Privacy Policy
This policy explains what personal information Cognexa collects, why we collect it, how long we keep it, and what you can ask us to do with it. It is written to meet our obligations under South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).
Who is the responsible party?
Cognexa is the responsible party for the personal information described here. We operate from Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa. You can reach us at hello@cognexa.co.za or 066 241 2155.
What personal information do we collect?
We collect only what we need to answer your enquiry and scope your project. That is: the name, phone number, email address, company name and message you submit through our enquiry form or intake questionnaire, plus anything you choose to tell us over WhatsApp, email or a call.
Separately, our website collects standard analytics data through Google Analytics 4 — pages viewed, approximate location at city level, device type, and how you arrived at the site. This is used in aggregate to understand which pages are useful. IP addresses are anonymised by Google before they reach our reports.
Why do we process it, and on what lawful basis?
- To respond to your enquiry and prepare a quote. Lawful basis: performance of, or steps toward, a contract at your request.
- To deliver and support a project you have commissioned. Lawful basis: performance of a contract.
- To improve the website. Lawful basis: our legitimate interest in running a functioning site, balanced against your privacy.
- To send you occasional updates. Only where you have opted in. You can withdraw at any time, and every message will tell you how.
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for anyone else’s marketing.
Who do we share it with?
We use a small number of third-party operators to run the business. Where they process personal information on our behalf, they do so under our instruction and under a written agreement. These currently include our website host, our email and productivity provider, Google Analytics, and — where a project involves them — the messaging, telephony, calendar, accounting or CRM platforms your build connects to. We will tell you which ones apply to your project before we begin.
Some of these operators process data outside South Africa. Where that happens, we satisfy ourselves that the receiving jurisdiction or the operator’s contractual commitments provide protection substantially similar to POPIA, as section 72 requires.
How long do we keep it?
Enquiries that do not become projects are deleted within 24 months. Records relating to work we have actually delivered are kept for seven years, because tax and company law require it. Analytics data follows Google Analytics 4’s retention setting. If you ask us to delete your information sooner and we have no legal obligation to keep it, we will.
How do we protect it?
The site is served over HTTPS with HSTS. Access to enquiry data is limited to the people who need it. Accounts that hold personal information use multi-factor authentication. We review the operators we use and remove those we no longer need.
What are your rights?
Under POPIA you may ask us to confirm what personal information we hold about you, correct or delete it, object to processing, or withdraw a consent you previously gave. Email hello@cognexa.co.za and we will respond within one month.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforegulator.org.za.
Cookies and analytics
This site sets no advertising cookies. Google Analytics 4 sets a first-party cookie to distinguish one visit from another. You can block it in your browser settings, or install Google’s opt-out browser add-on, without losing any site functionality.
Automated decision-making
Nothing on this website makes an automated decision that has a legal effect on you. Where we build AI chatbots or voice agents for clients, section 71 of POPIA restricts decisions taken solely by automated means, and we design those builds so that a person reviews any decision that materially affects someone. We explain how in our guide to POPIA compliance for WhatsApp AI chatbots.
Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle personal information, we will update this page and change the date at the top. Material changes affecting existing clients will also be sent by email.