GDPR and Thesaurus Software

Data Protection has always been a concern for Thesaurus Software and we’ve always aimed to act with complete integrity in this regard. But like all companies in preparation for GDPR, we have had to complete a total review on how we gather, maintain and use data.

Data Files

Firstly, Thesaurus Software Ltd. does not have access to your data files, except where they have been submitted for support reasons. We have no control over the authority, the quality or safety of the data input. You and you alone are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of your records. Whilst we have security measures in place to protect your data, it remains your responsibility to keep your sign in details secret, to sign off from the Thesaurus Software Ltd. product when you are not using it and to ensure there is no unauthorised access to your computer.

How we’re preparing

Some of the key changes that we’ve made that will affect our customers include;

• From time-to-time when assisting with an employe query, in order to fully resolve the query the only solution for us is to request a backup of our customer's file. Whilst we did have security protocols in place for this we felt that we could make them even more secure. We've created an in-program support feature that allows users to automatically send a backup of their payroll to us through a secure channel. The benefits being that customer don't have to upload the backup to their email where they may forget to delete, but mainly on our side; the backup is saved centrally on a secure server and then automatically deleted after one week. In our 2018 software, we are also including a new secure password recovery option. We have also worked on increased encryption of data files, just in case some hacker does manage to access your files.
• We have updated our privacy policy to accommodate our new data protection responsibilities. The new privacy policy explains how we use your data, who we share it with and how long we keep it for. We've really worked to keep the wording as plain and simple as possible.
• We have completed internal IT audits on every company PC, deleting any unnecessary data. Going forward our plan is to run these audits regularly, as it is a great way for us to keep track of all the data that we hold and ensure we are not retaining anything unnecessary.
• We have looked at how information is sent to and retrieved from our secure servers, be it for the purposes of maintaining our website or our CRM system. We have now changed all of our servers over to more secure Microsoft Azure servers. We have also introduced IP white listing, meaning that knowing the login credentials is not enough, the request must come from a trusted location.
• We have introduced extra consent fields in different areas of the software / websites. Going forward, with the exception of essential software updates, customers will not be contacted unless they have specifically opted in. Of course we think that our newsletters and webinar invites are quite informative, so we would definitely recommend that you sign-up.
• Internally, we have held staff training and update sessions to ensure our staff are fully aware of the new legislation and how it impacts their role.
• If you are a Bright Contracts customer we will be updating the data protection policies within the software over the coming weeks.