Privacy policy

This policy explains how Project Forward Technologies Ltd ("Project Forward", "we", "us") collects and uses personal data, and your rights under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

Who we are

Project Forward Technologies Ltd is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy, except where we say otherwise in Forms on our clients' websites and Calls and texts to our clients' website numbers.

What data we collect

When you contact us

When you use the contact form on this website, we collect what you enter:

• your name
• your business name (optional)
• your email address
• your phone number (optional)
• your message

To prevent spam and abuse, we also record the browser you used (its user-agent string), the page you sent the form from, and a scrambled version of your IP address. We use your IP address briefly to stop repeated submissions, but we only store it in a one-way hashed form that can't be turned back into the address.

If you email us or message us on WhatsApp, we see your email address or phone number, the name on your account and what you send, and use them in the same way, to reply to you.

When you ring us

If you ring us on 0330 043 2692 and we can't answer, an AI assistant may answer for us. It says it's an AI, answers questions about our services, finds out what you need and tells you what happens next. Twilio turns what you say into text and reads the assistant's replies aloud. The assistant runs on Claude, made by Anthropic, so what you say is processed by Anthropic to write the replies and a summary of the call for us. Under its terms for business customers, Anthropic doesn't use it to train its AI models.

We don't record the call. We keep your number (unless you withhold it), the time of the call, what was said and the summary, and use them to get back to you. The assistant doesn't make decisions about you: we read the summary and decide what happens next. If you'd rather not talk to it, say so and it will take a short message, or email us instead.

We also have a demo line, 07863 792989, that anyone can ring or text to try our AI assistants. On it, they answer as a made-up business, so nobody acts on what you say about a job. Calls are answered as above, and texts by our text assistant, which also runs on Claude. We keep your number (unless you withhold it), what was said and the summaries, and may use them to get back to you about the demo or our services. If you'd rather we didn't, tell us. Reply STOP to a text from the demo line and it won't text you again.

When you become a client

We keep the details needed to deliver and bill for your website: your contact details, your business and website details, and records of our work together. Payments are handled by Stripe. We never see or store your full card details; we keep only Stripe's reference for your account and the status of your subscription.

If you text your website number to update your website, we keep your texts and any job photos you send through the link we give you, so we can make the change and show you a preview. We strip location data from photos, and delete them from our storage once the change is live or cancelled, by which point the ones you approved are part of your website.

Businesses we contact

We sometimes contact businesses whose websites we think we could improve. To do this, we record business contact details that are publicly available, such as the business name, trade, location, email address, phone number and website, along with our review of that website. If you'd rather we didn't contact you, tell us and we'll stop and delete your details.

How and why we use your data

• To reply to your enquiry. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in responding to you and, where relevant, taking steps at your request before entering into a contract.
• To provide and bill for our services. Our lawful basis is performing our contract with you, and our legal obligations such as keeping financial records.
• To run our demo line and get back to people who try it. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in showing how our assistants work and finding new clients. You can object at any time.
• To contact businesses about their websites. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in finding new clients. You can object at any time.
• To prevent spam and abuse. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in keeping our systems secure.

Cookies and fonts

This website doesn't set any cookies for visitors, and we don't use analytics, advertising or tracking tools.

The website's fonts are stored on our own hosting, so visiting it doesn't send your details to Google Fonts or any other font service.

Who we share it with

We use these providers ("processors") to run our service:

• Google Cloud and Firebase: website hosting, our database and the functions that process form submissions. Our database is in Google's London region.
• Google Workspace: our email, including replies to enquiries and the emails we send to businesses we contact.
• Cloudflare: DNS management and content delivery for websites we host.
• Resend: delivers enquiries from contact forms, and assistant chat and call summaries, to us or to our clients by email.
• Stripe: processes payments from our clients.
• Twilio: provides the phone numbers we run for clients and ourselves, connects calls, sends and receives text messages, and turns speech into text, and the assistant's replies into speech, when a voice assistant answers a call for us or for a client.
• Anthropic: provides the AI tools we use to run parts of our business, such as researching businesses, drafting emails, preparing client reports and making the website changes clients ask for by text. It also runs the text and voice assistants some of our clients use to reply to people who call or text them, the phone assistant that answers our own calls when we can't, and the assistants on our demo line.

If you message us on WhatsApp, or we message you there, your messages go through WhatsApp, which is run by Meta under its own privacy policy.

We don't sell your personal data, and we don't share it with anyone for their own marketing.

International transfers

Some of our providers, including Resend, Stripe, Twilio and Anthropic, are based in or use servers in the United States. Where your data is transferred outside the UK, we rely on the safeguards UK law requires, such as the UK–US data bridge or the UK's international data transfer agreement.

Forms on our clients' websites

We build and host websites for other businesses. When you use a contact form or newsletter signup on one of those websites, our systems process your details on behalf of that business. The business is the data controller and we act as its processor, so its own privacy policy applies. We store the same kind of data described above, with your IP address hashed in the same way, and pass enquiries to the business by email.

Calls and texts to and from our clients' website numbers

Some of our clients use a phone number we provide and manage for them, shown on their website. Calls to that number are passed straight through to the business's own phone. When you call or text one of these numbers, our systems process the following on behalf of that business:

• your phone number, unless you withhold it
• the time and length of the call, and whether it was answered
• the text of any messages you send to the number
• if the business uses our text assistant, the texts it sends you and a short summary of your chat for the business, such as your name if you give it, what you need and whether it's urgent
• if the business uses our voice assistant, what you and the assistant said on the call, as written down by speech recognition, and a short summary of the call for the business

We don't record calls or listen to them. If the business doesn't answer and you called from a UK mobile, we send you a text on the business's behalf so you can tell them what you need, and we send the business a text with your number so it can call you back. Any text you send to the number is passed on to the business.

Some businesses use our text assistant instead. If they miss your call, or you text their number, an AI assistant texts with you on the business's behalf to find out what you need and tells you what happens next. It says it's an assistant, and it doesn't promise anything for the business. The business gets a summary of your texts by email, and a text if your message is urgent, and gets back to you itself. The assistant doesn't make decisions about you: the business reads the summary and decides what happens next. If you text the number again later, the assistant is told what you asked about last time. Reply STOP and it won't text you again. The assistant runs on Claude, made by Anthropic, so your texts are processed by Anthropic to write the replies and the summary. Under its terms for business customers, Anthropic doesn't use them to train its AI models.

Some businesses also use our voice assistant. If they don't answer your call, an AI assistant may answer it for them. It says it's an AI, finds out what you need and tells you what happens next, and it doesn't promise anything for the business. Twilio turns what you say into text and reads the assistant's replies aloud. The assistant runs on Claude, made by Anthropic, so what you say is processed by Anthropic to write the replies and a summary of the call. Under its terms for business customers, Anthropic doesn't use it to train its AI models. We don't keep a recording of the call. The business gets the summary and what was said by email, and a text if your call is urgent, and gets back to you itself. The assistant doesn't make decisions about you: the business reads the summary and decides what happens next. If you'd rather not talk to it, say so and it will take a short message.

If you send one of these businesses an enquiry through their website and include a UK phone number, we may ring the business straight away, read your enquiry out to them, and connect them to you by phone. The call comes from the business's website number. If they can't take it, we may text you on their behalf to say your message has arrived, and text the business your name, number and what you asked about. We only do this between the hours the business sets, we check enquiries for spam first, and we record whether the call connected and for how long, not what was said.

The business is the data controller and we act as its processor, so its own privacy policy applies. We use Twilio to run these numbers, Anthropic for the text and voice assistants and Resend to email the business. If you'd like your details removed, contact the business, or email us and we'll pass your request on.

How long we keep it

• Enquiries: as long as needed to deal with your request, and no more than 24 months unless you become a client or we have a legal reason to keep them longer.
• Client records: for as long as you're a client, then as long as the law requires for financial records (usually six years).
• Calls and texts to clients' website numbers, including text assistant chats and what was said to a voice assistant: up to 12 months, and we delete them within three months of the business leaving our service.
• Calls to us, and calls and texts to our demo line, including what was said to our assistants: up to 12 months.
• Businesses we contact: up to 24 months after we last contacted you, or until you ask us to stop.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:

• access the personal data we hold about you
• ask us to correct inaccurate data
• ask us to delete your data
• object to, or ask us to restrict, how we use it
• ask us to transfer your data to you or someone else
• withdraw consent, where we rely on it

To use any of these rights, email hello@projectforward.co.uk. We'll reply within one month.

Complaints

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Changes to this policy

We'll post any changes on this page and update the date at the top.