We process personal data collected via our Site for the following purposes:
- Responding to inquiries and requests;
- Sending invitations to follow BearingPoint’s social media accounts;
- Sending invitations to conferences, events, and webinars;
- Providing information about our products and services;
- Managing and maintaining relationships with business contacts;
- Conducting surveys, quizzes, and benchmarking activities;
- Understanding how visitors use our Site and reviewing aggregate demographic information;
- Improving the functions of our Site;
- Identifying any server issues;
- Supporting the recruitment and application process;
- Responding to data subject requests.
Detailed information on these processing activities is provided below.
Direct Contact and Web Forms
If you contact us via our Site contact form, postal mail, e-mail, telephone, or fax, we process the personal data you provide to address your inquiry and store it to be able to follow up where needed.
If you register for a webinar, conference, or event, we process your personal data for administrative purposes to run the event and store your data for the purpose of maintaining our relationships with business contacts.
If you complete another form on our Site (e.g. to download a document, participate in a competition, complete a survey, provide client satisfaction feedback), we process the personal data you provide for the purpose stated in the form and store your data for the purpose of maintaining our relationships with business contacts.
The personal data collected is limited to what is necessary for the purposes. Generally, first and last name, business contact details (e-mail address and telephone number), job title, and company information are collected. We do not intentionally collect special categories of personal data through these channels.
Legal basis:
- Article 6(1)(a) GDPR where we request your consent.
- Article 6(1)(b) GDPR where processing is required to perform a contract or take precontractual steps.
- Article 6(1)(c) GDPR where processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation.
- Article 6(1)(f) GDPR for our legitimate interest in effectively managing inquiries and user interactions.
Without providing the required data, we may be unable to process your request or enter into a contractual relationship with you.
Customer Relationship Management System
We use a customer relationship management system (the “BearingPoint CRM”) to store and manage contact details relating to existing and potential business contacts and clients. We process this data to maintain and develop our business relationships.
Microsoft Bookings
We use Microsoft Bookings, a Microsoft 365 service, to schedule and manage appointments via a web-based booking calendar. The legal basis is legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR) to provide an efficient appointment scheduling process.
The personal data necessary for booking an appointment via Microsoft Bookings (e.g. name and email address) as well as optional information (e.g. address, telephone number, added notes) is processed and stored only to the extent necessary for scheduling and managing the appointment and is retained for no longer than 120 days.
Microsoft Teams
We use Microsoft Teams to conduct online meetings, video and telephone conferences, webinars, and to support collaboration with clients and business contacts. In this context, personal data such as participant names, contact details, meeting metadata (e.g. date and time), chat messages, and audio or video data may be processed. Where meetings are recorded or transcribed, audio and video recordings, transcripts, chat content, shared materials, and related metadata are processed. As a general rule, recording and transcription features are activated with the prior consent of the participants.
Marketing Activities
If we offer a recurring newsletter, you can subscribe by providing your e-mail address and name. Newsletters are sent based on your consent, which you can withdraw with no retroactive effect via the unsubscribe link available at the bottom of each newsletter or by contacting us directly. We use third-party marketing automation tools for newsletter dispatch.
We obtain business contacts through information in the public domain, licensed B2B data providers, interactions at industry events, or through our Site. This information typically includes business card-type data (full name, company, office address, business phone number, business e-mail address, job title, social media profile URL). The business contact data is stored in our BearingPoint CRM and processed to contact you via phone or e-mail to establish a business relationship or to inform you about our events, products, or services. We process your data in accordance with applicable regulations on data protection and electronic communications based on our legitimate interest. BearingPoint is a B2B (Business-to-Business) commercial enterprise and we direct communications about our products and services with the intention to reach representatives of commercial enterprises only.
Licensed data is processed in accordance with the relevant license agreement with the vendor. The vendors typically act as independent data controllers and are subject to the data protection regulations when they collect your data. We primarily license data from the Cognism Platform (https://www.cognism.com/en/privacy-policy), LinkedIn Sales Navigator (https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy), and in some countries also from Lusha (https://www.lusha.com/legal/privacy-notice/) and from ZoomInfo (https://www.zoominfo.com/legal/privacy-policy).
You have the right to object to direct marketing at any time by contacting us.
Online Surveys
We conduct online surveys to improve our services. Participation in surveys is voluntary and anonymous unless otherwise stated in a particular survey. Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk (*). If you wish to participate anonymously, please do not enter personal data (e.g. name, e-mail address) in free text fields. Some surveys allow you to voluntarily provide personal data (e.g. name/pseudonym, business e-mail address, business phone number) so that we can contact you or obtain more detailed survey input, such data is only processed for survey‑related purposes. By submitting a survey response, you provide your consent to the processing of the data provided (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR). To ensure secure participation in the survey, data transmission is exclusively encrypted. In the process log data is collected (e.g. to prevent misuse of the survey forms), which is not analysed or merged with other survey data. Survey data is deleted after the survey closure date and internal evaluation of the results.
To prepare, conduct, and evaluate surveys we use Microsoft Forms. For data storage we opted for the Microsoft data centers in Europe. As Microsoft Bookings and Microsoft Forms are Microsoft 365 services, Microsoft (One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399, USA) may have access to the data you provide. A Data Processing Agreement including Standard Contractual Clauses is in place. Further information on the management and use of data by Microsoft can be found in Microsoft’s privacy policy: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacy/privacystatement.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
We use AI-enabled technologies and services to support the operation, security, analysis, and continuous improvement of our Site and digital services. These AI-based functionalities may be provided directly by us or by trusted service providers, including Microsoft, as part of the platforms, infrastructure, and tools we use.
AI technologies may be used, for example, to:
- analyse Site usage and performance;
- improve functionality, usability, and user experience of the Site or of our services;
- enhance security and prevent misuse of the Site or of our services;
- support personalization, optimization, and quality assurance of our services.
Where personal data is processed in connection with the use of AI-enabled services, such processing is carried out in accordance with applicable data protection laws and this Statement. AI systems are not used for automated decision-making that produces legal effects or similarly significant impacts on individuals.
Microsoft Copilot integrated in Microsoft Teams may be used to support meeting productivity, for example by generating AI assisted summaries or transcripts based on meeting content. Such AI generated outputs are subject to human review and are not used for automated decision making. The processing is carried out within our Microsoft 365 environment and is based on our legitimate interest in enabling efficient collaboration.
In addition, service providers whose technologies we use may process non-personal or aggregated data, generated in connection with the use of our Site and services, for their own legitimate purposes operating, maintaining, developing, and improving products and services, as well as using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, for example to train, fine-tune, test, and improve models; enhance system performance; develop new features and capabilities; or promote the reliable, secure, and responsible use of AI-enabled technologies.