Privacy Policy

Effective Date: August 1, 2023

Quasar and its affiliates (collectively referred to as "Quasar," "us," or "we") recognize the paramount importance of safeguarding your privacy. We are dedicated to respecting your privacy and protecting your personal data, which encompasses any information capable of identifying you as an individual. This Privacy Policy outlines how we handle and safeguard your personal data in connection with Quasar's business activities, encompassing consulting services and client interactions, as well as on websites, applications, and communications hosting a link to this Privacy Policy (collectively known as "the Sites"). We function as data controllers in this capacity. For further details about our online terms and policies in general, please refer to our Terms of Use.

Information We Gather

During its business activities, including consulting services for clients, Quasar collects personal data. Additionally, on specific sections of the Sites, we gather personal data when you register for Quasar newsletters and alerts, sign up for conferences and events, and/or participate in public user posting areas (such as bulletin boards, discussion forums, and surveys). The personal data we collect may include the information you provide, such as your name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, and background details.

Moreover, we may automatically collect information concerning the devices you use to interact with our Sites. This information may encompass your IP address, device identifier, web browser, and browsing data obtained through technologies like cookies, web beacons, pixels, clear gifs, and other similar technologies (collectively known as "Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies"). We may also automatically gather data regarding your activities on the Sites, such as your searches and viewed content. The automatically collected information may be linked to a unique identifier, alongside any other personal data you have provided.

Furthermore, Quasar may obtain personal data about you from third parties, such as data brokers or aggregators, during its business activities, including consulting services for clients. This could include demographic, professional, and publicly available online information, including data you choose to make public through social media platforms and other public online forums. We may combine this data with the existing information we hold about you or use it independently for benchmarking and data analytics purposes (e.g., analyzing consulting practices across industry, detecting fraud patterns in financial transactions, and monitoring foot traffic in retail environments). We will always ensure that the third party has provided transparent information regarding its use of this data, including disclosure to third parties like Quasar, in compliance with applicable law.

Use of Information

To fulfill your requests for information, process your requests to participate in conferences and events, personalize the content you view or receive on the Sites, evaluate and enhance our services, distribute newsletters and alerts to you, analyze the performance and functionality of the Sites, prevent fraud, enforce our terms of use, comply with all relevant laws and corporate reporting obligations, enforce Quasar's agreements, and fulfill other purposes you initiate or request, Quasar uses your personal data. In some instances, the collection of personal data may be necessary for the operation of the Sites, or we may utilize it during our business activities, including consulting services, to provide certain services or products, such as our benchmarking products. We may also combine and/or analyze personal data to offer content and services most relevant to you. We may retain your personal data on file and use it to contact you.

To manage our Sites and services and collect analytics about your usage, Quasar and its service providers may use first and third-party Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies, including web beacons. We may also collect information on whether you open or click any links in the knowledge, research, or event communications we send to you. The information presented in this Privacy Policy regarding cookies also applies to these other tracking technologies.

Our Sites do not track you by collecting personal data about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or online services. Consequently, we do not alter our data collection and use practices based on "do not track" signals transmitted from web browsers.

Legal Basis for Processing Your Personal Data

The processing of your personal data for the aforementioned purposes is based on the following:

- Partly, on our legitimate interests in promoting and protecting Quasar, establishing and maintaining relationships, and providing our services.

- Partly, on your consent, for example, if you create a user profile or register for our newsletters or alerts, or for business purposes supporting web operations, such as enhancing the quality of your experience on our websites.

- Partly, to comply with the law when certain information is necessary to fulfill our legal or regulatory obligations.

Disclosure of Personal Data: Data Recipients and International Data Transfers

From time to time, personal data collected during Quasar's business activities, including in connection with consulting services for clients, as well as on the Sites, may be transferred to Quasar affiliates and their personnel throughout our organization, as well as to our third-party service providers, including in countries where local law may afford you fewer rights than those in your own country. Additionally, the Sites may be accessed and hosted by Quasar and our third-party service providers anywhere worldwide. By using any of the Sites and providing information on any of them, you voluntarily consent to such trans-border transfer and hosting of your information.

Quasar will not intentionally disclose or transfer (and will take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorized or accidental disclosure of) your personal data to third parties without your consent or as otherwise permitted by law, for their own marketing purposes or otherwise, except as described below. Quasar may grant access to your personal data to third-party service providers engaged by Quasar to offer services related to the Sites, as well as to Quasar's business activities, including in connection with consulting services for clients, in accordance with the terms agreed upon in our client services agreements. We maintain processes to ensure that any processing of personal data by third-party service providers adheres to this Privacy Policy and safeguards the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of your personal data.

We may also share your personal data with third-party service providers who perform services and functions on our behalf to support our interactions with you, including, for instance, administering surveys or contests or communicating with you.

Additionally, we may disclose information about you:

- If required by law or legal process.

- To law enforcement authorities or other government officials.

- When disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss or in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity.

- If disclosure is necessary to protect the vital interests of a person.

- To enforce our Terms of Use.

- To protect our property, services, and legal rights.

- To prevent fraud against Quasar, our affiliates, and/or business partners.

- To support auditing, compliance, and corporate governance functions.

- To comply with any and all applicable laws.

User Forums

Please be aware that whenever you publicly disclose information online, others may collect and use that information. Quasar bears no responsibility for the actions or policies of any third parties who collect information disclosed by users in any such forums on the Sites.

Links to Third-Party Sites

As a service to our users, Quasar may provide links to third-party websites or information. Clicking on these links will take you away from the Sites. Please note that these links do not indicate or imply an endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation by Quasar of the third party, the third-party website, or the information found there. Quasar shall not be responsible or liable for your use of these links, which will be subject to the terms of use and privacy policies applicable to those sites.

Security

To safeguard personal data from loss, misuse, alteration, or destruction, Quasar has implemented widely accepted technology and operational security standards. Only authorized Quasar personnel and third-party service providers are granted access to personal data, and these employees and service providers are required to treat such information as confidential. Despite these precautions, Quasar cannot guarantee that unauthorized individuals will not gain access to your personal data.

Data Retention

Quasar retains personal data as necessary for the duration of the relevant business relationship.

We may also retain personal data for longer than the duration of the business relationship when necessary to protect ourselves against legal claims, for analysis or historical record-keeping purposes, or to comply with our information management policies and schedules. If you request that we delete your personal data, Quasar will make reasonable efforts to delete all instances of the information entirely. For requests concerning access, corrections, or deletions, please refer to the "Your Rights" section of this Privacy Policy.

Children

The Sites are not designed for or directed at children 16 years of age or younger, and Quasar does not intentionally collect or retain personal data about anyone under this age.

Your Rights

If permitted by applicable law, you may have the right to request access to the personal data we have collected about you for reviewing, modifying, or requesting the deletion of such data. You may also have the right to request a copy of your personal data and to have any inaccuracies in that data corrected. In certain situations, you may request that we cease processing your personal data.

If you wish to make a request to access, review, or correct your personal data, or to discuss how we process your personal data, please contact us at info@yourquasar.com. To protect your privacy and security, we will take reasonable measures to verify your identity, such as requiring a password and user ID, before granting access to your personal data. We will endeavor to promptly investigate, comply with, or otherwise respond to your requests as required by applicable law. Different laws may prevent us from providing access to your personal data or fully complying with your request, depending on the circumstances and the request—for example, where producing your information may disclose the identity of another person. We reserve the right to charge an appropriate fee for complying with your request if allowed by applicable law and/or deny your requests if they are manifestly unfounded, excessive, objectionable, or unwarranted under applicable law.

Furthermore, where permitted by local law, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a competent data protection authority.

Unsubscribe

If you have registered for Quasar newsletters or alerts, or you receive invitations to surveys or events from Quasar, and you prefer not to receive future email communications from us, please write to info@yourquasar.com to unsubscribe from all Quasar communications.

Your GDPR Rights

As a data subject under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you possess certain rights regarding your personal data:

Right to Access: You have the right to request access to the personal data we hold about you. If you request it, we will provide you with a copy of your personal data free of charge in a commonly used electronic format.

Right to Rectification: If you believe that the personal data we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to request that we correct or complete it.

Right to Erasure: Under certain circumstances, you have the right to request that we erase your personal data. This right is not absolute, and we may have legal or legitimate grounds to retain your personal data even if you request its erasure.

Right to Restriction of Processing: Under certain circumstances, you have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data.

Right to Object: Under certain circumstances, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data based on our legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes.

Right to Data Portability: You have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to have it transferred to another data controller where technically feasible.

Right not to be Subject to Automated Decision-making: You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing if it produces a legal or similarly significant effect on you.

If you wish to exercise any of your GDPR rights, please contact us at info@yourquasar.com. We will respond to your request without undue delay and no later than one month after receiving your request. We may extend this period by two further months if necessary, considering the complexity and number of requests. We will inform you of any such extension within one month of receiving your request, along with the reasons for the delay. If we are unable to fulfill your request, we will inform you of the reasons for our inaction and of your right to complain to a supervisory authority and seek a judicial remedy.

Consent. Changes to Privacy Policy

By using the Sites, you consent to the collection, use, and storage of your personal data by us as described in this Privacy Policy and elsewhere on the Sites. We reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy periodically. We will inform you of any such changes by updating this Privacy Policy. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy that expand our rights to use personal data previously collected about you, we will seek your consent either through an email to your registered email address or by prominently displaying information about the changes on our Sites.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, please reach out to us at info@yourquasar.com.