Business Information Portal
Our commitment to data privacy and transparency
Data connects businesses and creates opportunities, shaping our digital world and influencing both organisations and individuals. Experian Business Information collects and processes business data to help individuals and companies achieve their business goals, using data responsibly in marketing and credit-related services. We are committed to transparency and empower you to decide how your business data is used for marketing, so that you receive communications about relevant products and services. We're committed to always doing the right thing - obtaining, processing, and using data compliantly and responsibly. We want you to feel empowered to decide how your business data is used for marketing purposes, leading to you receiving communications only about products and services which are relevant to you.
If you don't want us to use your personal data in the services we offer, you can choose to opt out and we'll remove your details from our business marketing database.
If you wish to view a summary of how we collect and process your business data and how that leads to you receiving marketing communications from Experian and other businesses please access our Marketing Transparency Notice.
If you wish to view a summary of how we collect and process your business data to create business credit scores and solutions, please access our Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN).
If you're looking for information that relates to how we help organisations with their marketing, advertising and service delivery, as a consumer, then you can find all the information you need via our Consumer Information Portal.
About Experian Business Information
Experian Limited is the controller responsible for the processing described on this page.
Registered address: The Sir John Peace Building Experian Way, Ng2 Business Park, Nottingham, NG80 1ZZ
Data Protection Officer: dpo@experian.com
Experian Business Information is a business division of Experian Limited that provides data, analytics and insights to help organisations understand businesses, manage risk, and make more informed marketing and credit decisions.
We work to turn business information into something meaningful for businesses and organisations that creates benefits for other businesses. We gather, analyse, combine, and process data to help businesses communicate with other organisations more effectively, saving each of the businesses involved time and money.
Our business to business (B2B) marketing products and services help businesses to:
- Better understand other businesses that they are interested in
- Market more relevant products and services to those businesses
- Reduce the amount of irrelevant marketing that other businesses receive
- Find the best time and means to contact businesses with relevant offers
- Understand their business customers and prospects better
We're here to help make it clear
We want to be transparent and help you and your business understand:
How we use your data
Experian Business Information obtains and uses business information from a variety of sources.
Information about registered companies is usually not personal data as it relates to a business as a legal entity and not an individual person.
In some cases, business information includes details about people acting for a business, such as directors, owners or decision‑makers. This may include names or work contact details. Where this information identifies a living person, it is treated as personal data, even though it is used in a business context.
Information about sole traders and unregistered partnerships is also personal data. This is because these businesses are not separate legal entities and are run in the name of one or more individuals.
The types of data we obtain
We process limited amounts of business‑related personal data, such as business contact details (emails and telephone numbers) and information linking individuals to businesses (for example directors, proprietors or decision‑makers). We also process non‑personal business data relating to registered legal entities.
Why we collect personal data
We collect this data so that we can create products and services that help our clients improve their marketing and make informed business decisions. For you, as a business owner or someone involved in the running of a business, our aim is to ensure that you receive only marketing and customer communications that are relevant to you and your businesses.
Where we obtain our data
We obtain data from publicly available sources, commercial business data suppliers, and from organisations that lawfully provide business contact information.
How we use your data
We use both personal and non-personal data to provide products and services that support organisations in their B2B marketing and customer data management activities. This can include:
- Helping businesses find new business customers
- Keeping data about business customers and prospects up to date
- Powering consistent B2B marketing
- Understanding business customers and prospects better using data insights
In some instances, we may obtain and process personal data for insight, legal and regulatory purposes.
Not all business‑related personal data we obtain is used for the same purposes. Where personal data is used in connection with our B2B marketing services, this is only done where we are permitted to do so and where we rely on legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR. In those cases, we assess whether the use of the data is necessary and proportionate and balance our interests against individuals’ rights, including the right to object.
To read more about our legal grounds for processing personal data please refer to our Marketing Transparancy Notice.
Profiling and automated processing
We may use business‑related personal data for profiling to help organisations send more relevant B2B communications.
We do not carry out solely automated decision‑making that produces legal or similarly significant effects on individuals.
How sharing your data can benefit you
Allowing your data to be used means that you’re more likely to receive marketing communications for the products and services that you and your business are interested in. There are other ways that organisations use data that can benefit you and your business.
To read about the ways we use personal data in our marketing business in more detail you can refer to our Marketing Transparency Notice.
Your data rights
Your data, your decision
We’re all exposed to marketing every day, both at home and at work. Sharing your personal data with responsible organisations can result in positive outcomes for you as a customer, a business, and for society in general.
But you do have choices over how your data is used by organisations. These are your Data Subject Rights.
What are your data rights?
Data protection law ensures that your personal data is used properly and legally by the organisations you share it with. This means you have several rights in relation to your personal data, these include:
Note: The applicability of some of these Data Subject Rights is dependent on the circumstances. Not all Data Subject Rights will apply in every situation.
Right to be informed
You have a right to know how your personal data is collected, processed and used for Business Information purposes
Right of access
See what personal data we hold about you in our BusinessView database:
Right to rectification
Correct any business information we have about you, that you think is wrong
Right to be forgotten
In certain circumstances you can ask us to delete your personal data
Right to restrict processing
Change how your personal data is used
Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
Understand whether your personal data is being used to make decisions about you
Right to object
Ask us to stop using your data
Right to complain
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), after having contacted us, if you're still unhappy with any aspect of how we handle your personal data
How you can contact our Data Protection Officer
If you have any questions, concerns or issues about the way we’re handling your personal data or want to exercise any of your Data Subject Rights (or find out if they apply), please contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO) by email at uk.dpo@experian.com.
If you would rather contact us by post, please address this to:
The Data Protection Officer
c/o Experian Customer Services Team
Experian Ltd
PO BOX 8000
NG80 7WF
How you can lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority
After having contacted us, if you're still unhappy with any aspect of how we handle your personal data you also have the legal right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the supervisory authority that regulates handling of personal data in the UK. You can contact them by phone on 0303 123 1113 or by going to their website at www.ico.org.uk.
About the ICO
The Information Commissioners Office (the ICO) is the UK's data protection regulatory body set up to uphold information rights, promoting openness by organisations and data privacy for individuals. Through the "fingerprint family", the ICO’s Your Data Matters campaign helps people understand why their data matters and how they can take back control.
You can find out more from the ICO about your personal data rights under data protection regulation and how to exercise them.
The choice is yours, always
We make it easy for you to look at the data we hold on you or tell us if you wish to opt out
BusinessView Database
Who uses our services
How we help our customers
We’re a trusted partner for many of the world's most recognised brands and public service organisations. Our clients use our marketing data to get a better understanding of how individuals, different sized businesses and varied industry sectors might behave. So that they can:
- Send you, and other business people like you, marketing messages you’re more likely to be interested in
- Show you relevant adverts and messages across the internet
- Predict your likely interest in certain products and behaviours to allow other businesses to communicate with you more effectively and efficiently
- Ensure you don’t receive mail for people who have changed roles or ceased to work for your organisation entirely.
These efficiencies reduce their costs which in turn allows them to be more competitive. And more competitive businesses tend to be able to offer better and fairer deals to the businesses they work with.
Any organisations who access our marketing data are governed by strict contractual restrictions to make sure they protect your data and stick to all applicable data protection and privacy laws. We also audit our partners, suppliers and clients to make sure they meet our high standards when it comes to how they handle your data
Who we share personal data with
We share business‑related personal data with:
- Organisations using our B2B marketing services
- Organisations using our business credit and risk products
- Service providers and Experian group companies acting under contract"
Your right to opt out
If you don't want us to use your personal data in the services we offer, you can choose to opt out and we'll remove your details from our marketing database.
How we protect your data
Protecting your data and your data privacy rights is our priority.
How?
- Our partners, suppliers and customer's activities are consistently reviewed to ensure that our data is collected, stored and used correctly.
- We tightly control access to our products so they’re not used by organisations offering products and services that could cause detriment to you or your business, be intrusive or create risk for vulnerable persons.
- We are also members of relevant industry bodies such as the DMA and we oblige our business data customers to register with key industry bodies too. You can look at our entry on the DMA’s website. By following industry codes of practice that always put the individual first, we can ensure we’re meeting high standards when it comes to making sure our activities are right for you. Read the DMA’s Direct Marketing Code of Practice and guidance from the ICO for the public here and organisations here.
Our safeguards that protect your data
We're continually developing and improving our safeguards and controls to ensure:
We comply with industry best practice
We seek to align to best practices laid down by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), and we’re active members of the Data & Marketing Association (DMA).
Our suppliers & clients safeguard your information
We have processes of due diligence when choosing suppliers and clients to work with, and we continually monitor these relationships. We only work with organisations who meet our high standards of compliance with data protection requirements.
We use the minimum data required
Often referred to in data protection regulation as “data minimisation”, we ensure that only the minimum amount of personal information needed for processing purposes is collected by us.
The quality & accuracy of personal data
Our marketing database is rebuilt monthly. We use full refreshes of data, checking the quality and accuracy of that data to ensure it is accurate and up to date.
We're honest & transparent about what we do
This Business Information Portal contains lots of information to provide transparency on topics such as what we do with data, where it comes from, and how you can exercise your data rights.
Your data is secure here in the UK and overseas
Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we apply appropriate safeguards such as adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections or other official transfer mechanisms.
We only keep your data for a reasonable time
We retain business‑related personal data only for as long as necessary to provide our services, maintain accuracy, comply with legal obligations, or honour objections and suppression requests.
Retention periods vary depending on the product and purpose.
We protect your data and rights
Our Compliance team and our Product and Solutions Review Boards consider the impact of any use of personal data in our products and services before it takes place.
Your opt out options
We hope you understand that our products and services can benefit your business. But we also respect your right to opt out of marketing and profiling activity.
What happens when you opt out
- We won’t pass your contact details on to our clients for direct marketing purposes
- We won’t process your personal data for any profiling activity related to your business
- It won’t impact the communications you’ve opted in to receive if you hold an Experian account as a consumer
Opting out of us processing and using your data within our marketing services for direct marketing will not stop other organisations from doing so. You’ll still see adverts online and you’ll more than likely continue to receive direct mail.
Can I object to the use of my personal data and have it deleted?
You have an absolute right to object at any time to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes. Experian Business Information has always supported this as we want to be sure that we only hold data on businesses who are happy to be contacted by other businesses about relevant products and services and we believe you should be in control of your data.
Should you wish to object to Experian Business Information using your personal data for direct marketing to your business then please contact us here, providing your details and those of your business, and we will gladly remove you from our marketing database.
We will do this by adding your details to a suppression list, rather than actually deleting your details, so we can remember to not use them again. We can also refer you to the supplier of the data if you wish to suppress your details more widely – find out more about who those suppliers are here. Please note that it might take up to 28 days for all recipients of the data to suppress your details and so it is possible you might receive some marketing communications during that period. You should also be aware that your data might be available from other suppliers. However, there are two other schemes that businesses and consumers can use to opt out of marketing communications from all suppliers:
- Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) are free services where you can register your telephone number to opt-out of receiving unsolicited sales calls: https://www.tpsonline.org.uk/
- Mail Preference Service works in the same way for postal marketing: https://www.mpsonline.org.uk/
It is a legal requirement that companies do not market to telephone numbers and addresses on these registers.
This button will take you to the Data Query Portal, where you can request that we check for any business data we may hold on you. You will receive an emailed report detailing the data we hold on you and where we got it from. Simply reply to the report to select the data that you wish to opt out of being used for marketing.