We, the SoftGuide GmbH & Co. KG, take protection of your personal data very seriously and strictly adhere to the rules laid out by data protection laws.
The following policy provides an overview of how we ensure this protection and what kind of data is collected for what purpose.
Name and Address of the controller
SoftGuide Gesellschaft für digitale Dokumentation mbH & Co. KG
Am Gänsekamp 10
D-38446 Wolfsburg
Germany
Geschäftsführer Uwe Annuß, Dipl.-Kfm.
Telefon: +49 (0)5363 / 8094-0
Fax: +49 (0)5363 / 8094-11
Internet: www.softguide.de, www.it-dienstleister-guide.de, www.softguide.com, www.sgupdate.com
E-Mail: info@softguide.de
We collect personal data on a voluntary basis, if you browse our web pages, use our query or order service, submit a search order, if we help you with our service software evaluation, or if you contact a software provider via our web pages.
We require specific information in order to be able to execute or forward your information or download requirements or orders.
Personal data is information that can be used to discover your personal identity. This includes information such as company, first name, name, address, telephone, fax, e-mail, usage data, contract data, payment data and content data. No special categories of data are processed according to Art. 9 (1) GDPR.
1. Definitions
The terms used, such as personal data, processing, processors etc., correspond to the definitions of Article 4, GDPR.- "personal data" means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person ("data subject"); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;
- "processing" means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction;
- "restriction of processing" means the marking of stored personal data with the aim of limiting their processing in the future;
- "profiling" means any form of automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning that natural person's performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements;
- "pseudonymisation" means the processing of personal data in such a manner that the personal data can no longer be attributed to a specific data subject without the use of additional information, provided that such additional information is kept separately and is subject to technical and organisational measures to ensure that the personal data are not attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person;
- "filing system" means any structured set of personal data which are accessible according to specific criteria, whether centralised, decentralised or dispersed on a functional or geographical basis;
- "controller" means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data; where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by Union or Member State law, the controller or the specific criteria for its nomination may be provided for by Union or Member State law;
- "processor" means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller;
- "recipient" means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or another body, to which the personal data are disclosed, whether a third party or not. 2However, public authorities which may receive personal data in the framework of a particular inquiry in accordance with Union or Member State law shall not be regarded as recipients; the processing of those data by those public authorities shall be in compliance with the applicable data protection rules according to the purposes of the processing;
- "third party" means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or body other than the data subject, controller, processor and persons who, under the direct authority of the controller or processor, are authorised to process personal data;
- "consent" of the data subject means any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject's wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her;
- A "Announcer" is a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other entity that has engaged us to research a software or IT service provider.
The processing of personal data of the users takes place in the sense of the data protection regulations and on legal basis of the articles 6 GDPR and article 7 GDPR.
This means that the user data are processed only in the presence of a legal license, in particular for the provision of our pre-contractual and contractual services, the existence of consent or due to our legitimate interests (ie analysis, optimization, operation and security of our online service within the meaning of article 6 Paragraph 1 letter f GDPR).
2. Links
Our websites may provide links to other third-party websites which are outside our control and not covered by this policy. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of those sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies posted on these sites.
3. Cookies
A cookie is a small piece of information that is placed on your computer when you visit certain websites.
By accessing our pages they are transmitted from our web servers to the browser of the user and stored there for later retrieval. These cookies do not cause any damage to the computer of the user. As part of this website, we use technically necessary cookies such as session cookies and cookies for LogIns. The data collected here are solely for the functionality of the website operated by us and will not be passed on to third parties. The lawfulness of this processing is apparent from Article 6 (1) (b) and (f) GDPR.
If you do not want to have cookies stored on your computer, we ask you to disable the corresponding option in your browser settings. However, disabling cookies may affects your ability to use certain parts of our website, applications or services. Already accepted cookies can be deleted at any time via your browser.
4. Acces Data and Server-Log-Files
Based on our legitimate interest within the meaning of Article 6 paragraph 1 letter f DSGVO, we automatically collect information about every access to our servers. This information may include your Internet Protocol (IP) address (or the proxy server you use to access the World Wide Web), device and application identification numbers, your location, your browser type, your Internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, the pages and files you viewed, your searches, your operating system and system configuration information, and date/time stamps associated with your usage. Due to Internet communications standards, when you visit or use the SoftGuide Websites and Services, we automatically receive the URL of the website from which you came and the website to which you go when you leave our Website. This information is used to analyze overall trends, to help us improve our Websites and Services, to track and aggregate non-personal information, and to provide the Websites and Services.
The duration of storage is limited. Data that is no longer needed will be deleted.
For security reasons, server log files are stored for a maximum of 365 days and then deleted. In the case of investigation of fraud or abuse, the data will be kept for evidence as long as necessary. Errorlogs are deleted after 35 days.
5. Data collection, storage and processing
You can access the SoftGuide website and receive information without having to enter any personal information. We collect personal information only with your knowledge and for your benefit when entering forms for download requests, contact requests or orders.
In order to be able to forward requests, download requests or orders to the respective provider, we ask for your name, company name, address, e-mail address and, if applicable, the background of your request.
This allows us to forward your inquiry or order (exclusively) to the relevant provider. If we have problems with the processing of your inquiry / order, we will contact you with the help of this information.
Apart from these data, when you access our server, data is automatically transmitted by our server and your browser, recorded and saved for backup purposes.
These may allow identification (such as the IP address from which you access our website, the IP address of the website from which you have been transferred to our service, your browser type, date and time). There is no personal exploitation. We reserve the right to anonymize data and to provide statistical evaluations that do not allow anyone to identify them.
Your request or your specified data will only be forwarded to the respective provider as requested. There will be no transfer of your data to other companies or advertisers!
6. Amazon affiliate program
Based on our legitimate interest (ie interest in the economic operation of our online offer within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) we offer our suppliers the opportunity to participate in the Affiliate Program of Amazon EU, by means of which the placement of advertisements and links to Amazon.de can earn advertising costs (so-called affiliate system). Amazon uses a cookie to understand the origin of the orders. Among other things, Amazon can recognize that you have clicked on such a partner link on our website and then purchased a product on Amazon.
Additional information and Amazon's privacy policy can be found at https://www.amazon.de/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=3312401.
7.Analysis Tools and Advertising
Matomo
This website uses the open-source web analytics service Matomo. With the help of Matomo, we can collect and analyze data about the use of our website by visitors. This allows us, among other things, to determine when specific page views were made and from which region they originate. Additionally, we store various log files (e.g., IP address, referrer, browsers and operating systems used) and can measure whether our website visitors perform certain actions (e.g., clicks, purchases, etc.).
The use of this analysis tool is based on Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing user behavior to optimize both its web offering and its advertising. If appropriate consent has been obtained, processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR and § 25(1) of the TTDSG (German Telecommunications Data Protection Act), insofar as the consent includes the storage of cookies or access to information on the user's device (e.g., device fingerprinting) within the meaning of the TTDSG. Consent can be withdrawn at any time.
IP AnonymizationWhen analyzing with Matomo, we use IP anonymization. This means that your IP address is shortened before analysis, making it no longer uniquely identifiable to you.
Cookieless AnalysisWe have configured Matomo not to store cookies in your browser.
HostingWe host Matomo exclusively on our own servers, ensuring that all analysis data remains with us and is not shared.
You have the option to prevent actions you take here from being analyzed and linked. This will protect your privacy but will also prevent the owner from learning from your actions and improving usability for you and other users.
8. Security Measures
We have established technologies and safety rules, policies and measures to protect your personal information that is under our control. These protect against unauthorized access, use, modification, unlawful or accidental loss. Our servers use various security mechanisms and authorization procedures to make unauthorized access more difficult.
One of these security measures is the encrypted SSL transmission of data between your browser and our servers. An encrypted connection can be recognized by the lock symbol in your browser line. If this SSL encryption is enabled, the data you send us can not be read by third parties.
We use a verified SSL certificate for this. Here, the domain validation is checked so that it is ensured that the holder of the certificate also agrees with the domain operator.
In the certificate itself, you can recognize this by the verified domain name, in this case SoftGuide.
We store your information on protected servers in Germany. All persons employed in the enterprise, who have access to the personal customer data, are obligated to completely confidential treatment of this data and their use.
You should bear in mind that submission of information over the Internet is never entirely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of information you submit via the Services whilst it is in transit over the Internet and any such submission is at your own risk, and this risk is specifically disclaimed in our Terms.
If you are a Logged-in User, it is advisable that you log out of your account at the end of every session and not leave a logged-in account unattended for any period of time, particularly if you use a shared computer or device.
9. Data transfer
We pass on the data from the inquiry and order forms exclusively to the provider for whose product entered in SoftGuide the request or order is to be made. The use of the data transmitted by us to the provider is the responsibility of the respective provider.
We transmit user data only if this is e.g. Pursuant to Article 6 (1) (b) of the GDPR, it is required for contractual purposes or, on the basis of legitimate interests, pursuant to Article 6 (1) (f) of the GDPR, in the economic and effective operation of our business.
Search request
The data entered during a search request by the user (announcer) will be anonymized by us prior to publication of the request on our website. This not only concerns the personal data, but also e.g. Data in specifications that relate to legal persons or sole proprietorships and that could allow conclusions to be drawn to the announcer.
As part of the search request, suitable providers are determined by us. We determine neutral and unbiased according to the software solutions available on the market. The collected data will only be passed on to vendors, which in our opinion fit.
We do not receive a commission in case of a business deal. Should we nevertheless have a commission agreement with a provider, we inform the user about this in the project documentation.
The use of the collected data of a announcer is documented in a project documentation for the announcer in a detailed and transparent manner.
We will not disclose your information to third parties unless we are required by law to transmit data if it is necessary for the general prosecution of criminal offenses or to investigate the misuse of our service. In such cases, personal data will be forwarded to the law enforcement authorities and, if applicable, to third parties who have been harmed. This also applies if the user relationship has already ended. However, a prerequisite for disclosure is that we have well-founded and documented evidence of abuse of our service.
Insofar as content, tools or other means from other providers (hereinafter referred to as third-party providers) are used in the context of this privacy policy and the registered office is located in a third country, it is to be assumed that data will be transferred to the states of residence of the third-party provider. Third countries are countries in which the GDPR is not a directly applicable law, i. E. Countries outside the EU or the European Economic Area. The transfer of data to third countries occurs either when the user has given their consent, an adequate level of data protection or other legal authorization applies.
10. Provision of contractual services
We process contract data (e.g., services used, names of contact persons and payment information) and inventory data (e.g., name, address and contact details of users for the purpose of fulfilling our contractual obligations and services in accordance with Article 6 (1) (b) GDPR.
For customers (providers) a customer account is created. Via the customer account, the respective customer manages his program entry / program entries, the company profile, the invoice overview, the registration for the customer-internal newsletter and he has access to various modules such as e.g. the posting of press releases, tenders, banner advertising opportunities. These customer accounts are not public and can not be indexed by search engines. After termination, all stored data with regard to the customer account will be deleted. Excluded are the data whose retention is necessary for commercial or tax law reasons. It is the responsibility of the customer to secure their data upon termination prior to the end of the contract.
The registration for the customer-internal newsletter takes place via a so-called double-opt-in procedure. Your consent to the storage of the data, the e-mail address and their use for sending the newsletter can be revoked at any time. The revocation can be made via a link in the newsletters themselves, in your profile area or by notification to the above contact options.
11. Newsletter
Our newsletter can only be subscribed to by registered customers. We use the e-mail address you entered and check that you are the owner of the e-mail address provided and that you agree to receive the newsletter. The consent given may be revoked at any time, e.g. via the "unsubscribe" link in the newsletter. We do not share this information with third parties.
12. Rights of users and deletion of data
The user has the right, upon request, to obtain free information about the personal data that SoftGuide has stored about him/her. In addition, the user has the right to correct inaccurate data, limit the processing and deletion of his personal data, as far as there is no legal duty to protect.
The data stored by SoftGuide will be deleted as soon as they are no longer required for their intended purpose and the deletion does not conflict with statutory retention periods. If, for commercial or tax reasons, the data can not be deleted, they will be blocked and not processed for other purposes.
13. Integration of other services and content of third parties
It may happen that content from third parties, such as videos from YouTube, maps from Google Maps, RSS feeds or graphics from other websites are included in this online offer. This always presupposes that the providers of this content (hereinafter referred to as "third party provider") perceive the IP address of the users. Because without the IP address, they could not send the content to the browser of each user. The IP address is therefore required for the presentation of this content.
We endeavor to use only content whose respective providers use the IP address solely for the delivery of the content. However, we do not have any influence on this if the third parties provide the IP address e.g. save for statistical purposes. As far as we know, we will inform users about it.
14. Data protection in applications and in the application process
SoftGuide collects and processes the personal data of applicants for the purpose of processing the application process. The processing can also be done electronically. This is the case if an applicant submits corresponding application documents via e-mail to SoftGuide. If there is a contract of employment with an applicant at SoftGuide, the transmitted data will be stored for the purpose of the employment relationship in compliance with legal requirements. If no contract of employment is concluded, the application documents will be automatically deleted two months after notification of the rejection decision, provided that deletion does not conflict with any other legitimate interests of the controller. Other legitimate interest in this sense, for example, a burden of proof in a procedure under the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG).
15. Right to object
Users can of course object to the future processing of their personal data in accordance with legal requirements at any time. The objection may in particular be made against processing for direct marketing purposes.
16. Changes to the privacy policy
The rapid development of the internet makes it necessary to amend this policy from time to time. We reserve the right to adapt this privacy policy to changed legal situations or to changes in the service and data processing. We ask you to inform yourself regularly about the content of this privacy policy. If your consent is required by law or regulations of the contractual relationship, the changes are made only with the consent of the user.
For questions, inspirations or comments to our privacy policy get in contact with our company via info@softguide.de.
Published: October 2023