Privacy policy
The Automation Company builds and runs AI automations for Canadian businesses. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, and what you can ask us to do with it. We follow the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) when we handle personal information.
What we collect and why
When you contact us. The contact form asks for your name, work email, company, which team it's for and what you want to automate. We use this to reply, to book a call and to prepare your free automation plan.
When you email or call us. We keep the emails you send and the notes from our calls so we can follow up and do the work you asked for.
When you take the AI readiness assessment. Your answers stay in your browser. They're used only to show your score and suggested projects on the page, and the assessment doesn't ask for your email.
When you visit the site. If we run analytics on this site, they record pages viewed, the site that sent you, your browser and an approximate location based on your IP address. We use this to see which pages help visitors. We don't sell it, and we don't use it to build advertising profiles.
We collect only what we need for these purposes. We don't sell personal information.
Client data inside the automations we build
When we build or run an automation for a client, we often work with personal information that the client controls, such as their customers' names, emails, orders or support tickets. For that data:
- We process it only on the client's instructions and for the work in our agreement.
- We work inside the client's own accounts, like their Gmail, Outlook, HubSpot, Salesforce, Shopify or QuickBooks, with the least access the work needs.
- We log every run, so the client can see what each automation did and when.
- When the work ends, the client removes our access, or we remove it ourselves and confirm that we have.
The client is responsible for having the right to share that data with us and for telling their own customers how it's used. If you're a customer of one of our clients and have a question about your data, contact that business first. We'll help them answer you.
Third-party AI model providers
Many automations send text to an AI model to read, sort or draft something. The client chooses the model. It may come from a provider such as Anthropic or OpenAI, be reached through a service such as OpenRouter, or be an open-source model.
When an automation uses a model provider, the data in each request goes to that provider and is handled under its terms. We tell each client which provider every automation uses. Where a provider offers settings or plans that stop customer data from being used to train its models, we use them. We send only the data a step needs.
Who else sees personal information
We use service providers to run our business, such as email, file storage, call scheduling and website hosting. They get only the information they need to provide their service to us.
Some of these providers, and some AI model providers, store or process data outside Canada, including in the United States. While it's there, it's subject to the laws of that country and may be accessible to its courts and authorities.
We may also disclose personal information when the law requires it.
How long we keep it
We keep contact and inquiry information while we're in touch about a project and for a limited time after our last contact, then delete it. You can ask us to delete it sooner. We keep records tied to a signed agreement, such as invoices, for as long as tax and business law requires. Client data handled inside an automation stays in the client's accounts. We don't keep copies after the work ends, except run logs the client asks us to keep.
How we protect it
We use access controls, strong passwords and two-factor authentication on the accounts we use, and we limit access to the people doing the work. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach of security safeguards creates a real risk of significant harm to you, we'll notify you and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as PIPEDA requires.
Your rights
You can ask us to:
- tell you what personal information we hold about you and how we've used it;
- correct information that's wrong or incomplete;
- delete information we no longer need;
- stop using your information for a purpose you agreed to, subject to legal or contract limits.
Email us at hello@theautomation.ca. We'll reply within 30 days. We may ask you to confirm your identity first.
If you're not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Changes to this policy
When we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top of this page. If a change affects how we use information we already hold, we'll tell the people affected.
Contact
Send privacy questions to hello@theautomation.ca.