Cookie Policy

1.1 What are cookies

As is common practice with almost all professional websites this site uses cookies, which are tiny files that are downloaded to your computer, to improve your experience. This page describes what information they gather, how we use it and why we sometimes need to store these cookies. We will also share how you can prevent these cookies from being stored however this may downgrade or ‘break’ certain elements of the sites functionality.

For more general information on cookies see the Wikipedia article on HTTP Cookies.

1.2 How we use cookies

We use cookies for a variety of reasons detailed below. Unfortunately in most cases there are no industry standard options for disabling cookies without completely disabling the functionality and features they add to this site. It is recommended that you leave on all cookies if you are not sure whether you need them or not in case they are used to provide a service that you use.

1.3 Disabling cookies

You can prevent the setting of cookies by adjusting the settings on your browser. Be aware that disabling cookies will affect the functionality of this and many other websites that you visit. Disabling cookies will usually result in also disabling certain functionality and features of the this site. Therefore it is recommended that you do not disable cookies.

You can unsubscribe from cookies by setting your internet browser in such a way that it does not store cookies. In addition, you can also delete all information previously stored through your browser’s settings. This is how you can manage the aforementioned for the most popular browsers of this moment.

Internet Explorer
To prevent new cookies from being installed and to delete existing cookies:
https://support.microsoft.com/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies

Firefox
To prevent new cookies from being installed:
https://support.mozilla.org/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences

To delete existing cookies:
https://support.mozilla.org/kb/delete-cookies-remove-info-websites-stored

Google Chrome
To prevent new cookies from being installed and delete existing cookies:
https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647

Safari
To prevent new cookies from being installed and delete existing cookies:
https://help.apple.com/safari/mac/8.0/#/sfri11471

1.4 Third party cookies

In some special cases we also use cookies provided by trusted third parties. The following section details which third party cookies you might encounter through this sit

• This site uses Google Analytics which is one of the most widespread and trusted analytics solution on the web for helping us understand how you use the site and ways that we can improve your experience. These cookies may track things such as how long you spend on the site and the pages that you visit so we can continue to produce engaging content.Google Analytics does not save your full IP-address or any other personal identifiable information. HSO does not receive and/or store your personal information and/or share said information with Google in any way. All the information that is being shared is anonymized, not relatable to you as a person and is only used to ensure that we offer relevant and interesting informationFor more information on Google Analytics cookies, see the official Google Analytics page.

• This site also uses Google Optimize. This is a widely used solution to test multiple variants of a certain webpage or webpage element. The goal of this tool is to enhance the user experience and deliver the best website possible by applying the widely used A/B-testing technique. This enables us to test two variants of texts or page lay-outs, randomly assigned to visitors, to determine which or lay-out works the best according to our visitors

• The LinkedIn Pixel. This solution helps us with understanding what kind of people are interested in specific types of content. This pixel has the intended purpose to enhance the user experience on our website and present similar content through LinkedIn retargeting. It records user metadata and which webpage they visited. This data is only visible in LinkedIn for a small selected group within the marketing department.

• The chat service SnapEngage. This service enables website visitors to contact us directly through live chat functionality or send us an easy email when no one is manning the chat. The chat is encrypted by using SSL. Furthermore, SnapEngage does not store the IP-address or the Location of the visitor. It does save the email address (if provided by the visitor), the website address that the chat started on, the entry page on our website the visitor arrived on, the referral page (if available), the used browser, platform, user agent, the languages set up in the visitors browser, the user history and the last chat history.

• We also use social media buttons and/or plugins on this site that allow you to connect with your social network in various ways. For these to work the following social media sites including; Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, will set cookies through our site which may be used to enhance your profile on their site or contribute to the data they hold for various purposes outlined in their respective privacy policies.

1.5 More information

Hopefully that has clarified things for you. If there is something that you aren’t sure whether you need or not, it’s usually safer to leave cookies enabled in case it does interact with one of the features you use on our site.

However, if you are still looking for more information then you can contact us through our preferred contact method:

• Email: info-uk@hso.com