Privacy Policy

We are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and otherwise process your personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

1. Who we are

We are the data controller for the personal data we collect through our website and business operations.

• Data controller: Ashley Reynolds, trading as AR Smart Tech Solutions
• Email: ash@arsmarttechsolutions.co.uk
• Website: arsmarttechsolutions.co.uk

2. What data we collect

• Name and contact information (email address, phone number, postal address)
• Business information (company name, job title, industry)
• Project and engagement data (project requirements, technical specifications, deliverables)
• Communication records (email exchanges, meeting notes)
• Website usage data (pages visited and the kind of browser, counted without cookies)
• Payment information (processed securely by third-party payment providers)
• Client portal records, if you are a client: the email address you sign in with, the documents you read or sign, and when; when you sign, your typed name, the time and the internet address you signed from, kept with the signed copy as evidence
• Newsletter: your email address, if you ask to receive it

We act as a data controller for the information above. When we build or look after an app for a client, the personal data held in that app belongs to our client, who is its controller; we handle it only on their instructions, under a data processing agreement with them.

If you use the Gap Finder on our homepage, your answers are processed in your browser and are not sent to us unless you choose to submit them with your name and email.

3. How we use your data

We process your personal data under the following lawful bases:

• Contract performance: delivering services you have commissioned
• Legal obligation: compliance with tax, employment, and regulatory requirements
• Legitimate interests: improving our services, preventing fraud, and business administration
• Consent: marketing communications (only where you have explicitly opted in)

4. Data sharing

We will not share, sell, or disclose your personal data to third parties except:

• Where you have explicitly provided consent
• Where required by law or court order
• To necessary service providers (for example hosting, email delivery, scheduling and payment processors) under data processing agreements
• In the event of a business acquisition or merger, with appropriate safeguards

AI tools

We use AI tools (at the moment Claude, provided by Anthropic) to help us sort the enquiries and emails we receive, summarise them and draft replies, and to help write code and documents. A person checks what goes out. We never put personal data held in our clients’ apps into an AI tool, and we use these tools on terms under which the provider does not use our content to train its models. If you would rather your enquiry or emails were not handled with AI, tell us and we will deal with them by hand.

Transfers outside the UK

Some of our service providers process data outside the UK, for example in the European Economic Area or the United States. We only use providers whose terms include the safeguards UK data protection law requires for such transfers.

5. Data retention

• Client data is retained for the duration of the engagement plus 6 years for accounting purposes
• Marketing data is retained until you unsubscribe
• Website analytics data is retained in accordance with provider retention policies

6. Your rights under UK GDPR

• Right of access: request a copy of your personal data
• Right to rectification: request correction of inaccurate data
• Right to erasure: request deletion of your data (subject to legal obligations)
• Right to restrict processing: request limitation of how we use your data
• Right to data portability: request your data in a portable format
• Right to object: object to certain processing activities
• Right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at ash@arsmarttechsolutions.co.uk.

7. Cookies and tracking

This website uses only strictly necessary storage: a single browser preference for light or dark mode, and, if you are a client, the sign-in for your portal. Visits are counted with Vercel Web Analytics, which does not use cookies. No advertising or cross-site tracking cookies are set by us. Third-party services embedded on this site (such as the booking calendar) may set their own cookies when you interact with them.

8. Data security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, and loss. However, no transmission over the internet is 100% secure.

9. How to contact us

For privacy concerns or data subject requests, email ash@arsmarttechsolutions.co.uk.

10. How to complain about how we use your data

If you are unhappy with how we have used your personal data, please tell us first so that we can put it right. Email ash@arsmarttechsolutions.co.uk with “Data complaint” in the subject, saying what happened and what you would like us to do. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, look into it without undue delay, and tell you what we found and what we have done. We keep a record of every complaint.

11. Regulatory authority

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your data or your complaint, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office: www.ico.org.uk · 0303 123 1113