Data privacy analysis report of piwik

piwik

Who are piwik and what is their primary business model?

Piwik PRO is known for its Piwik PRO Analytics Suite that marketers and analysts use to monitor and optimize web presence while respecting user privacy. Their primary product offerings include: Web Analytics, Custom Events, Dimensions, and Variables, API Access, Integrations, Cookieless Analytics, Onboarding and Technical Support, and Custom Solutions. Using the Web Analytics tool helps in feature analysis such as traffic tracking, traffic sources, technology used, events of file downloads, external website link clicks, and data from site searches

With Custom Events, users can determine very specific interactions they want to track, and this level of personalization ensures that businesses collect data that is most relevant to their goals. API Access is another core feature of Piwik PRO, providing users with raw data access without incurring extra costs. This APIs flexibility ensures that companies can seamlessly integrate their data workflows leading to enriched analysis

Integrations further ease the burden on marketers, developers, and data scientist by connecting various systems without much fuss. For those who preferred not to use cookies for tracking, Piwik PRO offers cookieless analytics. This is highly significant during times of increasing privacy concerns, as it still enables a certain degree of analytics while remaining compliant with privacy standards, though with limited features

Additionally, Piwik PRO ensures customers feel supported by providing onboarding processes and continual technical support. Lastly, recognizing that all companies may not fit into a preset category, Piwik PRO innovates and provides custom solutions tailored to meet specific organizational data needs.

What types of data does piwik collect from its users?

Piwik PRO collects various types of data from users, notably featuring user traffic, session duration, device type, browsing data, operating systems, referring sites, and user locations. Visitor behavior such as pages visited and session duration gives a thorough understanding of how visitors interact with a site. Device information, such as the type of device or browser used, provides insights into technology trends among users

Data collection of operating systems, referring sites, and locations further enables a comprehensive visitor profile, which can be strategically leveraged to tailor user experiences more effectively. This personal data can sometimes be personally identifiable or contain personal details, meaning the need for obtaining explicit visitors' consent aligns Piwik PRO with global compliance standards. This meticulous approach ensures capturing relevant data while respecting user confidentiality

Visitors' consent to data usage is not just legal compliance but also fosters a trust-based relationship between companies and end-users. Tracking parameters, such as device type, helps adapt the site, ensuring a seamless user experience irrespective of how the website is accessed. Ultimately, this kind of sophisticated segmentation and analysis lends businesses clarity in making informed, data-driven decisions.

Can Piwik PRO collect data from mobile apps?

Piwik PRO provides a dedicated mobile SDK for both Android and iOS platforms, making it feasible for app developers to incorporate their tools for data collection from mobile applications. The SDK seamlessly integrates into mobile applications to track user interactions like screen views, clicks, and other relevant events. This adaptability to mobile ecosystems ensures a consistent tracking experience across different devices

In addition to mobile app tracking and recognizing user sessions via session hashing, the SDK safeguards privacy by ensuring personally identifiable information (PII) isn't directly stored. Furthermore, consent management functions present in the SDK grant users control over their data, reinforcing privacy-centric design. Data anonymization continues to ensure the collected data remains compliant with evolving privacy regulations

Comparing different tracking solutions, such as adopting 30-minute visitor cookies or session hashes, illustrates Piwik's innovative approach to accommodating preferences for non-consenting data collection. Mobile app tracking isn't just restricted to single events but extends to broad, meaningful user behavior understanding within apps, such as navigation patterns. This provides businesses with deep insights into user engagement, sessions, and application usability, allowing them to refine app functionalities and performance continually.

How does Piwik PRO handle data retention and deletion?

Piwik PRO offers structured data retention policies tailored to subscription plans: Core and Enterprise. In the Core plan, data is retained for 14 months, while in the Enterprise plan, it can stretch to 25 months or a customizable retention period. This period commences from data's first tracked event

Upon exceeding retention limits, data is deleted automatically at the beginning of the following month. Notably, Piwik PRO also allows data deletion requests from visitors as per GDPR regulations, which are carried out upon user request by the organization. Configured data retention ensures data lifecycle management aligns with organizational policies, aiding compliance and legal adherence

However, the retention period is not rolling; any data older than the specified period will be lost. This is an essential consideration for long-term data strategies because retaining historical data must be managed within set retention windows. For specialized needs within the Enterprise setup, businesses can configure custom retention periods ensuring unique compliance requirements or internal policies are adequately met without sacrificing data quality or security

Piwik PRO’s commitment to data management and adherence to global standards contributes greatly to maintaining trust and accountability with its users.