Privacy Policy
This policy covers our website, our Microsoft Teams app (the "Rural Solutions" app and its assistant, Eva) and the ways you contact us. How we handle your organization's systems and data while we support them is covered by your managed services agreement or proposal, which controls if the two differ.
The short version
- We collect only what we need to answer you and support your organization.
- We don't sell or rent personal information, and we don't use it for third-party advertising.
- Our website sets no cookies and runs no analytics.
- You can ask us to see, correct or delete your information at any time.
What we collect
On our website. Nothing you type on the site is sent to us. The cost calculator runs entirely in your browser. Our hosting provider (Microsoft Azure) keeps standard server logs, such as IP address, browser type and the pages requested, to run and protect the site.
When you contact us. When you call, text or email us, we keep what you share: usually your name, organization, phone number, email address and the reason you reached out.
In our Teams app. When someone at a client organization uses the Rural Solutions app in Microsoft Teams, we receive:
- Who you are, from Microsoft Teams: your name, work email address, and your organization's Microsoft 365 tenant ID. We use these to match you to your organization's account with us. We never rely on anything typed in the chat to decide who you are.
- What you send Eva: the messages you type, and any ticket you open or note you add.
- Your tickets: the ticket numbers, titles and status from our ticketing system that you are allowed to see.
The Home tab has no sign-in and collects nothing about you.
By text message. If you text with us, we keep the messages and your mobile number to provide support and service notifications you asked for.
How Eva uses AI
Eva uses an AI model (Claude, from Anthropic) to suggest general help steps while your ticket waits for a technician. The AI sees only the words you send in your chat with Eva, the title and status of your own ticket, and our published self-help articles. It cannot see your files, your mailbox, your other tickets or anyone else's information, and it cannot change anything on your systems. Under our agreement with Anthropic, your messages are not used to train AI models. Every AI reply is checked by our software before you see it. A technician is always available: call 802-551-2403.
How we use information
- To answer your questions and provide the services you or your organization asked for.
- To open, track and update support tickets.
- To keep our systems and yours secure, and to prevent misuse.
- To tell you about our services, if you're a client or have asked to hear from us. You can opt out at any time.
Who we share it with
We share information only with service providers that help us run our business, and only so they can do that work for us:
| Provider | What they do for us |
|---|---|
| Microsoft (Azure, Microsoft 365, Teams) | Hosts our website and Teams app; email and collaboration |
| Kaseya (Autotask) | Our ticketing and service management system |
| Anthropic | The AI model behind Eva's help suggestions |
| Squarespace Email Campaigns | Our email newsletters |
| Ooma (Ooma Office) | Our business phone system: calls and text messages |
We may also disclose information when the law requires it, or to protect the safety, rights or property of our clients, the public or us. If our business is ever sold or merged, information would transfer under the same protections described here.
Text messaging: No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties. Reply STOP at any time to opt out of texts.
How long we keep it
- Teams chats: Eva keeps only the last ten messages of a conversation, to follow what you're asking, and deletes them 30 days after the conversation's last message. Our system logs record which action was taken, never the words of your messages.
- Tickets and client records: for as long as we support your organization, and afterward as needed for our records, legal obligations and any disputes.
- Website logs: for the hosting provider's standard retention period.
How we protect it
Information is encrypted in transit and stored with Microsoft Azure in the United States. Access is limited to our staff and systems that need it, behind multi-factor authentication. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you as required by law.
Your choices and rights
- See, correct or delete: call us at 802-551-2403 or write to us at the address above. We'll verify who you are and respond within 30 days. Some records, such as tickets for a client's systems, belong to that client and we may need their approval first.
- Email: use the unsubscribe link in any newsletter.
- Texts: reply STOP.
- Teams app: your organization's Microsoft 365 administrator decides who has the app, and can remove it at any time.
Children
Our website and services are for businesses and public organizations. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 13.
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll post the new version here with a new effective date. If a change materially affects how we use information we already have, we'll tell our clients directly.
Contact
Questions about privacy: call 802-551-2403, or write to Rural Solutions, 85 Riverview Court, Georgia, Vermont 05478.