.Lens Consulting Ltd Privacy Policy
Last updated: February 2022
Introduction
This notice serves to inform you of the ways in which Lens Consulting Ltd collects and processes your personal data, who provides us with that data, details of any third parties we share that information with, the security measures in place to protect your information, and a summary of your rights under data protection law.
Who are we? How can you contact us?
Lens Consulting Ltd. (company registration 10376323, trading as ‘lens’) is a customer consultancy, working on behalf of client organisations across the UK from a range of industries to engage with consumers (B2C research) and/or businesses/ partner organisations (B2B research). We process your personal data for the purpose of providing qualitative market research and consultancy services to our clients.
We process your personal data in accordance with UK and EU Data Protection laws and have in place suitable physical, electronic, technological, and organisational procedures to safeguard your data. The legal basis for processing your personal data is consent.
You can contact lens by:
Phone – 0113 344 8640
Email – hello@thisislens.co.uk
Post – at our registered office at 59 Westfield Street, Heckmondwike, England, WF16 9FB
lens is registered as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO regulates data protection and privacy matters in the UK. Their website www.ico.org.uk/for-the-public/ has information for consumers.
lens works strictly in accordance with the Market Research Society’s (MRS) Code of Conduct. The MRS website is: www.mrs.org.uk
How is your personal data collected?
Lens Consulting Ltd collects personal data of participants using the following methods:
From our clients - while performing contracts for clients, they may provide us with lists of data relating to businesses/ customers whom they wish to engage in market research
From our sub-processors:
Market research recruitment partners - who have recruited you to take part in projects for our clients
Quantitative market research partners – for whom you have completed quantitative market research exercises, e.g. online/ telephone surveys
Through online/ paper forms or surveys you have completed
Through any online platforms/ apps. you have used to complete market research activities or tasks as part of a market research study
Through emails and text/ instant messages you send to us, or that we send to you
During our conversations with you as part of market research exercises, whether in person/ on the phone/ online (e.g. via Zoom) - we record our conversations with you using both audio and video, if/ where relevant
Through any images or video recordings you send to us as part of a research study
Using information about you from other organisations where you have given consent for them to share information, they have about you with us or, with organisations like us, and where other organisations can lawfully share information on you with us
lens collects personal data of clients and subcontractors/ partners using the following methods:
Through emails and text messages you send to us, or that we send to you
Through forms we ask you to complete, or you ask us to complete
During any meetings with you, which are audio/ video recorded (with your prior consent)
Using information about you from other organisations where you have given consent for them to share information, they have about you with us or, with organisations like us, and where other organisations can lawfully share information on you with us
We also collect certain information whenever you visit our website and/or fill in our contact form (see below – ‘use of this website’ and ‘use of cookies’).
What type of information is collected and processed?
We may collect the following personal data from or about research participants:
Personal data transferred by our sub-processors or clients e.g., your name, postcode, occupation, age, and gender
‘Sensitive’ personal data. Due to the nature of some market research projects we may need to process ‘sensitive’ personal data about you. By this we mean personal data such as your racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, or beliefs of a similar nature, your physical or mental health, trade union membership or sexual life. You would always be told the reason for being asked these questions. Your participation is always optional
Other personal data that we require to fulfil the quotas for some market research projects e.g., whether you have children
The time, date, location, and topic of any market research you participate in
We may collect the following personal data from or about clients and subcontractors:
Personal data required to provide quotes or manage projects such as your name, company email address, contact details and company address
Information collected by our website and associated Google Analytics account may include your IP address, web browser details, the device you are using, and the pages accessed during your visit (‘usage data’). This usage data may be processed for the purposes of analysing the use of the website and services, including performing Geolocation lookups to determine where people are visiting our website from and how they are using it. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, i.e. monitoring and improving our website and services.
We may process information contained in any enquiry you submit to us regarding goods and/or services via our website contact form (‘enquiry data’). The enquiry data may be processed for the purposes of offering, marketing, and selling relevant goods and/or services to you. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business.
How is this data used?
The information that we receive will be treated with the strictest confidence and in accordance with The Market Research Society’s Code of Conduct (more information can be found at: https://www.mrs.org.uk/standards/code_of_conduct/
Information provided by clients/ market research recruitment agencies/ quantitative market research partners will be used to contact you regarding market research participation.
All responses to our research are completely confidential. We collected data in our studies for research purposes only, and our use of that information will be limited to that purpose.
Information collected by our website will be used to improve its effectiveness and, in the case of our contact form, to contact you regarding your enquiry.
We review data retention policies regularly and are legally required to hold some information provided to us to fulfil our legal obligations. We will maintain your information within our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or for as long as set out in any contracts held with our clients.
Where is your data stored?
All personal data is stored in Microsoft's UK data centres via our Microsoft Office 365 environment. Microsoft Office 365 is ISO 27001 certified and is fully compliant with ISO standards and Data Protection Legislation.
Security measures in place to protect your data
Any information provided to us by clients/ research recruitment agencies is uploaded to our online file storage service, which is part of Office 365. All access to Office 365 services is secured using SSL/TLS, and only authorised users and partners have access to the data stored.
Any data that is transferred to staff machines is stored using AES 256-bit encryption, and the encryption keys are kept secure from unauthorised access.
lens also holds the Cyber Essentials certification – Cyber Essentials is a government-backed scheme, which helps organisations to protect themselves against online/ ‘cyber’ security threats. Further details on the scheme can be found on the Government website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cyber-essentials-scheme-overview
Who has access to your information?
We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.
We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.
We may pass some of your information on to third party service providers who assist us in providing our services (our sub-processors), e.g. market research recruitment companies or quantitative market research partners. However, this will only include the information necessary for them to provide their services and we have agreements in place to ensure that their Data Protection policies are in line with our own.
Your rights
You have a right to control how we use any information about you. This includes:
Right to be Informed - you have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data. We do this through this privacy policy. If there is a requirement for any additional data protection information, we will advise you of this when we speak to you
Right of Access – you have the right to access any information we hold about you, this will be provided in an electronic format, unless you specifically request access in person
Right of Rectification – you have the right to correct any inaccuracies in information we hold about you
Right of Erasure – you have the right to be forgotten, and inform us that you no longer wish for us to hold any data about you
Right of Restriction – you have the right to restrict how we process your information
Right of Data Portability – should any information held about you be processed by any automated systems, you have the right to request that we provide you with a copy of this information that can be transferred to another service
More information on your data protection rights can be found on the ICO website www.ico.org.uk/for-the-public/
Further to this, research participation is voluntary, and participants always can decline involvement or to ‘opt out’ of the research after agreeing to participate.
How you can access and update your information
The accuracy of your information is very important to us. Should any of your details change, or you discover that any information we hold is inaccurate, please contact us at our registered office address or by e-mail at: hello@thisislens.co.uk
You have a right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you. Under most circumstances, requesting this information is free of charge. However, we may charge a fee of up to £10 if your request requires a significant amount of work, or you have made repeated requests for the same information.
Should a charge be necessary, this will be communicated to you when acknowledging your request.
Using this website
Every user who visits this site does so at their own risk. We offer no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of the information on this site and assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions in the contents of the site. Additionally, we cannot be held responsible for the presence or absence of computer viruses or other bugs which third parties may embed in or attach to this site without our knowledge or consent. No parties, including lens, who are involved in the creation, production or delivery of this site, or whose materials or information appear in this site assumes or accepts any liability for any costs, losses, damages arising out of the user’s access to our site or with the unavailability or failure of performance of this site for any reason.
Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy notice applies only to our website, so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies of other sites (even if you access them using links found on our site).
Use of ‘cookies’
Like many websites, the lens website uses cookies. ‘Cookies’ are small pieces of information sent by an organisation to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow the website to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual.
It is possible to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences. For more information on how to switch off cookies on your computer, visit: https://www.aboutcookies.org
How to make a complaint
If you are not happy with our privacy policy or if you have any complaint, then you can contact our nominated Data Protection Officer, Helen Fennell, at: hello@thisislens.co.uk
If a dispute is not settled, then we hope you will agree to attempt to resolve it by engaging in good faith with us in a process of mediation or arbitration.
However, if you are in any way dissatisfied about how we process your personal information, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This can be done at: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to talk to you about your concern before you approach the ICO.
Changes to our Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time by posting an amended version of the statement on this website. Please refer to this policy regularly. If you continue to provide us with information or use our services after we’ve changed our policy, we’ll take it that you accept the changes.