Privacy Policy

1Who we are

iCompetent (also trading as iCompetent Consultancy, “iCompetent”, “we”, “our” or “us”) provides a skills-management platform, online and classroom training, and business consultancy. This policy covers our websites.

You can contact us about privacy at any time at privacy@icompetent.com.

2Information we receive from Google Sign-In

If you choose “Sign in with Google”, Google shares the following with us, and only after you agree on Google’s consent screen:

• your name;
• your email address;
• your profile photo.

We do not ask Google for access to your Gmail, Google Drive, Calendar, contacts or any other Google data, and we cannot see your Google password.

3Other information we collect

• Account details you give us — for example your name, email address and password if you sign up with email, and any profile details you choose to add (job title, organisation, location, a short bio, social accounts).
• Learning records — the courses and skills you enrol in, your progress, quiz and assessment results, evidence you upload, and certificates you earn.
• Forms — what you send us through the contact, quote, newsletter and careers forms, including a CV if you attach one.
• Purchases — a record of what you bought. Card and payment details are handled by our payment provider (Polar, Paddle, PayPal or Creem) and never reach our servers.
• Usage information — pages visited, browser and device type, collected through cookies and Google Analytics (see section 8).

4How we use your information

We use the information Google gives us (name, email address and profile photo) only to:

• create your iCompetent account and sign you in;
• keep you signed in across icompetent.com and corp.icompetent.com, which share one account;
• show your name and photo on your profile, in your organisation’s workspace (if you belong to one) and on certificates you earn;
• contact you about your account, courses and purchases.

We use the other information in section 3 to provide our courses and skills platform, answer your enquiries, process purchases, keep the service secure, and improve it. We send marketing emails only if you subscribe, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

5Google API Services User Data Policy

iCompetent’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. In particular, we use Google user data only to provide and improve the sign-in and account features described above; we do not use it for advertising, we do not sell it, we do not use it to train AI or machine-learning models, and no person at iCompetent reads it except with your permission, for security purposes, to comply with the law, or where it has been made anonymous.

6Where your information is stored

Your account and learning records are stored in Google Firebase (Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore and Cloud Storage), operated by Google LLC on Google Cloud. Our websites run on Firebase App Hosting. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and access is limited by security rules and to authorised staff.

7Sharing

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information, and we do not share Google user data with third parties. We use a small number of service providers who process data on our behalf only to run the service: Google (Firebase hosting and storage, Google Analytics, and the Gemini model behind our optional AI Interviewer tool) and our payment providers (Polar, Paddle, PayPal, Creem) when you make a purchase.

If you belong to an organisation on corp.icompetent.com, that organisation’s administrators can see your name, email address and skills records within their workspace. We may also disclose information where the law requires it.

8Cookies and analytics

We use a small number of cookies:

• Sign-in cookie (__session) — keeps you signed in across our websites. It is essential and is removed when you sign out.
• Language cookie — remembers the language you chose.
• Shared certificate cookie (ic_cert_share) — when you open a certificate someone shared, remembers for 30 days which network the link came from (for example LinkedIn), so we can count how many sign-ups and enrolments shared certificates bring. It holds only the network and the time, never who you are, and is set only if you choose Accept in the cookie banner.
• Google Analytics — tells us which pages are used and which steps people complete (signing up, enrolling, buying a course, sending a form), so we can improve the site. These cookies are set only if you choose Accept in the cookie banner; until then, and if you choose Reject, Google receives only cookieless signals with nothing stored on your device. With your consent Google may also use the data for its advertising features. You can change your choice at any time under Cookie settings at the foot of the page, and your choice is kept in your browser for 13 months.
• What we never send to Google — your name, email address or phone number. When you are signed in, Google receives a scrambled identifier made from your account, so your visits on different devices can be counted as one person without telling Google who you are. Addresses that would identify you, such as your profile or certificate pages, are reported with the identifying part removed.

9How long we keep it, and deleting it

We keep your account information for as long as your account is open, and form submissions for as long as we need them to answer you. Records we must keep for legal or accounting reasons, such as purchase records, are kept only for as long as the law requires. An issued certificate number stays on our register so that it cannot be reissued to someone else.

You can have your data deleted in either of these ways:

• Delete your account from your account settings on icompetent.com. This removes your sign-in account and, at the same time, erases your profile and profile picture; your learning records (course enrolments and progress, simulation results, live training places and attendance, and AI interviewer sessions and balance); your course reviews, comments and review votes; your job and trainer applications with their CVs; your trainer profile and messages; your cart; and your role as a manager of a training company’s page. Records that other people, or our accounts, depend on are kept with your name and email address removed: your orders, your certificates (so their numbers can still be checked), your forum topics and replies, and reviews you gave a trainer. Training requests and quotes stay as the record of the deal; they do not carry your name or address. Records an organisation keeps about you on corp.icompetent.com belong to that organisation: ask it to remove them.
• Email privacy@icompetent.com from the address on your account and ask us to erase anything else we hold about you, such as messages you sent through our contact or quote forms, or your newsletter subscription. We will do so, and confirm it, within 30 days.

You can also stop iCompetent’s access to your Google account at any time from your Google Account settings, under “Third-party apps & services”.

10Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to see the information we hold about you, correct it, delete it, object to how we use it, or receive a copy. Email privacy@icompetent.com and we will respond within 30 days.

11Children

Our services are not intended for children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their data.

12Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page and update the date at the top.

13Contact

For any privacy question or request, email privacy@icompetent.com. See also our Terms of Service.