laws. We will inform you of any relevant exemptions we rely upon when responding to any request you make.
To exercise your rights, please contact us using the information in Section 11 below. Your personal data may be processed in order for us to respond to your request.
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we can refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to someone who doesn’t have the right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
We are committed to working with you to obtain a fair resolution of any complaint or concern about your privacy. If you have any unresolved concerns, you have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk), or to your local data protection authority.
You have a right to be informed of the categories of personal information listed in the California Consumer Privacy Act that AlphaSights collects about you. These are:
Please see Section 2.1 above for more information on the specific types of personal information we may collect about you.
Please see the following sections above for information on:
You also have the right to receive a copy of the specific personal information we hold about you. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal information.
You can request that AlphaSights deletes your personal information and tells our service providers to do the same, subject to certain exceptions (such as when we are legally required to keep the information).
AlphaSights does not sell your personal information. With your consent, we may share your personal information (in the form of your Usage Data and Technical Data) with third party partners for the purposes of servicing relevant adverts to you on our behalf (see Section 5.1 for more information). If you would like to opt-out of sharing your personal information for the purposes of cross-context behavioural advertising, please update your cookie preferences by navigating to the “Cookie Preferences” page on the website.
You can request that AlphaSights corrects inaccurate information that we have about you. For more information see Section 10.1 above.
You can direct businesses to only use your sensitive personal information for limited purposes, such as providing you with the services you requested. In the limited circumstances where we collect your sensitive personal information, we always limit the use of that information to that which is necessary to provide you with the goods and services requested. We will not use or disclose your sensitive personal information for any other purpose.