Your name stays out of it.
Hiring an outside firm means letting strangers see how your business actually works — the systems held together with tape, the numbers you don't publish, the customer list. We treat all of it as yours. We don't trade on client names, we don't resell what we learn, and we don't put your logo on our website to win the next deal.
The short version
We are a small Houston firm, and the only reason anyone tells us the truth about their systems is that we don't repeat it. That's not a policy we adopted — it's the whole basis of the work.
So the rule is simple: what we learn on your engagement is used for your engagement. Not for a case study, not for a sales pitch to your competitor, not as a data set we sell to somebody else. If we ever want to name you publicly, we ask first, in writing, and a "no" costs you nothing.
That rule is what our project write-ups are built around: they describe the engineering and never the client — no names, no logos, and no numbers that belong to somebody else's operation.
If your procurement process needs paperwork behind that, we'll sign yours. See NDAs and agreements below.
Names stay private
We don't publish, sell, or share our client list. No logo wall, no name-dropping on sales calls.
Data stays yours
Your records, code, and documents are used to do your work and nothing else.
NDA before the details
We'll sign one before the first technical conversation if you'd rather not talk in the open.
Returned or destroyed
When the engagement ends, we hand back what's yours and delete our working copies on request.
What we will and won't do
Concrete enough to hold us to. If any of it conflicts with an agreement we've signed with you, the signed agreement wins.
We won't name you
Your company name never appears in our marketing, proposals, portfolio, or references without your written permission — and permission for one use isn't permission for all of them.
We won't sell your information
We don't sell, rent, or trade client information to anyone, for any purpose. There is no version of our business where your data is the product.
We won't reuse your data
Records, exports, and documents you give us are used to deliver your project. They don't become sample data, demo content, or training material.
We won't cross-pollinate
General skill we take to the next job; your specifics we don't. Your pricing, processes, customer lists, and internal problems are not discussed with other clients.
We take the minimum
We ask for the least data that will do the job, prefer anonymized or sampled extracts over full production dumps, and work inside your environment when you'd rather nothing leave it.
We keep the circle small
Only the people doing your work have access to it. If an engagement ever needs someone outside our team, we tell you first and they're bound by the same confidentiality terms.
How your information is handled
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1
Before we start
NDA signed if you want one. We scope the work with the least access that makes it possible, and agree in writing what we're allowed to touch.
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2
During the work
Credentials and data move over channels you choose, access is limited to the people on your project, and we tell you before anything new is pulled out of your systems.
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3
At handover
Code, documentation, and data go to you. Any accounts or keys issued to us get revoked on your side and removed on ours.
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4
Afterward
We keep ordinary business records — contracts, invoices, correspondence. Working copies of your data are deleted on request, and we confirm when it's done.
NDAs and agreements
Confidentiality shouldn't depend on us being nice about it, so put it in writing:
- We'll sign your NDA as-is
- Mutual or one-way, either is fine
- Signed before the first technical call
- Confidentiality survives the engagement
- Work-for-hire IP assigned to you
- Named-reference rights stay opt-in
If your legal team has requirements we can't meet, we'll tell you plainly instead of signing and hoping. Send the paperwork to msco@stoneagesoftware.com and we'll turn it around quickly.
Security, honestly stated
Access to anything you share with us is restricted to the people who need it, and everything moves over encrypted connections. We are a small firm, not a certified enterprise vendor — we don't hold SOC 2 or ISO certification, and we'd rather say so than imply otherwise. If your environment has specific security requirements, tell us during scoping and we'll work inside them or tell you we can't.
Straight answers
Will you use our name as a reference or case study?
Not unless you tell us in writing that we can. Our default is that clients are private, and permission for one use — a single reference call, say — is not permission to put you on the website. You can withdraw it later too.
Will you sign our NDA?
Yes, and usually as written. Mutual or one-way both work, and we are happy to sign before the first technical call so you can describe the real situation instead of a sanitized version of it. Send it over through our contact page and we will turn it around quickly.
Who on your side can see our data?
Only the people doing your work. We are a small firm, so in practice that is a very short list. If an engagement ever needs someone outside our team, we tell you before it happens and they are bound by the same confidentiality terms we are.
Do you need production data to do the work?
Often not. Anonymized extracts, a sample, or a restored copy in a non-production environment is usually enough, and we will ask for that first. Where the work truly requires production access, we scope it to what is needed and say so plainly.
What happens to our data when the project ends?
Deliverables go to you, credentials issued to us get revoked, and our working copies of your data are deleted on request — we confirm in writing when that is done. We keep ordinary business records such as contracts and invoices.
Do you work with our competitors?
We may work in the same industry — that domain knowledge is part of why you would hire us — but your specifics never travel. Pricing, processes, customer lists, and internal problems stay on your engagement. If you need a formal exclusivity or conflict clause, raise it during scoping and we will address it in the agreement.
Who owns the code and documentation you produce?
You do. Work we build for you is assigned to you on payment, along with the documentation to run it without us. We do not hold your system hostage.
How this relates to our Privacy Policy
This page is about client confidentiality — how we treat the information you entrust to us during an engagement. Our Privacy Policy covers the separate question of what this website and our email collect, and the choices you have there. Where the two overlap, the stricter protection applies, and any confidentiality agreement we've signed with you overrides both.
Questions about any of this go to msco@stoneagesoftware.com or 832-598-8234.
Last updated: July 31, 2026
Tell us the messy version.
Send the NDA first if you'd rather. We'll sign it, then you can describe what's actually going on.