Hey, thanks for reading this.
We think it’s important that all users of all online tools have easy access to transparent, legible, and honest policies about their data.
Here, we’ll cover the ways we process information to support Vium and how we use it. We try to be open, but if you have any questions and want to talk to us, you can ask us anything at human@vium.work.
This Privacy Policy applies to the Vium website (www.vium.com) and your organization’s Vium subdomain at vium.work (we’ll refer to those collectively as the “Site”); our mobile application (or the “App”); and any other service offering offered by us that references or links to this Privacy Policy (together, the “Services”).
Okay, let’s start with the basics.
We’re Vium, a small team of designers and developers that, along with the rest of our organization, want to make things better. And for Vium, better means simpler.
We’re a part of OPX PLLC, a design company located in Washington, D.C. The people at OPX design a lot of different kinds of stuff, including this app. You can learn more about OPX here. We may refer to ourselves as “Vium” or “we” or “our” or “us” throughout this Privacy Policy.
Information and content your organization provides. Vium works by referencing a database of information populated by our users. The types of information that live in the database depend on the content your organization provides. Most of this information is provided by your organization during the original set-up of the Services. Before you can install the App on your phone, or gain access to the Site, we also ask for certain information in the form of surveys which are completed by various representative groups in your organization. You may have gotten one yourself.Organizations can provide the following types of information: the names of conference rooms, location of your building, first and last names of users and their email addresses associated with the organization (i.e., your business email address).
Information and content you provide. Vium allows you (and other Vium users) to mark things as favorites, provide feedback on places and objects, and, if you are an administrator for your organization, upload or edit information provided in the App or on the Site. That information can only be seen by others in your organization’s Vium and by us. For instance, if you add Tom’s Taco Stand, tag it as a great lunch spot, and add it as a favorite, that information is shared across your organization’s Vium. Similarly, if you flag a phone as being broken in a conference room, Vium might send that as a heads up to the IT department, depending on what your organization has configured Vium to do in that situation.
Your location. If you allow it, Vium detects your location to provide wayfinding to places indoors and outside. We don’t store or report your current or previous locations. We don’t connect location information to your identity – it’s strictly used to display a blue dot on your device. You can always turn this off in your device settings. If you’re curious, the technology Vium uses to detect locations indoors relies on basic sensors that exist in your phone to provide information about your immediate environment, like the accelerometer, magnetometer, gyro sensor, barometer, proximity sensor, and brightness sensor.
Your camera. If you allow it, Vium allows administrators of an organization’s Vium to update a photo in real-time (such as a photo for a meeting room or printer location) by taking a snapshot with their phone’s camera. For some training exercises, we may ask you to use your camera to read a QR code. We do not access your camera for anything else.
Your connection. Vium uses the internet to provide search results, wayfinding, documents, and pretty much everything else. The App looks to see if you’re connected so we can tell you you’re offline instead of just showing a blank screen. Vium will use mobile data or wi-fi as available.
Your device type. Some functionality of the App or Site will work differently depending on your device, so we check to see what you’re using. Most of that is display and feature related, like getting the icons to look right on different operating systems and phones. We don’t attribute the device type you use to your Vium account.
Your usage. Vium looks at how the Services are used. To make Vium better, more relevant, and easier to use, our designers can look at how users interact with Vium, like the types of content viewed or searched for, the features used, and the time, frequency and duration of use. We don’t share this information in a way that is attributable to you or your account.
Hard to follow? Maybe an example will be more helpful. Let’s say you search for “printer” once a week, but John in IT searches for printers twelve times a week. He also updates their listings in Vium. Vium wouldn’t share that you or John were interested in printers, but could report that the organization as a whole checked out printers thirteen times a week on average.
We could then use that statistic to determine if printers were an important part of the organization’s workflow (by comparison to say, other searches) and if we should make adjustments in the App for printers to be more accessible or detailed. Now, if the same were true but “printers” were not included in your organization’s Vium, we might recommend that they be added because it seems like they might be an important piece of missing information.
This is how we look at things like happy hour spots or lunch places, too – if we see that one is more frequently requested by the organization (not you), we might prioritize one over the other as a pigment in the organization’s culture.
To provide the Services to you and a good experience within Vium. We use what we know and what Vium has collected to give relevant search results, wayfinding, and generally make the App and Site function as intended.
To improve, research, and make things better. We use the information we have to develop, test and improve our products, including by conducting surveys and research, or testing and troubleshooting new features. For instance, if we see that many users are searching for something in Vium that we haven’t thought to include, we might use that knowledge to add something new and beneficial to the App or the Site.
To communicate with you. We use the information we have to respond to your questions or requests, to contact you about Vium, let you know about our policies and terms, and provide technical support. These are either through push notifications (if you have opted-in to receive push notifications) or emails, so we also use information, like your email address, to respond to you when you contact us. Remember that you can always disable push notifications on a personal mobile device if you don’t want to see them.
We may use or share information described in this Privacy Policy with our affiliates or subsidiaries that require access to that information for business purposes. We may also share information described in this Privacy Policy with third parties who provide services to us, including our service providers, contractors and consultants. We engage third-party service providers to provide the following services: mapping, storage, database support and hosting. Our service providers use information to provide administrative support, to help correct technical problems or malfunctions with the Services, to technically process the information, to provide services or to take precautions against liability. Additionally, if you access our Services via a mobile device, your access will be transmitted via your mobile carrier’s network and your carrier may have access to it. Consult your carrier’s privacy policy for additional information.
We reserve the right to transfer any information we have about you in connection with a sale, merger, consolidation, change in control, transfer of assets, reorganization or liquidation of our business.
We reserve the right to disclose any personal information as needed if that information is requested by law enforcement agencies or if we are required to do so by law, treaty, regulation, subpoena, court order, or by a government entity. We also may disclose your personal information to third parties if we have reason to believe that disclosing such information is necessary to conduct investigations of possible breaches of law, to cooperate in any legal investigation, or to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be violating any agreement with us.
We don’t share your or your organization’s information, usage, or anything to other organizations using a separate instance of Vium. We may also share your information with your permission or otherwise in accordance with applicable law.
California Privacy Rights. Pursuant to Section 1798.83 of the California Civil Code, residents of California have the right to request from a business with whom the California resident has an established business relationship what types of personal information, if any, the business shares with third parties for direct marketing purposes by such third parties and the identities of the third parties with whom the business has shared such information in the immediately preceding calendar year.
We do not share any personal information with third parties for direct marketing purposes by such parties. If you have any questions, comments or requested related to this Section, please contact us by e-mail at human@vium.work. A number of states are currently considering enacting laws similar to the California law above. If you are a resident of a state that enacts such a law, please use the contact information above to contact us with any questions, requests or comments.
We use reasonable precautions, including technical, administrative, and physical procedures, to protect personal information from loss, misuse, or alteration. Although guaranteed security does not exist on the Internet or offline, we make commercially reasonable efforts to handle such information consistent with this Privacy Policy and applicable laws. Due to the design of the Internet and other factors outside our control, we cannot guarantee that communications between you and our servers will be free from unauthorized access by third parties.
If you need to correct, update, or delete your personal information, please contact us at any time by sending an email to human@vium.work Please note that we may not be able to correct or update your personal information previously provided to us by third parties.
Opt-Out: If you receive any promotional email communication from us, you will be given the option to “unsubscribe” from receiving further email communications from us at any time. Your option not to receive promotional and marketing material from us will not preclude us from corresponding with you, by email or otherwise, regarding existing or past business relationships with us, and will not preclude us from accessing and viewing your personal information in the course of maintaining and improving the Services.
Cookies: You can set your browser to refuse all or some cookies or alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies or block the use of other technologies, some parts of the Services may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
Push Notifications: If you do not want to receive push notifications from us, you may opt out of receiving these when you first launch the App or at a later stage by using the settings on your mobile device.
Location: You can choose whether or not to allow the App to collect and use real-time information about your device’s location through your device’s settings. You can manage these preferences when the App is first launched or at a later stage by using the setting on your mobile device. If you block the use of location information, an essential part of the App will be inaccessible and will not function properly. For example, if you do not allow the App access to your location on your phone, then you will not be able to collect offers.
Camera: You can choose whether or not to allow the App to collect information about your device’s camera through your mobile device’s settings. You can manage these preferences when the App is first launched or at a later stage by using the setting on your mobile device. If you block the use of camera, some functions of the App will be inaccessible and will not function properly.
The Services are not intended for use by children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If we learn that we have collected the personal information of anyone under 13, we will take steps to delete the information as soon as possible.
Vium sometimes links to other sites that are not controlled by Vium in order to provide information to you and for your convenience.
For example, you may find a link to visit a GoogleMaps website or similar map website if you are looking for restaurants or other amenities near your location. If you click on a third-party link, like a map, an article in the custom RSS feed, or a link to your organization’s intranet site or your organization’s healthcare portal, you’ll be directed to that third party's site. These links are made available to you as a convenience, and you agree to use these links at your own risk. We don’t control what goes on there and suggest you review the privacy policy of every site you visit. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices or content of such third-party sites. This Privacy Policy only applies to information we collect from you while you are using the Services.
Unless your browser settings are configured to make your online activities and information about your online activities (such as analytics data) invisible to usage analytics tools, we do not presently have the capability to omit you from usage analytics to the extent your browser only sends us a “do not track” message and does not otherwise screen you from tracking without any action on our part. Third parties do not have authorization from us to track which websites you visited prior to and after visiting the Services. However we cannot control third-party tracking and there may be some third-party tracking that occurs without our knowledge or consent.
If required by law, we’ll cooperate with regulators or law enforcement and respond to legal requests or when we have a good-faith belief that it’s important to do so. Those instances would include situations where we it’s necessary to detect, prevent and address fraud or unauthorized use of Vium, violations of our terms or policies, or other harmful or illegal activity, or to protect ourselves (including our rights or property), you or others.
We reserve the right to change or replace this Privacy Policy at our sole discretion at any time. In the event this Privacy Policy should materially change, we'll generally notify you or your organization about changes to this Privacy Policy and give you the opportunity to review the revised policy before you choose to continue using Vium. The most recent privacy policy is available at vium.work/privacy-policy, too. Your continued use of any of the Services following the posting of changes to our Privacy Policy means you accept those changes.
If you have questions about any of this, talk to us.
No, really. Privacy is important. You can contact us by email at human@vium.work or by mail at:
OPX Vium
21Dupont Circle NW, Suite 200
Washington,D.C., 20036
Date of Last Revision: October 30, 2018
