Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 2026

1. Who we are

The Common Sense CTO is part of Stepthinking Ltd (“we”, “us”, “our”), a company registered in England and Wales under company number 11456305.

We provide technology insights, practical resources and professional consultancy services. Stepthinking Ltd is the data controller for personal data collected through this website.

2. What information we collect

When you contact us, download a resource, subscribe to our newsletter, complete an assessment or request information, we may collect:

Your name and email address
Your organisation and role
Information about your organisation, such as its size and technology leadership arrangements
Your answers to assessment questions
Scores and results calculated from your answers
Comments or other information you choose to provide
Your communication and newsletter preferences
Technical information associated with your use of the website and forms

Please do not include sensitive personal information, confidential business information or information about other identifiable individuals in open-text fields.

3. The Technology Confidence Check

When you complete the Technology Confidence Check, we use your answers to calculate an overall score and provide an assessment across several areas of technology leadership.

We may use your submission to:

Generate and present your results
Send you a copy of, or information relating to, your results
Respond to questions or requests you make
Discuss issues or opportunities identified by your answers
Understand common technology challenges and improve the assessment and our services

The form uses predefined calculations and routing rules to determine which results page you see. This is an automated process, but it does not make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

Completing the assessment does not automatically subscribe you to our newsletter. You will only receive ongoing marketing communications if you actively choose to receive them.

4. How we use your information

We use personal data to:

Provide resources, assessment results or information you have requested
Respond to enquiries and follow up on requests
Provide relevant information about The Common Sense CTO and Stepthinking
Contact you about Stepthinking services where this is relevant to your enquiry or assessment
Send newsletters and other marketing communications where you have consented
Understand engagement with our content and improve our website, assessments and services
Protect our website and systems from misuse

We do not sell your personal data or share it with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

5. Our legal basis for processing

We process personal data under one or more of the following legal bases:

Consent: where you have actively chosen to receive newsletters or other marketing communications
Legitimate interests: to respond to your request, provide and follow up your assessment, understand engagement with our content, improve our services and communicate with you about directly relevant professional services
Contractual necessity: where processing is necessary to provide services you have requested or to take steps before entering into an agreement
Legal obligation: where we are required to retain or disclose information by law

You may withdraw your consent or object to processing based on legitimate interests at any time.

6. Service providers and sharing your information

We use trusted service providers to operate our website, forms, communications and business systems. These may include:

Wix, which hosts and operates this website
Tally, which provides the Technology Confidence Check and stores its submissions
Email, newsletter and customer relationship management providers
Professional advisers and technology support providers where necessary

These organisations process personal data on our behalf and are required to protect it appropriately.

Tally is based in Belgium and states that form submissions are encrypted in transit and at rest and stored in Europe.

Some service providers may process information outside the United Kingdom. Where this happens, we require appropriate safeguards to protect personal data in accordance with UK data protection law.

We may also disclose information where required by law or where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.

7. How long we retain your information

We retain personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.

Unless we have an ongoing business relationship or a legal reason to retain it for longer:

Identifiable assessment submissions will normally be retained for up to 24 months
Enquiry information will normally be retained for up to 24 months after the most recent meaningful contact
Newsletter subscription information will be retained until you unsubscribe or withdraw your consent
Records needed for legal, contractual, tax or accounting purposes may be retained for the applicable statutory period

When information is no longer required, it will be deleted or anonymised.

8. Security

We and our service providers use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, alteration or disclosure.

No online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You should therefore avoid submitting commercially sensitive or confidential information unless it is necessary and appropriate to do so.

9. Your rights

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

Ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
Request deletion of your information
Object to or request restriction of processing
Withdraw consent at any time
Request the transfer of certain information to you or another organisation
Complain about how your information has been handled

You can unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time using the link included in our emails or by contacting us.

If you are dissatisfied with our response, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk.

10. Contact us

For questions about this policy, to exercise your data protection rights or to ask us to delete your assessment submission, contact:

Stepthinking Ltd
Email: matt@stepthinking.com
Company number: 11456305
Registered office: C/O Str84ward Accounting Limited, Lewis Building, 35 Bull Street, Birmingham, B4 6EQ