The details, clearly
Privacy policy
What we collect, why we use it, and how to ask about your information.
Last updated 24 October 2026
Who is responsible
Contiva is operated by Richard Zhang, trading as Contiva. This notice covers the public website at contiva.co.za, account access, and personal information handled to provide the service. Contact Richard about privacy.
Information we collect
When you make an enquiry, we collect your name, email address, company and industry where supplied, enquiry topic, and message. The collaboration form requires its labelled fields to handle a project enquiry. The contact page only requires your name, email, topic, and message. Providing information is voluntary; without contact details we cannot respond.
For accounts and workspaces, we hold your email, hashed short-lived sign-in tokens, verification status, organisation membership, permissions, invitations, and session information. An organisation may add contacts, notes, documents, follow-ups, payment records, and activity history to its workspace.
Requests to the site also expose technical information such as an IP address, requested page, and request time to the server. Security controls use request information to limit abuse. Please do not send passwords, payment-card details, identity documents, or sensitive information through a public enquiry.
Why we use information
We use enquiries to respond, understand requested work, prepare proposals, and handle support or privacy requests. Account information enables authentication, access permissions, and service administration. Workspace records support the work requested by the organisation.
Processing may be necessary to take steps you request before a contract, perform an agreement, meet a legal obligation, or protect legitimate service and security interests. Where consent is the basis, you may withdraw it. Sending an enquiry does not subscribe you to marketing.
Your organisation’s records
An organisation determines which people and records it puts in its workspace and who may access them. Contact that organisation first about information it controls. Contiva can help route or handle a request as appropriate to the service agreement and applicable law.
Information is made available to authorised members of the relevant organisation according to their access permissions. Signing out does not delete an organisation’s saved records.
Email companion
The optional Contiva Email Companion displays your organisation's CRM beside webmail. It detects open messages in supported Gmail and Outlook web interfaces. On other webmail sites, click the extension button, choose a donor and enter message details manually. No separate email application or Microsoft add-in is required.
Where the email interface makes them available, the companion reads the selected message's sender and recipient addresses, sender name, subject, message identifier, link and visible text to match donors and suggest contact details. Message text is processed locally in your browser; the full message body is not sent to Contiva. It does not download your full inbox or use the Gmail API or Microsoft Graph. It runs automatically only on the listed Gmail and Outlook hosts; access to another webmail tab starts when you click the extension button, using temporary access to that tab.
Opening a message does not save it to the CRM. Contact suggestions are sent only when you save the donor. Selected or manually entered email metadata, including subject, date, sender, message identifier and message link, is sent when you choose to log it. Documents you explicitly select for upload or capture are stored with the chosen support record. Saved information is available to authorised members of your organisation. If direct attachment capture is unavailable, download the file through your email client and upload it through Contiva.
The companion uses your Contiva website session to access your organisation's CRM over HTTPS. It keeps display preferences, such as hidden reminders and whether the panel is closed, in browser storage. It does not collect general browsing history, send your session token or email content to advertising, analytics or AI services, sell this information, or use it for advertising profiles. Uninstalling the extension removes its access to webmail; saved CRM records remain subject to the organisation's retention and deletion arrangements.
Contiva uses information accessed by the companion only to provide and support its disclosed CRM features, in accordance with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Access or sharing is limited to those features, security and abuse prevention, your explicit instructions, and legal obligations. Ask your organisation or contact Contiva to request access, correction or deletion.
Storage, retention, and security
Enquiries are saved so they can be reviewed and answered. We retain personal information only for the purpose it was collected, related lawful record keeping, or a period required by an agreement or law. This version has no automatic enquiry-expiry schedule; deletion requests require review and manual action.
Accounts and workspace records remain stored until removed through the available controls or an agreed closure process. Contractual or legal retention can limit immediate deletion. Backup retention, exports, and closure arrangements must be agreed for a hosted workspace.
The service uses access controls, single-use email sign-in codes and hashed session tokens, and session protections. No online system can guarantee absolute security. If a security incident affects personal information, we will assess it and make notifications required by applicable law.
Your choices and rights
Depending on applicable law, you can request access, correction, deletion, or restriction; object to processing; withdraw consent where relevant; and complain to a competent regulator. We may need to verify your identity and explain any lawful reason a request cannot be fulfilled.
Use the privacy request form. Describe the information and the action you want, without including identity documents at this stage. You may also consult the Information Regulator’s request forms or contact the Information Regulator.