Alianz Development Inc. (“Alianz”, “we”, “us”) is a Canadian software and consulting company headquartered at 1500 – 701 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V7Y 1G5. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect personal information in connection with our website (www.alianz.ca), our products — including the Electronic Permitting Solution (“EPS”) and our other application suites — and our professional services. We comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), and we support our public-sector customers’ obligations under the public-sector privacy laws that apply to them (such as FIPPA and FOIP statutes in various provinces).
1. Two Roles: Our Website and Business vs. Our Products
It is important to understand two different roles we play. First, for our website, marketing, sales, recruiting, and corporate operations, Alianz decides how and why personal information is used — we are responsible for it as the organization collecting it. Second, for our products deployed to customers: EPS and our other solutions are installed into each customer’s own Microsoft cloud environment (“customer tenant”). The permit applications, licences, inspections, documents, and related records processed in EPS — including personal information of permit applicants, contractors, and residents (“Customer Content”) — are collected and controlled by our customer (for example, a municipality), reside in that customer’s tenant, and are governed by that customer’s privacy policies and applicable public-sector privacy legislation. Alianz does not host Customer Content and accesses it only as authorized by the customer for implementation, support, and maintenance, acting on the customer’s instructions. If you are a permit applicant or member of the public using a city’s EPS portal, the city’s privacy notice governs that data; please direct requests about it to the city, and we will assist the city in responding where required.
2. Personal Information We Collect
Website and business contacts: name, title, organization, business e-mail and phone, and correspondence when you contact us, request a demonstration, or work with us on a procurement or project. Website technical data: IP address, browser and device information, pages visited, and referring links, collected through cookies and similar technologies (see Section 6). Recruiting: applications, resumes, and references you provide. Support and delivery: contact details of customer personnel, support tickets, meeting recordings where announced, and limited system diagnostics. Product telemetry: aggregated, de-identified usage and diagnostic information about our applications that does not identify individuals. We do not collect more than we need, and we do not buy or sell personal information.
3. How We Use Personal Information
We use personal information to: respond to inquiries and provide demonstrations; deliver, support, and improve our products and services; perform contracts with customers, including implementation, training, and support; administer accounts, billing, and subscriptions; send service communications and, with consent or as otherwise permitted by law, marketing communications (every marketing e-mail includes an unsubscribe mechanism, per Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation); evaluate job applications; maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse, and meet legal obligations. We obtain consent for collection, use, and disclosure except where the law permits or requires otherwise, and you may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice.
4. How We Share Personal Information
We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information. We share it only with: service providers who process it on our behalf under contractual confidentiality and security obligations (for example, Microsoft, which provides the cloud infrastructure for our corporate systems and hosts our e-mail and documents); professional advisors; parties to a corporate transaction (merger, financing, or sale) under confidentiality; and authorities where required by applicable law, court order, or to protect rights and safety. Where we act as a service provider to a customer, we disclose Customer Content only as the customer instructs. If we receive a legal demand for Customer Content, we will — unless legally prohibited — promptly notify the customer and direct the requester to the customer.
5. Data Residency and International Transfers
Alianz is a Canadian company and our team is located in Canada. Our corporate systems and product environments use Microsoft cloud services in Canadian regions (Canada Central and Canada East).Customer Content in EPS resides in the customer’s own tenant in the Microsoft regions the customer selects — for our Canadian public-sector customers, Canadian regions.
6. Cookies and Analytics
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies that are necessary for the site to function, and, where enabled, analytics cookies to understand how the site is used so we can improve it. You can control cookies through your browser settings; disabling some cookies may affect site functionality. We do not use cookies to track you across unrelated third-party sites and we do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals differently than described here.
7. Safeguards
We protect personal information with safeguards appropriate to its sensitivity, including: encryption in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256); access controls with multi-factor authentication and least-privilege, role-based permissions; logging and monitoring; employee confidentiality obligations and privacy and security training; screening of personnel assigned to customer engagements; and secure development practices for our products. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach of security safeguards creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (and provincial regulators where applicable) as required by law, and we will honour the breach-notification commitments in our customer agreements.
8. Retention
We do not keep personal information. Customer Content is retained in the customer’s tenant under the customer’s own retention schedules; on termination of an engagement, it remains in the customer’s possession, and we delete any incidental working copies.
9. Your Rights
Subject to limited legal exceptions, you may: request access to the personal information we hold about you and how it has been used and disclosed; request correction of inaccurate information; withdraw consent; and ask questions or make a complaint about our practices. To exercise these rights, contact our Privacy Officer (Section 11). We will respond within the time required by law (generally 30 business days under BC PIPA / 30 days under PIPEDA) and may need to verify your identity. If you are unsatisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. For information held in a customer’s EPS environment, requests are handled by that customer under its applicable access-to-information legislation, and we will support the customer’s response.
10. Children, Third-Party Links, and Changes
Our website and services are intended for business and government users and are not directed at children; we do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. Our website may link to third-party sites whose privacy practices we do not control. We may update this Policy from time to time; we will post the revised version with an updated “Last updated” date, and material changes will be highlighted on this page. Continued use of the website after changes take effect constitutes acceptance for website matters; changes affecting contracted services take effect per the applicable agreement.