Privacy Policy

Introduction

This is the Privacy Statement and Policy (“Privacy Statement”) of BCG Digital Ventures, an operating division of the Boston Consulting Group, Inc (“BCGDV”, “we”, “us”).

This Privacy Statement applies to how we process your personal information when you access the website bcgdv.com (the “Website”). In addition, information that you submit to BCGDV when you contact us via the email addresses provided on the Website will be treated in accordance with this Privacy Statement. Please note that our separate Recruitment Privacy Policy applies to how we process the personal information of job applicants and potential candidates for employment.

1. Information that we collect, and how we use it

The information we process (collect, use, and share) about you depends on who you are and how we interact with you. Personal information is data that identifies you or that makes you identifiable. It includes data that could be used to identify, locate, track, or contact you.

When you visit this Website

When you visit our Website, the browser used on your device automatically sends certain information to the server of our Website for technical reasons, for example your IP address. We process this information to provide you with the Website content you have requested. To ensure the security of the IT infrastructure used to provide the Website, this information is also temporarily stored in web server log files. To provide you with a Cookie Preference Manager, data from cookies that are absolutely necessary (cf. section 4) are temporarily processed in order to determine whether you have already given your consent when you visit the Website again.

(a) Provision of content

When you visit our Website, data is temporarily processed on our web server in order to provide you with the website content you have requested, and ensure the security of our systems.

For this purpose, we process information that is technically generated when you call up the Website via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (Secure) (HTTP(S)). Collected information may include (1) date and time of access, (2) your IP address, (3) the page accessed, (4) the previously visited page (referer URL), (5) type and version of your internet browser, and (6) your operating system. This information is stored completely separately from any information you may provide to us via the Website.

(b) Cookie Preference Management

We use the Cookie Preference Manager of TrustArc Inc. (“TrustArc”) to provide you with a function to manage your cookie consents for the Website. When you return to the Website, we will determine whether you have already given consent and enable cookies and related analytics and tracking tools in accordance with your consent. For this purpose, data from necessary cookies are also processed temporarily on our web server. You can find more detailed information on the content and purposes of the cookies and similar technologies used in section 4.

When you reach out to us

BCGDV collects information from you when you contact us to request copies of publications or seek information regarding our services. Personal information that we collect includes: names, addresses, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, unique personal identifiers, subject areas of interest, day and time when you send your email and any other information that you provide to us.

We use the information to respond to your request, and to communicate with you. We also aggregate this information to identify subject areas of interest and trends in requests that we receive and improve the offerings of our Website.

We will not sell, share, or rent or otherwise make available your personal information to other parties, except that we may disclose the information to third parties who perform services on our behalf and have a need to access the information in connection with those services. Any third parties will only process this information to the extent to which and within the limits that BCGDV itself is permitted to process that data.

2. How we might share your information

The third parties with whom we may need to share personal information to help us provide services and products to you and to run our Website include:

our subsidiaries or affiliates;
our advisors;
our third party service providers who process information on our behalf to help run some of our internal business operations including email distribution, IT services and marketing and events services;
our business partners for publications and events co-organized by BCG and them;
law enforcement bodies in order to comply with any legal obligation or court order

Because BCGDV is part of the BCG group of companies we need to transfer personal information which is collected on the Website or through other means across the BCG group of companies to help operate our business efficiently. This also includes third parties located in different countries around the world, including outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). These arrangements may involve your personal information being located in various countries around the world e.g. USA where privacy laws differ. We only make these arrangements or transfers where we are satisfied that adequate levels of protection are in place to protect information held in that country.

3. Retention of your personal information

BCGDV retains your personal information for so long as is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected. We may retain your personal information for longer if they may be the subject of a legal claim, or may otherwise be relevant for future litigation.

4. Cookies and other tracking technologies

BCGDV uses cookies on this Website to keep track of your visit to our Website. A “cookie” is a small amount of data sent from a Web server to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Other tracking technologies work similarly to cookies and place a small amount of data on your devices to monitor your website activity to allow us to collect information about how you use our Website and our services. With most internet browsers, you can erase cookies from your computer hard drive, block all cookies, or receive a warning before a cookie is stored on your computer. Please refer to your browser instructions or you can visit https://www.aboutcookies.org/ which will give you more information. Once you have given your consent to use cookies we shall store a cookie on your computer or device to remember this for next time. If you wish to withdraw consent at any time you will need to delete our cookies using your web browsers settings or you can do this via our Cookie Preference Manager. Please be advised that certain sections or functionalities of the Website may be inaccessible to you if your browser does not accept cookies.

We use the following types of cookies:

“Required Cookies” are required to operate this site.
“Functional Cookies” are used to store choices and preferences, providing a convenient browsing experience.
“Advertising Cookies” are used by us or third-party providers to analyze how the Website and our services are used.

You can inform yourself about cookies used on our Website by visiting our Cookies Policy.

5. Web analytics

Google Analytics. This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service of Google LLC (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies that enable an analysis of your use of our Website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

We would like to point out that on this Website Google Analytics has been extended to include IP anonymisation in order to ensure anonymous collection of IP addresses (so-called IP masking). Google therefore will reduce your IP address by the last three digits. The IP address transmitted by your browser in the context of Google Analytics is not merged with other Google data.

During your Website visit, the following data is collected, among other things:

The pages you visit, your “click path”.
achievement of “website goals” (conversions, e.g. newsletter sign-ups, downloads, purchases)
Your user behavior (for example, clicks, dwell time, bounce rates)
Your approximate location (region)
Your IP address (in shortened form)
Technical information about your browser and the end devices you use (e.g., language setting, screen resolution)
your internet service provider
the referrer URL (via which website/advertising medium you came to this website)

Google will use information from your website visit to evaluate your pseudonymous use of the website and to compile reports on website activities. The reports provided by Google Analytics serve to analyze the performance of our Website and to improve our Website.

The data sent by us and linked to cookies are automatically deleted after 14 months. Data whose retention period has been reached is automatically deleted once a month.

You can also prevent the collection of data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the Website (including your IP address) to Google and the processing of this data by Google, either by a. not giving your consent to the setting of the cookie or b. by downloading and installing the browser add-on to deactivate Google Analytics.

You can prevent cookies from being stored on your hard drive by selecting “Do not accept cookies” in the browser settings. In that case, however, you may not be able to use all the functions of this website to their full extent.

For more information on terms of use and data protection, please visit https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/gb.html or https://policies.google.com/?hl=en.

Heap. This website uses Heap, a web analytics service provided by Heap, Inc. Heap uses cookies to identify website users, which are text files placed on your device to help the website analyze how users use the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the site (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Heap on servers in the United States. Heap will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Heap in the manner and for the purposes set out above. You can configure your browser to accept or reject these cookies and Heap will respect this decision by not using other means to track you.

6. Security Processes

BCGDV has in place appropriate technological and operational security processes designed to protect personally identifiable information from loss, misuse, alteration or destruction. Only authorized employees and contractors will have access to any data provided by you, and that access is limited by need. Each employee or contractor having access to any personally-identifiable information is obligated to maintain its confidentiality. Although we take steps that are generally accepted as industry standard to protect your personally-identifiable information, BCGDV cannot guarantee that your personally-identifiable information will not become accessible to unauthorized persons and BCGDV cannot be responsible for any actions resulting from a breach of security when information is supplied over the internet or any public computer network.

7. Links to other Websites

This website contains links to other websites not operated by BCGDV.

BCGDV is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any non-BCGDV websites to which we link from the Website. We are not responsible for the protection and privacy of any information you provide whilst visiting other websites not governed by our Privacy Statement. We cannot control the content or security of such websites. We cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage incurred by a user as a result of visiting such websites. No links are intended to be, nor should be construed as, an endorsement of any kind by us of that other website.

8. Compliance with law

BCGDV complies with all applicable privacy laws and regulations. BCGDV may be compelled to surrender personal user or customer information to legal authorities if presented with a court subpoena or similar legal or administrative order, or as required or permitted by the laws, rules and regulations of any nation, state or other applicable jurisdiction. Also, in the event of a violation of the terms and conditions of use of the Website or a violation of any restrictions on use of materials provided in or through the Website, we may disclose personal user information to our affected business partners or legal authorities.

9. Access rights

In accordance with applicable data protection laws, including but not limited to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have a right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you and details of how we use that information. If any of the information held about you is incorrect or out of date, you have the right to amend or rectify it, please follow the process outlined below and we will amend our records where appropriate. You also have the right to require us to erase your personal data, stop processing your personal data, restricting the processing of your personal information, right of portability of your personal information and/or to withdraw your consent to processing. This may not apply if there are other legal justifications to continue processing. If you think we may have incorrect personal information, or would like a copy of the personal information we hold on you, or to exercise any other data protection right, please contact us. Please note that we need you to prove who you are before we can provide you with any information.

You also have a right to lodge a complaint with a relevant supervisory authority.

10. Children

BCGDV understands the importance of protecting children’s privacy, particularly in their online interactions. This Site is not designed for and does not intentionally target or solicit to children 18 years of age and younger.

11. Use of this Website

Your access to and use of the Website are subject to this Privacy Statement and certain other terms and conditions, contained in our Terms of Use.

12. Changes to this Privacy Statement

BCGDV may, in its discretion, amend this Privacy Statement from time to time. To ensure you are able to remain informed about the information we collect and how we use it, material changes to our statement will be reflected here. This Site may contain links to external sites which are not governed by this Privacy Statement. BCGDV does not take responsibility for the privacy practices of any third party sites to which we link. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any such sites before you submit information there.

13. How to contact us

For further questions about how your data is processed you may contact the appropriate data protection point of contact below:

Data Protection Office
Boston Consulting Group Inc.
200 Pier Four Boulevard
Boston, MA 02210, US
dataprotectionoffice (at) bcg.com

California
California residents may exercise their privacy rights by calling us toll free at 1-866-I-OPT-OUT (1-866-467-8688) and entering service code 837# to leave us a message.

Germany
Data Protection Officer
BCG Digital Ventures GmbH
Dircksenstr. 41
10178 Berlin, Germany
dataprotection (at) bcgdv.com

Last updated: February 2022.