Privacy Policy

This policy applies to visitors to this website and to anyone who contacts SmartOps SA through the contact form on this site, or through a Meta (Facebook or Instagram) lead form we run. It does not cover the separate privacy practices of third-party tools we link to (see "Third-Party Links" below) or of client websites SmartOps SA has built for other businesses.

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

• Contact details you give us directly: name, email address, phone/WhatsApp number, and business name (where provided).
• The content of your message — whatever you write to us in the contact form or in a lead-form response, including details about your business and what you're looking for help with.
• Information submitted through Meta (Facebook/Instagram) lead forms — if you respond to one of our ads using Meta's built-in lead-form feature, Meta shares the details you supplied in that form with us (typically name, phone number and/or email address). Meta's own privacy policy governs how they collect and handle that information before it reaches us.
• Basic technical information collected automatically by our website hosting provider as part of normal web server operation (e.g. IP address, browser type) — this is standard infrastructure-level logging, not information we actively analyse about individual visitors.

We do not collect financial information, identity numbers, or other special personal information through this website.

We use this information to:

• Respond to your enquiry and answer your questions
• Arrange a discovery call or discuss your business's needs
• Prepare a quote, proposal, or Digital Opportunity Snapshot if you're interested in our services
• Deliver services you've agreed to if you become a client
• Keep basic records of our business communications

We use enquiry information to respond to you, discuss relevant SmartOps SA services and manage any resulting business relationship. We will not add you to unrelated marketing communications without appropriate permission.

If you submit a contact form or respond to a lead form, we may contact you by email, phone, or WhatsApp, using the details you provided, to follow up on your enquiry.

Information submitted through our contact form is delivered to us by email via our email-delivery provider (Resend) and kept in our business email records. We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect this information against loss, unauthorised access, or misuse. As with any online service, information may be processed or stored on servers operated by our service providers outside South Africa (see below) — we only use providers that maintain appropriate security standards.

We share personal information with service providers who help us run this website and respond to enquiries, specifically:

• Vercel — our website hosting provider
• Resend — our contact-form email delivery provider
• Meta — only if you respond to one of our Facebook/Instagram lead ads, in which case Meta is involved by the nature of that feature

These providers process information according to their own respective terms and privacy policies while providing the services SmartOps SA uses.

Beyond this, we may disclose your information:

• To service providers required to operate this website and respond to your enquiry
• When required by law, regulation, court order, or a lawful authority
• With your permission, where applicable

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to anyone, under any circumstances.

We keep enquiry and contact information for as long as reasonably necessary to respond to you and, if you become a client, for the duration of our working relationship plus a reasonable period afterwards for record-keeping purposes. If you ask us to delete your information and we have no legal or business reason to keep it, we will do so.

Under POPIA, you have the right to:

• Ask us what personal information we hold about you
• Ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete
• Ask us to delete personal information we no longer have a valid reason to keep
• Object to how we're using your information
• Lodge a complaint with South Africa's Information Regulator if you believe we've handled your information incorrectly (contact details below)

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in "How to Submit a Privacy Request" below.

This website does not currently use cookies, analytics, or tracking tools beyond what's strictly necessary to make the site function. If that changes — for example, if we add analytics to understand site traffic — we will update this policy and, where required, ask for your consent first.

This website links to external tools and services we use or recommend, including our free Digital Audit tool. These are separate services with their own privacy practices, which are not covered by this policy. We encourage you to review their privacy terms before submitting information to them.

To ask about, correct, or request deletion of your personal information, or to ask any question about this policy, get in touch using the contact form on this website. We'll respond as soon as reasonably possible.

You can also lodge a complaint with South Africa's Information Regulator:

• Website: inforegulator.org.za
• Email: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za

We may update this policy from time to time as our website or services change. The effective date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated. Material changes will be reflected here — we encourage you to check back periodically.