Privacy Policy

Updated 5 June 2025

This Policy Notice takes cognisance of the applicable laws and regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (2016 – EU), the UK GDPR (2021), and the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) (Act 4 of 2013 – South Africa), to ensure that your personal information is collected and dealt with in the appropriate manners as required by law.

SOMS Digital (PTY) Ltd is committed to protecting your personal information. In this privacy policy we explain what information we collect, how we use it and the rights that you have.

If there are any terms in this policy that you do not agree with, please discontinue the use of our website.

Information Officer

In terms of POPIA, SOMS Digital (PTY) Ltd has a registered Information Officer who is responsible for ensuring compliance with this policy and applicable data protection laws:

Information Officer: Glynn Rieckhoff (CEO)
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +27 11 568 7419

Our PAIA Manual, which sets out how to request access to records held by SOMS Digital (PTY) Ltd, is publicly available on our website. View our PAIA Manual here

How We Collect Your Information

We collect information about you, your business, and any other party whose details you provide us when you:

  • Contact us via email, phone, online chat, or contact form. This may include your name, physical and postal address, email address, mobile number, telephone number, company name, VAT number and company number. We may also ask you to provide additional information about yourself and your preferences.
  • Subscribe to our emails and/or monthly newsletters from our website’s subscription forms.
  • Interact with us using social media platforms which may include Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and other social media platforms.
  • Provide your contact details to us when accessing or registering to use any websites, applications, or services we make available, or when you update those details.
  • Contact us offline, for example, by telephone, SMS, email, WhatsApp, or post.
  • View or visit our website, with the use of cookies and analytics trackers from third parties which may include Google, Bing/Microsoft, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, Google Tag Manager, and UTMs. (Please view our Cookie Policy to find out more.) When you browse our site, we may also automatically receive and store certain personally non-identifiable information (“Log Data”). This Log Data may include your computer’s internet protocol (IP) address, browser type or the domain from which you are visiting, the site pages you visit, the search terms you use, and any advertisements on which you click. This information helps us learn about your browser and operating system. For most users accessing the Internet from an Internet service provider, the IP address will be different every time you log on. We do not associate your IP address with any other Personal Information to identify you personally, except in cases where we are asked to comply with a subpoena or other legal demand or where we suspect that there has been a violation of our policies, our Terms of Service and/or applicable law.
  • Use AI-powered tools or applications: We may use artificial intelligence (AI) and large language model (LLM) software and applications in the delivery of our services or in internal business operations. Where such tools process personal information, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place and that processing is limited to what is necessary for the intended purpose.
  • Use our internal CRM: We manage client and prospect information through our internal SOMS CRM system. Information stored in this system is used solely for the purposes of managing our business relationships and delivering our services.
  • Publicly available sources: We may, from time to time, collect additional information from web-based resources that are free, publicly available, or shared by you on any internet-based social networks or directories. This information may include email addresses, mailing addresses, job titles, phone numbers, intent data (or user behaviour data), social media profiles, directories, social media URLs and custom profiles for the purpose of targeted advertising. We can provide links to these sources on request (please see: Your Data Access, Updates and Removal).

All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete, and accurate. Please notify us of any changes to your personal information via one of our contact methods.

Right to be informed at the point of collection: At the time your personal information is collected, you have the right to be informed of the purpose for which it is being collected, and the right to object to such processing where applicable. Please see Your Data Access, Updates and Removal below for how to exercise these rights.

When you provide us with personal information via one of our online touch points (see How We Collect Your Information), you consent to our collecting it and using it only for the reason for which you sent us your information.

Direct marketing consent: We will only contact you for direct marketing purposes including via email, SMS, WhatsApp, telephone, or automated calls if you have provided us with positive, written consent to do so. This means you must have actively opted in (for example, by ticking a consent checkbox). An opt-out mechanism alone does not constitute valid consent under POPIA.

Where we ask for your personal information for a secondary reason, like marketing or research, we will ask you directly for your explicit consent before doing so.

Existing customers: We may market similar products or services to existing customers, provided that we offered you the opportunity to opt out at the time your contact details were originally collected and with each subsequent marketing communication.

How to Withdraw Your Consent

If you change your mind after you have opted in, you may withdraw your consent for us to contact you, collect more information, use, or disclose your information at any time. You may do so free of charge via any of the following channels:

  • Email: [email protected]
  • Contact Form: Available on our website
  • Telephone: +27 11 568 7419
  • WhatsApp or SMS: +27 11 568 7419
  • Post: SOMS Digital (PTY) Ltd, 9th Floor, Atrium on 5th, 5th Street, Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa, 2196

We will respond to your withdrawal request in writing within 30 days of receipt.

What We Do with Your Information

We may use your personal information, collected via our website, for several business purposes described below. We process this information for legitimate business interests to enter or perform a contract with you, with your consent.

Using electronic media (email, phone, SMS, WhatsApp, chat, or online advertising), we may contact you, subject to obtaining the required consent, to:

  • Provide any information and services that you have requested, and any changes to our terms & conditions and policies
  • Manage our relationship with you (via customer services and support activities)
  • Monitor, measure, improve, and protect our content, website, applications, and services, and provide an enhanced, personal, user experience for you
  • Undertake internal testing of our website, applications, systems, and services to improve their security and performance. In these circumstances, we anonymise any information used.
  • Provide you with any information that we are required to send you to comply with our regulatory or legal obligations
  • Detect, prevent, investigate, or remediate crime, illegal, or prohibited activities, or to otherwise protect our legal rights (including liaison with regulators and law enforcement agencies for these purposes)
  • Monitor, carry out statistical analysis and benchmarking, provided that in such circumstances it is on an aggregated basis, which will not be linked back to you or any living individual
  • Deliver targeted advertising, marketing (including in-product messaging), or information to you, which may be useful to you, based on your use of our applications and services where you have provided the required explicit consent
  • Deliver joint content and services with third parties with whom you have a separate relationship (e.g., social media providers)
  • Provide you with location-based services where we collect geo-location data
  • Post testimonials from you that may include your information. Before posting a testimonial, we will obtain your consent to use your name and the content of the testimonial.
  • Keep our website safe and secure
  • Analyse data, view trends, review marketing campaigns and their effectiveness, improve our website, products, and services. We may store this information with other user data in an anonymised form which will not include personal information.

Third-Party Services, Vendors and Consultants

In general, the third-party providers used by us will only collect, use, and disclose your information to the extent necessary to allow them to perform the services they provide to us.

For these providers, we recommend that you read their privacy policies so you can understand the way your personal information will be handled by these providers.

At times, we may be required to engage with certain third-party service providers, agents, or vendors who provide specific services including digital agencies, financial service providers, analytical service providers, courier services, technical service providers such as online hosting and/or data storage service providers, customer relationship management service providers, events management service providers, AI and LLM software providers, and/or the providers of any related services.

We may share your information with third-party platform and software providers (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Pinterest, TikTok, Microsoft/Bing, Yahoo, Sage, QuickBooks, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), Mailchimp, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), ClickUp, TawkTo, and AI/LLM software and application providers) to serve targeted advertising and/or content to you via the relevant third-party platform, based on your profile and interests. Your information is used by the third-party platform provider to identify your account and serve advertisements to you. You can control what advertisements you receive via the privacy settings on the relevant provider’s platform, and you should consult the third party’s help/support centre for more information.

We contractually require all third-party processors and operators who handle personal information on our behalf to notify us without undue delay should they become aware of any security compromise affecting your personal information.

We may also share and store your information with third-party hosting providers like Unlimited Web Hosting (United Kingdom), Xneelo (South Africa), AfriHost (South Africa), and Siteground (USA).

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of these other sites and encourage you to read their privacy statements.

SOMS Digital (PTY) Ltd may share your information with our United Kingdom partner (SOMS Digital LTD) depending on your service requirements and your international location to better serve your requirements. Please review their GDPR and UK GDPR Policies for more information on how they process your personal information.

SOMS Digital (PTY) Ltd may be required to share personal information by virtue of a legal requirement. Any such sharing or disclosure shall only be made if we believe we are obligated to do so by law, that doing so may be reasonably necessary in order to comply with a legally binding process, will be required by relevant law enforcement authorities (including in instances to investigate violations of law and/or actions of fraud), necessary for us to respond to any claims made against us, necessary to prevent breaches of security and/or this Privacy Notice, or may be necessary to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of SOMS Digital (PTY) Ltd, its customers, or any members of the public.

Information from Minors (Under the age of 18)

We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under the age of 18 years of age. By using this website, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of a minor and consent to their usage of our website. If we learn that we have collected information from a user that is under the age of 18, we will take measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from children under the age of 18, please contact us to let us know.

Business Transfer

We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.

Protecting Your Information

To protect your personal information, we follow industry best practices to make sure it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed.

We keep your information secure by taking appropriate technical and organisational measures against its unauthorised or unlawful processing and against its accidental loss, destruction, or damage. We do our best to protect your personal information, but we cannot guarantee the security of your information if it is transmitted to our website, applications, or services, or to other websites, applications, and services, via an internet or similar connection.

If you provide us with your personal information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL). Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow and implement additional generally accepted industry standards.

Information Breach, Leak or Security Compromise

Should your personal information be accessed or acquired by any unauthorised business or person, SOMS Digital (PTY) Ltd will notify the Information Regulator and the affected data subject(s) as soon as possible, and in any event within 48 hours of becoming aware of the security compromise, unless the information is demonstrably unidentifiable.

All security compromise notifications to the Information Regulator will be submitted via the Information Regulator’s eServices portal at https://eservices.inforegulator.org.za, as required by the Information Regulator.

Should any personal information be leaked or compromised, you will be notified in writing in at least one of the following ways:

  • Mailed to your last known physical or postal address
  • Email to your last known email address
  • Placed in a prominent position on the website of the responsible party
  • Published in the news media
  • Or as may be directed by the Regulator

The notification will allow you to take protective measures against the potential consequences, and will include:

  • A description of the possible consequences of the security compromise
  • A description of the measures we intend to take or have taken to address the security compromise
  • A recommendation regarding the measures to be taken by you to mitigate the possible adverse effects of the security compromise
  • If known, the identity of the unauthorised person who may have accessed or acquired the personal information

How Long Do We Keep Your Information?

We will only retain your information for as long as is necessary for the purpose set out in this privacy policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. We may retain information for longer periods of time for historical reference, research, and additional statistical analysis that may be published in the form of case studies or to better our own products, services, content, and website structure. Although we may use this data for reference, we will not include any personally identifiable information within our own or third-party publications unless we have your consent. Information may also be retained for tax, accounting, or other legal requirements.

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your information, we will either delete or anonymise your information.

Changes To This Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the website. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated, so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

Your Data Access, Updates and Removal

You have the following rights in relation to your personal information held by us:

  • Right of access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
  • Right to correct: Request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information
  • Right to erasure/deletion: Request that we delete your personal information from our records
  • Right to object: Object to the processing of your personal information at any time, including for direct marketing purposes
  • Right to data portability: Request that your personal information be transferred to a party of your choice

To exercise any of these rights, contact us via any of the methods listed in How to Withdraw Your Consent above. Please ensure to provide adequate proof of identity when requesting access to your information. We will respond in writing within 30 days of receiving your request.

If you choose to have your information removed from our databases, it will be permanently removed from all of our databases and become unrecoverable. Please note that if your information is publicly available from other sources, there may be a chance that the information gets resubmitted or included, as there will be no record that the data was previously in our database (please review How We Collect Your Information).

How To Contact Us Regarding This Policy

If you have any questions or comments with regard to this policy, or to contact our Information Officer, please use the details below:

Information Officer: Glynn Rieckhoff
Contact Form: Available on our website

Telephone:
+27 11 568 7419

Email:
[email protected]

Address:
SOMS Digital (PTY) Ltd
9th Floor, Atrium on 5th
5th Street
Sandton
Gauteng
South Africa
2196