Privacy policy
The short version
- Accelamos helps accounting firms draft client emails. Your team reviews and approves every email before it is sent.
- For the client emails and files we handle on behalf of a firm, the firm decides what happens to the data and we act only on its instructions.
- Your data is not used to train AI models.
- We do not sell personal data.
- You can exercise your rights at any time by emailing alex@accelamos.ai.
1. Who we are
Accelamos is a trading name of Open Energy Software Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16111131) with its registered office at 128 City Road, London, England, EC1V 2NX.
This policy explains how we handle personal data under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We play two different roles, and which one applies depends on whose data it is:
- Controller for data about visitors to our website, people who register interest, and the people who use Accelamos for their firm. We decide why and how that data is used.
- Processor for client emails, messages, files and records that a firm connects to Accelamos. The firm is the controller. We process that data only on the firm's documented instructions (see section 5).
2. What we collect
| Whose data | What we collect | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Website visitors and people who register interest | Company name, email address, anything you write to us, and technical data such as IP address, browser and pages viewed. | You, and your device. |
| Customers and their team members | Name, work email, role, firm, login and usage data, billing details and support history. Card details are handled by our payment provider, not stored by us. | You, your firm, and your use of the service. |
| A firm's clients and contacts (we act as processor) | Email, WhatsApp and SMS content and metadata, client files and request history, details from connected practice management or accounting software, login credentials and access tokens for connected systems (stored encrypted), and the firm's writing style. This can include financial and tax information, and sometimes more sensitive details a client chooses to share. | The firm's connected systems. |
| Everyone | Audit records of what Accelamos drafted, what information the draft used, who approved it and when it was sent. | Generated by the service. |
We do not intentionally collect special category data. If it appears in a client message, we process it only to deliver the firm's service and it stays under the firm's control.
3. How and why we use it
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Provide, secure and support the service, including drafting and recording emails | Contract (controller data); the firm's instructions (processor data) |
| Respond to enquiries and manage registrations | Legitimate interests in running our business, and steps before entering a contract |
| Improve and keep the service reliable, prevent misuse, analyse usage | Legitimate interests. We use service-level and aggregated data for this, and do not use firm or client content to train AI models. |
| Send marketing emails to business contacts | Legitimate interests or consent, as the law requires. You can opt out at any time. |
| Non-essential cookies | Consent |
| Meet legal, tax and regulatory obligations; establish or defend legal claims | Legal obligation and legitimate interests |
We carry out a balancing test whenever we rely on legitimate interests and will explain it on request.
4. AI and your data
- Human approval. Accelamos prepares drafts. It does not send an email or message to a client without a person on your team approving it.
- Workflows. Accelamos can also sign in to the systems a firm connects, move data between them and complete workflows the firm has set up, which can include following up with clients, within the access the firm grants.
- No training on your data. We do not use customer or client content to train AI models, and we only use model providers whose terms do not allow them to train on it.
- No solely automated decisions. We do not make decisions about individuals that have legal or similarly significant effects based only on automated processing.
- Traceability. The audit record lets a firm see what a draft was built from and who signed it off.
5. Firms and their clients
If you are a firm using Accelamos, you are the controller of your clients' data. You are responsible for having a lawful basis to use it, for telling your clients how it is used, and for complying with your professional and regulatory obligations. Our data processing agreement, available on request, sets out how we process that data. Under it we will:
- process the data only on your documented instructions;
- make sure everyone with access is bound by confidentiality;
- apply appropriate security measures and tell you without undue delay if we become aware of a personal data breach;
- help you respond to requests from individuals and to regulators;
- delete or return the data at the end of the service, and allow audits as the law requires.
If you are a client of an accounting firm and want to see, correct or delete your data, please contact the firm first. If you contact us, we will pass your request to the firm.
6. Who we share data with
We do not sell personal data. We share it only with:
- service providers that help us run Accelamos, acting as our sub-processors: cloud hosting, AI model providers, email delivery, analytics, payments, customer support and security tooling. Current list: available on request from alex@accelamos.ai. We bind each one by contract and will give customers at least 30 days' notice of changes;
- the systems a firm chooses to connect, such as Outlook, Gmail, WhatsApp, SMS providers and practice management or accounting software;
- professional advisers, insurers, and authorities where the law requires;
- a buyer or investor if our business is restructured or sold, on the same terms as this policy.
7. International transfers
If we or our sub-processors transfer personal data outside the UK, we make sure a lawful transfer mechanism is in place, such as a UK adequacy decision or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum, together with any additional safeguards required.
8. How long we keep it
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Registration and enquiry data | 12 months after last contact |
| Account and billing records | For the life of the account, then 6 years for tax and accounting records |
| Firm and client content processed for a firm | For the life of the contract, then deleted or returned within 30 days of termination, unless the law requires otherwise |
| Audit records | 6 years so a firm can evidence its decisions |
| Security and server logs | 12 months |
9. Security
We protect personal data with measures appropriate to the risk, including encryption in transit and at rest, and access limited to the people who need it. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your data, we will notify the people and regulators we are required to, within the legal time limits.
10. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to be informed, to access your data, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to its use, to receive it in a portable format, and to withdraw consent where we rely on it. You also have the right not to be subject to solely automated decisions with significant effects.
To use any of these rights, email alex@accelamos.ai. We may ask you to confirm your identity. We will reply within one month, and tell you if we need longer for a complex request. These rights are not absolute, and we will explain if one does not apply.
11. Cookies and similar technologies
We currently use only strictly necessary cookies to make the site work. We will ask for your consent before setting any analytics or marketing cookies, and you can change your choice at any time. You can also block cookies in your browser settings, though parts of the site may not work as expected.
12. Marketing
If you register your interest, we may email you about Accelamos. Every message includes a way to unsubscribe, and you can also email us to stop. We follow the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
13. Children
Accelamos is a business service and is not intended for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect their data.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy. We will change the date at the top and, if the changes are significant, tell customers directly or on our website.
15. Contact and complaints
Questions or requests: alex@accelamos.ai, or write to Open Energy Software Ltd, 128 City Road, London, England, EC1V 2NX.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first.