Virtual Sprout Privacy Statement
Last Updated: January 2019
Your privacy is important to us. This privacy statement explains the personal data Virtual Sprout processes, how Virtual Sprout processes it, and for what purposes.
Virtual Sprout offers a wide range of products, including cloud computing and hosting products used to help operate enterprises nationwide. References to Virtual Sprout products in this statement include Virtual Sprout services, websites, apps, software, servers, and devices.
Cookies
Most Virtual Sprout sites use cookies, small text files placed on your device which web servers in the domain that placed the cookie can retrieve later. We use cookies to store your preferences and settings, help with sign-in, and analyze site operations.
EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield
Virtual Sprout adheres to the principles of the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield frameworks. To learn more, visit the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Privacy Shield website.
Contact us
If you have a privacy concern, complaint, or question for the Virtual Sprout Chief Privacy Officer or EU Data Protection Officer, please contact us by emailing privacy@virtualsprout.com .
Personal Data We Collect
Virtual Sprout collects data from you, through our interactions with you and through our products. You provide some of this data directly, and we get some of it by collecting data about your interactions, use, and experiences with our products. The data we collect depends on the context of your interactions with Virtual Sprout and the choices you make, including your privacy settings and the products and features you use. We may also obtain data about you from third parties.
You have choices when it comes to the technology you use and the data you share. When we ask you to provide personal data, you can decline. Many of our products require some personal data to provide you with a service. If you choose not to provide data necessary to provide you with a product or feature, you cannot use that product or feature. Likewise, where we need to collect personal data by law or to enter into or carry out a contract with you, and you do not provide the data, we will not be able to enter into the contract; or if this relates to an existing product you’re using, we may have to suspend or cancel it. We will notify you if this is the case at the time. Where providing the data is optional, and you choose not to share personal data, features like personalization that use such data will not work for you.
How We Use Personal Data
Virtual Sprout uses the data we collect to provide you with services, provide support, and to invoice. In particular, we use data to:
- Provide our products, which includes updating, securing, and troubleshooting, as well as providing support. It also includes sharing data, when it is required to provide the service or carry out the transactions you request.
- Improve and develop our products.
- Personalize our products and make recommendations.
- Enter into contracts, invoice, and other financial interactions.
We also use the data to operate our business, which includes analyzing our performance, meeting our legal obligations, developing our workforce, and doing research.
In carrying out these purposes, we combine data we collect from different contexts (for example, from your use of two Virtual Sprout products) or obtain from third parties to give you a more seamless, consistent, and personalized experience, to make informed business decisions, and for other legitimate purposes.
Reasons We Share Personal Data
We share your personal data with your consent to complete any transaction or provide any product you have requested or authorized. We also share data with Virtual Sprout-controlled affiliates and subsidiaries; with vendors working on our behalf; when required by law or to respond to legal process; to protect our customers; to protect lives; to maintain the security of our products; and to protect the rights and property of Virtual Sprout and its customers.
How to Access and Control Your Personal Data
You can also make choices about the collection and use of your data by Virtual Sprout. You can control your personal data that Virtual Sprout has obtained, and exercise your data protection rights, by contacting Virtual Sprout or using various tools we provide. In some cases, your ability to access or control your personal data will be limited, as required or permitted by applicable law. How you can access or control your personal data will also depend on which products you use. For example:
- Modifying authorized users via Virtual Sprout Cloud management portals
- Interacting with Virtual Sprout’s Support portals (adding and deleting authorized support users)
Not all personal data processed by Virtual Sprout can be accessed or controlled via end-user accessible tools. If you want to access or control personal data processed by Virtual Sprout that is not available via automated tools or directly through the Virtual Sprout products you use, you can always contact Virtual Sprout at privacy@virtualsprout.com.
Cookies and Similar Technologies
Cookies are small text files placed on your device to store data that can be recalled by a web server in the domain that placed the cookie. We use cookies and similar technologies for storing and honoring your preferences and settings, enabling you to sign in, combating fraud, analyzing how our products perform, and fulfilling other legitimate purposes.
We also use “web beacons” to help deliver cookies and gather usage and performance data. Our websites may include web beacons, cookies, or similar technologies from third-party service providers.
You have a variety of tools to control the data collected by cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies. For example, you can use controls in your internet browser to limit how the websites you visit are able to use cookies and to withdraw your consent by clearing or blocking cookies.
Products Provided by Your Organization—Notice to End Users
If you use a Virtual Sprout product or use an email address to access Virtual Sprout products and that product or email address was provided by an organization you are affiliated with, such as an employer or school, that organization can:
- Control and administer your Virtual Sprout product and product account, including controlling privacy-related settings of the product or product account.
- Access and process your data, including the interaction data, diagnostic data, and the contents of your communications and files associated with your Virtual Sprout product and product accounts.
If you lose access to your work or school account (in event of change of employment, for example), you may lose access to products and the content associated with those products, including those you acquired on your own behalf, if you used your work or school account to sign in to such products.
Virtual Sprout products are intended for use by organizations, such as schools and businesses. If your organization provides you with access to Virtual Sprout products, your use of the Virtual Sprout products is subject to your organization’s policies, if any. You should direct your privacy inquiries, including any requests to exercise your data protection rights, to your organization’s administrator. When you use social features in Virtual Sprout products, other users in your network may see some of your activity. To learn more about the social features and other functionality, please review documentation or help content specific to the Virtual Sprout product. Virtual Sprout is not responsible for the privacy or security practices of our customers, which may differ from those set forth in this privacy statement.
Virtual Sprout Account(s)
With different Virtual Sprout accounts, you can sign in to Virtual Sprout products. Personal data associated with your Virtual Sprout account(s) may include credentials, name and contact data, payment data, device and usage data, your contacts, information about your activities, and your interests and favorites. Signing in to your Virtual Sprout account(s) enables personalization and consistent experiences across products and devices, permits you to use cloud data storage, allows you to make payments using payment instruments stored in Virtual Sprout systems, and enables other features.
Other Important Privacy Information
Below you will find additional privacy information, such as how we secure your data, where we process your data, and how long we retain your data.
Product-specific Details:
Virtual Sprout Enterprise Products
Virtual Sprout Enterprise Products are Virtual Sprout products and related software offered to and designed primarily for use by organizations. They include:
- Cloud services such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Virtual Data Center (vDC), Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), and Backup as a Service (BaaS), for which an organization (our customer) contracts with Virtual Sprout for the services. These services are accompanied by organizational and end-user accounts that have personal data associated with them. Additionally, through interaction with the various products, organizations choose to store their data within the various product’s storage components (electronic data, backup streams, etc). This data (Organizational Data) is governed by the Customer’s Organizational policies and not Virtual Sprout’s privacy policy. When an organization’s use of a product or service is suspended, the associated Organizational Data is purged within 7 days of last use.
- Professional services including data center colocation, IT Consultation, and Managed Services may involve the collection of data within Professional Services Automation (PSA) or Remote Management and Monitoring (RMM) tool. Data collected may include configurations, credentials, diagrams, contact information, and trouble information to name a few. Sensitive information encrypted at rest and is available to Virtual Sprout technicians on a need-to-know basis. Data within these tools is voluntarily supplied to Virtual Sprout by customer organizations. Performance, configuration, and uptime data may be collected by RMM tools in the event Virtual Sprout enters into an agreement to monitor an organization’s IT infrastructure.
- Third Party services are those services that are being resold as-is and are not marked as part of a service above. These services may include Office 365, third party software rental, and IT infrastructure being resold. Data privacy of these products is governed by the various third-parties and not Virtual Sprout. If there is a question if a product or service is Third Party you may email privacy@virtualsprout.com.
In the event of a conflict between this Virtual Sprout privacy statement and the terms of any written agreement(s) between a customer and Virtual Sprout, the terms of those agreement(s) will control.
Many times you can also learn more about our Enterprise Products’ features and settings, including choices that impact your privacy or your end users’ privacy, in the product’s documentation.
If any of the terms below are not defined in this Privacy Statement, they have the definitions below.
General. When a customer tries, purchases, uses, or subscribes to Enterprise Products, or obtains support for our professional services with such products, Virtual Sprout collects data to provide the service (including uses compatible with providing the service), provide the best experiences with our products, operate our business, and communicate with the customer. For example:
- When a customer engages with a Virtual Sprout sales representative, we collect the customer’s name and contact data, along with information about the customer’s organization, to support that engagement.
- When a customer interacts with a Virtual Sprout support professional, we collect device and usage data or error reports to diagnose and resolve problems.
- When a customer pays for products, we collect contact and payment data to process the payment.
- When Virtual Sprout sends communications to a customer, we use data to personalize the content of the communication.
- When a customer engages with Virtual Sprout for professional services, we collect the name and contact data of the customer’s designated point of contact and use information provided by the customer to perform the services that the customer has requested.
Virtual Sprout Enterprise Products include purchases, subscriptions, or use other products and online services from third parties with different privacy practices, and those other products and online services are governed by their respective privacy statements and policies.