This privacy notice aims to give you information on how Acorn Consulting (“we,” “us,” or “our”) collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website or when you use our services. We’re committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy in line with applicable data protection regulations (including POPIA).

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users. Section 8 of this privacy notice explains how we use cookies.

Our website is not intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect data relating to minors.

It’s important you read this privacy notice 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. This privacy notice supplements those other notices and is not intended to override them.

Any changes we make to this privacy notice in the future will be posted on this page. Please check back frequently for any updates.

Data Controller

Acorn Consulting, at 17 St Heliers Steps, Muizenberg, 7945, South Africa, is the data controller and responsible for your personal data (“we,” “us,” or “our” in this privacy notice).

Third Party Links

This website may include links to 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.

Information We Collect

Personal information means any information about an individual (or, where applicable, a juristic person) from which that individual or entity can be identified, in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). It does not include data where the identity has been removed (“anonymous data”).

We may collect, use, store, and transfer the following personal information about you:

1. Information You Give Us: This is information about you that you provide by filling in forms on our website, completing a questionnaire, or corresponding with us by phone, e-mail, or otherwise. It includes information you provide when you purchase our services, when you report a problem with our site, and when you give us feedback.

   • The personal information you give us may include your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, social media login details, and any other information you provide to enable us to deliver services to you.

2. Information We Collect About You: For each of your visits to our site, we may automatically collect the following information:

   • Technical details (e.g., IP address, browser type and version, time zone setting, operating system).
   • Information about your visit (e.g., the full URLs you click through, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, and page interaction information).

3. Information We Receive from Other Sources: We may receive personal information about you from various third parties, for example, business partners, sub-contractors in technical, payment and delivery services, analytics providers, and search information providers.

4. No Special Personal Information: We do not collect any Special Personal Information (as defined under POPIA) about you (e.g., race, religious or philosophical beliefs, political opinions, health data). We also do not collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

Required Data
Where we need to collect personal information by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide services). We will inform you at the time if withholding your data will affect our ability to provide services.

How We Use Your Information

We only use the information we collect for the specific purposes it was collected, such as:

• Provide and manage the services you request.
• Respond to your enquiries and communicate with you.
• Comply with legal obligations and protect our legitimate interests (for example, to prevent fraud).
• Improve our website, services, and user experience.

(As of now, we are not sending out marketing communications. If this changes, we’ll update the policy and ask for your explicit consent.)

Legal Basis for Processing (Under POPIA)

We only process personal information where at least one of the following applies:

• Consent: You have given explicit consent for a specific purpose.
• Performance of a Contract: It is necessary to process your data for the performance of a contract.
• Legal Obligation: We are required to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
• Legitimate Interests: It is in our (or a third party’s) legitimate interests to do so, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

Sharing Your Information

We do not sell or rent your personal information. We may share personal information with:

• Service Providers: Such as IT service companies or payment processors, who assist us in running our business.
• Legal or Regulatory Authorities: If required by law or if disclosure is necessary to protect our rights or comply with judicial proceedings.

Data Retention

We will only retain your personal information for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this notice, or as required by law. Where applicable, we may keep records to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, or enforce our agreements.

Cookies & Tracking Technologies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

We use the following cookies:

• Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.
• Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
• Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you and remember your preferences.
  

How do we use cookies?

GOOGLE ANALYTICS 

This is a web analytics service provided by Google Inc which uses cookies to show us how visitors found and explored our site, and how we can enhance their experience. It provides us with information about the behaviour of our visitors (for example, how long they stayed on the site, the average number of pages viewed) and also tells us how many visitors we have had.

Further information is available at: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookie-usage

Security Measures

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, use, or disclosure. However, no method of online transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Where our use of cookies involves the processing of personal data, such personal data will be processed by us in accordance with this policy.

In most cases we will need your consent in order to use cookies on this website. The exception is where the cookies are essential in order for us to provide you with a service you have requested or to enable you to access and use our website.

Managing cookies

You can restrict, block or delete the cookies which are set by any websites by changing your internet browser settings.

However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our website.

If you delete cookies relating to this website we will not remember things about you, including your cookie preferences, and you will be treated as a first-time visitor next time you visit the site.

Third-Party Links

Our website may include links to external websites, plug-ins, or 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.