Privacy Policy

INTRODUCTION 

APQC recognizes that your privacy and the protection of your personal data are important to you

General information

  • We have developed this Privacy Policy to help you understand the types of personal data we collect and how and why we use your personal data in connection with APQC’s products and services 
  • This Policy applies to all APQC products and services, including APQC’s Online Resources (available through the APQC website), as well as our conferences, online events, social media, and other initiatives 
  • Your continued use of APQC’s Online Resources or participation in an event constitutes your acceptance of this Policy 
  • Your use of APQC’s Online Resources is also subject to our Terms of Service and applicable law
  • For questions regarding this Policy, or to exercise any of your data subject rights, please contact us at [email protected] or by calling +1-713-681-4020 

YOUR RIGHTS  

Subject to certain limitations and exceptions as required or allowed by law, as a data subject, you have important rights regarding your personal data
 
Your fundamental rights 

  • Know what data is collected about you and for what purpose and to be informed about your data rights 
  • Access your data 
  • Correct your data 
  • Withdraw your consent to the processing of your data 
  • Restrict the processing of your data 
  • Object to automated processing 
  • Request a list of our subprocessors
  • Take your data with you
  • Be forgotten 

Additional rights

  • APQC provides its products and services in accordance with applicable law, which varies by jurisdiction and may change from time to time 
  • You may have additional rights as a data subject under applicable law that are not outlined in this Policy 
  • In all instances, APQC will honor the rights of all persons as required by law 

How to update your personal data 

  • You may request changes to your personal data by emailing us at [email protected] or by calling +1-713-681-4020 
  • You can always add, update, or make other changes to your APQC website profile by visiting the profile section after logging into your account 
  • To update your communication preferences and/or opt out of solicitation emails from APQC at any time, please visit this page 

How to exercise your other rights  

  • All inquiries about this Policy or your rights as a data subject should be submitted by email to [email protected] or you may call +1-713-681-4020

INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU 

When you register for or use our Online Resources we collect and process your 

  • Contact information, including your name, job title, address, organization name, email, phone number, username, and other contact data 
  • IP address 
  • Location 
  • Computer or mobile device identifiers 
  • Information about your web browser 
  • Payment card information (if provided) 

While you participate in a virtual or in-person event we collect and process

  • Information you provide during registration (online and in person), such as your name, email address, profile photo, job title, address, organization name, professional interests, any requested accommodations, and payment card information 
  • Your username and password, screen name, IP address, and profile picture or other likeness, which are associated with your personal data 
  • Information you provide during the event 
  • While using the APQC Events app, your mobile device identifiers such as the IMEI and UDID numbers of your device, as well as any information you upload through the app 

When you interact with our social media or post publicly we collect and process

  • Your publicly available social media profile data, such as your name, username, photo, location, occupation, and interests 
  • Your public posts and comments 

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA 

To create your APQC account and to control access to our Online Resources 

  • Your contact information (such as your name, email, and organization name) is used to create and administer your APQC account 
  • Your login information is used to determine which of APQC’s Online Resources you are authorized to access and to prevent unauthorized access 
  • We use your personal data to customize your online experience to bring you the information we believe is most relevant to you and to help you get the full benefits of our products and services
  • To communicate with you and facilitate your communications with others 
  • We use your contact information to send you a series of welcome emails when you first register for an APQC account and to respond to customer service inquiries from you 
  • We also send periodic administrative emails regarding your account, which are essential to the provision of our services and cannot be unsubscribed 
  • We occasionally send marketing emails regarding upcoming events, such as conferences and webinars, as well as information about our other products and services that we think may interest you, but you may opt out at any time 
  • We monitor social media content to manage relations with our members and promote our business and brand 
  • If you opt-in to the peer-to-peer service, others will be able to locate you by name, industry, organization affiliation, country, or primary area of interest 

To provide your organization usage reports of our Online Resources 

  • As part of your organization’s valued member package, APQC may report user activity statistics about the users registered through your organization 
  • We prepare these reports to help our member organizations understand how their personnel use our products and services. These reports include personally identifiable information 

To support your participation in real or virtual events 

  • Your name and other identifying information are used to confirm your registration to attend the event 
  • We use other information you provide during registration to tailor your experience to your interests   
  • In connection with the APQC Events app, and If enabled by you, your name and email address are exchanged with other registered attendees of the event who have also enabled in-app chat

To develop new products and services 

  • Understanding our users, their preferences, and their interests helps us develop new products and services and improve the user experience 
  • We regularly monitor usage data, logins, page activity, database queries, and other usage statistics to better understand how our members use our Online Resources

To market our products and services to you 

  • We use a variety of technologies to track your utilization of our products and services to determine which of our products and services may be of interest to you 
  • During the term of your organization’s APQC’s membership, new or different products and services may be available to you. Your personal information may be used to ensure you receive the full benefits of your organization’s APQC membership 
  • We may engage third party tracking and advertising providers (such as Google, Marketo, Feathr, and others) to help us understand how you use our Online Resources and to improve the relevance and timeliness of our advertising 

To provide user support 

  • Some of the information we collect about you helps us support your use of our Online Resources 
  • APQC occasionally hires other companies to provide limited services on our behalf, such as answering customer support inquiries or performing statistical analyses of our services 
  • APQC will only provide those companies the information they need to deliver the services subject to industry-standard confidentiality and data protection requirements

To process survey responses 

  • If you complete a survey, your responses are internally associated with your personal data 
  • We use your personal data to assist us in validating your survey responses 
  • Once validated, your responses may be made available in an anonymous and aggregated format to other users of our Open Standards Benchmarking Database 
  • We will never publicly associate you with your survey responses unless you give us explicit written permission to do so 

To maintain the security and integrity of our systems or as required by law 

  • In addition to login information, we monitor access to and use of our systems to prevent or respond to potential security breaches 
  • From time to time, we perform security audits to investigate whether any part of our systems may have been improperly accessed 
  • Where required by law, we may report user activity to law enforcement or in response to a civil process request 

LIMITS TO HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA 

The use of your personal data is limited  

We do NOT 

  • Sell, rent, or market your personally identifiable information to third parties, EXCEPT when you explicitly opt in to share your information with specific third parties 
  • Allow third parties to use or access your personal information for any reason other than to assist us in providing, developing, marketing, maintaining, improving, and securing our products and services 
  • Sell or market any products and services to you that are not germane to APQC’s non-profit mission

Who has access to your personal information 

Limited Access 

  • Your personal information can only be accessed by you, certain individuals within your member organization, APQC staff as needed, and certain third-party vendors who supply services to APQC subject to industry-standard confidentiality and data protection requirements 
  • If you attend an APQC online event (such as a roundtable or webinar) and consent to being recorded, we may share the recording with a third-party transcription service for manual or automated processing 

How we protect your personal data against unauthorized access
 
Sensitive information is encrypted 

  • Although your interaction with our Online Resources may not always be through a secure connection, we always use 256-bit encryption whenever you 
    • Register for our Online Resources 
    • Log in with your email and password 
    • Enter your credit card or other payment information 

Where your personal information is stored

Your personal data is stored in the US 

  • Our principal business office is in Houston, Texas, USA  
  • We process your personal data at our office in Houston and at data centers located in Texas and other parts of the United States 
  • Most of our Online Resources and business systems are supported by third-party providers with whom we have contracted for services (e.g., Microsoft 365, Amazon Web Services). Accordingly, in addition to APQC’s own systems, your data may be processed on servers owned and operated by these third parties subject to strict contractual limitations 
  • We take steps to ensure that our third-party service providers adhere to industry-standard confidentiality, information security, and privacy protection protocols 

OTHER INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT FROM YOU

Demographic and technical information
 
User technical data 

  • We gather technical information about you and your use of our Online Resources to provide you with a personalized user experience and to ensure the proper operation of our Online Resources. This technical information does not include the personal information that you provide as part of your registration, but nevertheless may be personally identifiable depending upon how, when, and from where you access our Online Resources 
  • Session identifying information to ensure your user sessions are uninterrupted and to assist your navigation of the APQC Website 
  • During some visits we may use software tools to measure and collect session information, including page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page 

COOKIES AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES 

What are cookies 

  • A cookie is a small text file which includes a unique identifier that is sent by a web server to the browser on your computer, mobile phone, or any other internet enabled device when you visit a website 
  • Cookies and similar technologies are widely used to make websites work efficiently and to collect information about your online preferences and for advertising purposes
  • How we use cookies 
    • We use cookies and other tracking technologies to customize content and marketing and to see how our visitors move through our website 
    • We use this information to make decisions about ways to improve the products and services we offer you 
  • For more information or to make or change your cookies preferences, please visit our Cookie Policy 

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY 

APQC will occasionally update this Policy to reflect changes in our products and services and the technical operation of our systems, and to comply with applicable laws and regulations. When we do, we will also revise the "last updated" date at the bottom of this statement. 

Questions regarding this Policy should be directed to [email protected] or by calling +1-713-681-4020 

 

Last updated August 2023