Olark Features and Security Information (RFI/RFP)

You’ve reached the Olark RFO (Request for Olark) page. It’s like an RFI or an RFP but more Olarky.

At Olark, we strive to make our software as accessible as possible to businesses of all sizes. In service of that goal, in addition to offering competitive pricing and easy installation, we keep our sales process fairly lightweight. While our team is always delighted to answer questions and provide guidance to new and prospective customers, we don’t have a large sales staff dedicated to preparing RFI/RFP responses.

However, we do understand that many customers will need some additional information before committing to Olark — so we’ve made the answers to what we’ve found to be the most common RFI/RFP questions available on this page. If after reviewing this information you find that you still have questions, please don’t hesitate to find us on chat or send us an email at support@olark.com. You can also check out our Product Tour for more information.

If you find you that you are interested in custom-built automated chatbots or have advanced needs like needing an account manager or account invoicing options, we encourage you to consider our Olark Pro plan offering.

Thanks for considering Olark! -- The Olark Team

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About Olark

Company Name

Olark (www.olark.com)

Established

2009

Number of Employees

23

Headquarters

427 N Tatnall St #63602, Wilmington, DE 19801

Other Offices

None

Olarkers (Olark employees and Contractors) Located in

United States:

• California
• Connecticut
• Maryland
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• Texas
• Utah
• Washington
• Wisconsin

International:

• Canada

General Information

What is your company’s financial background?

We are a bootstrapped privately-held employee-owned company.

Do you provide revenue numbers?

We do not.

Is Olark widely used?

We have more than 12,000 paying customers.

Can Olark provide references?

Yes, you may contact us for additional references.

Will Olark consider a non-disclosure agreement?

Yes. All Olark employees sign confidentiality clauses as a condition of employment and violation of said clause is cause for termination. We are open to reviewing additional NDAs for new clients on a case-by-case basis.

Do you provide staff to answer chats?

No, Olark does not provide staffing.

System Requirements

How do I install Olark?

You can install Olark on almost any website by copying and pasting our JavaScript snippet to your source code. We also offer plugins for popular CMS platforms. We provide detailed installation instructions in our help center.

Do I need to install Olark on every operator’s computer?

No. Once you have an Olark account enabled, you can access it from any web browser.

What system requirements do I need?

Olark is web-based, so it will run on any modern computer with a supported web browser.

What browsers do you support?

Chrome, FireFox, Microsoft Edge, Safari, and Opera. More details are available here.

What framework is Olark based on?

Twisted Python, React

What language is Olark written in?

Primarily JavaScript and Python

Reporting

Are pre-chat surveys available?

Yes.

Are post chat surveys available?

Yes.

Are these surveys customizable?

The pre-chat survey is customizable. The post-chat survey is not.

Are visitors able to send themselves chat transcripts?

Visitors are able to email themselves a copy of the transcript after the chat ends. Agents are also able to send visitors a copy of the transcript.

Can I export reports?

You can email reports to yourself or download them in .csv format. Read more here.

Do you show operator availability?

Yes, we offer an agent activity report and agent availability is also visible on the agents page. Read more here.

Are reports sent automatically?

Agents with admin privileges can create automated email reports. Read more here.

Features

Do you offer a co-browsing feature?

This feature is available for purchase as an account Power-Up. Read more here.

Do you offer rules to dictate the chat box behavior?

Yes, we offer Automation Rules: rules to filter chats, tag customers, notify operators, and start conversations automatically. Read more here.

Does Olark offer the ability to white label the chat box?

This feature is available for purchase as an account Power-Up. Read more here.

Do you offer the option to ask questions before a chat starts?

Yes, our pre-chat survey can be configured to ask customized questions.

Do you offer file upload?

Yes.

Functionality

Is the Olark chat box a separate window or popup?

Neither. The chat box is an on-page element, which means your customers can browse your site without having to close the conversation or click away from the page(s) they want to view.

Do you offer video chat capabilities?

No.

Are we able to include an icon/customized image of the agent in the chat window?

Yes, you can upload an operator profile picture/avatar.

During the chat, can we see what pages the customer is browsing?

Yes.

Are you able to queue visitors when all agents are at capacity? If not, what happens when agents are at their chat capacity?

No. When all agents are at capacity, you can set the chat box to disappear, display a message, or have the chat box change to an email form. Read more here.

Can agents initiate chats with website visitors?

Yes, if you have a paid account. It can be done either by picking a visitor to chat with directly or through an Automation Rule.

Customization

Do you offer any features for advanced customization?

Yes, we offer an extensive JavaScript API.

Does Olark provide customization services?

No.

Does Olark offer the ability to customize the look of the chat box?

We offer the ability to customize the size, color, and position of the chat box via the Design tool on your Olark dashboard. Our API also offers some design customization options for more technical users. Read more here.

Platform Security

Do Olark users need a password?

Yes.

Does Olark offer different levels of administration access?

Yes. There are two levels of access. Both levels allow the agent to chat with visitors.

• Admin level -- Each account has one Primary Operator with Admin level access. Other operators can be given Admin level access as well. This level has the ability to add and remove other operators, adjust account settings, and terminate an account.
• Operator level -- This access is restricted to viewing account transcripts and editing the agent's own settings.

Can we use SSL/HTTPS with Olark?

SSL is standard on all plans.

Can we login with Google Apps?

Yes.

Are transcripts encrypted for storage?

Yes.

Mobile

Are customers able to engage with live chat from a mobile device/tablet?

Yes. Olark live chat is accessible via mobile devices.

Are chats offered in different languages?

You can localize all text displayed to customers. You can route customers to different support teams by language. The chatbox supports any language including right-to-left languages.

Social Media

Are there social media integrations?

No.

Can we add a chat button to our social media pages?

No.

Can we add social media buttons to the live chat window?

No.

Data Collection/Storage

What website visitor information does Olark collect?

• Transcripts, i.e. chat history
• IP address (viewable only during chat conversation)
• Browser type
• Referring page
• Page view history (only during chat conversation)
• Chat conversation
• Chat start time
• Chat duration
• Visitor location, i.e. Country
• Duration of visit
• Whether they are a returning visitor
• How many times they have chatted
• Other information provided by the visitor via a pre-chat survey, such as name and email address, telephone number, or information requested in a custom field

Data obtained through Social and Professional Visitor Insights (available as an account Power-Up and provided by FullContact as a third party integration) are not stored within Olark systems.

What information does Olark collect about the operator in the conversation?

• Agent name
• Agent response time
• Chat rating/Customer feedback

What other information does Olark collect?

• Metadata
• Any other information you provide us through the JavaScript API.

Olark can also be configured to collect shopping cart data for stores using the Wordpress/Woocommerce or Magento plugins.

Does Olark use cookies? Yes:

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A complete description of each can be found here.

Are all chat conversations archived?

Yes.

How is data stored?

All chat transcript data and visitor information (browser and referring page) is stored in access controlled databases.

Who has control over the data that is collected?

Any data collected that is related to your account is your property.

How is the collected data accessed?

• The Olark reports page (www.olark.com/reports), which requires an Olark user to first login to their Olark dashboard (www.olark.com/dashboard).
• These reports can also be requested to be sent via email from the Reports page.
• An Olark user can also use the JavaScript API to customize access to collected data.

Can data be destroyed (deleted permanently)?

All data (active and archived) will be destroyed upon request, i.e. account termination.

Does Olark store any PII?

Yes. Olark stores the email address stored with a customer’s account users. This PII is stored with our PCI-compliant payment processing vendor Stripe.

Why is this PII stored?

Olark uses this information to communicate account notifications (such as password reset requests).

How long is our PII stored?

User email addresses are stored for as long as the account exists.

Does Olark provide for off site backups using an approved bonded storage facility?

Amazon (our offsite backup provider) has policies in place that enunciate their liability in case of data loss or corruption. Please refer to http://aws.amazon.com/s3/sla/ for more details.

Data Security

How is data secured?

We actively maintain the security of our infrastructure to industry standards. All data that is collected is stored in an encrypted format.

What type of encryption do you use?

Transcripts are stored with AES symmetric encryption, access to our systems is via whitelist, VPN, and industry standard public key authentication.

What security standards is Olark compliant with?

We do not currently certify compliance to any security standard.

Are you PCI-DSS compliant?

Olark’s billing provider is PCI compliant, and all Olark customer data is secure. Our chat box, however, is not, so we do not recommend companies collect information such as credit card numbers via chat.

Are employees, contractors, volunteers (and other parties, as appropriate) regularly monitored for privacy compliance?

Over the course of employment, support interactions between our employees/contractors and our customers are periodically reviewed for compliance with our standards of quality, which include maintaining customer security. The scheduling of said reviews is not formalized but determined as needed by the heads of our support department.

Integrations

Are there commonly used software/platforms that your software is designed to work with or that plug in seamlessly?

IM clients and other third party software listed on our Integrations Page.

Are Olark third-party service providers regularly monitored for privacy compliance?

Any service provider we use is responsible for their own auditing.

Training

Does Olark offer training?

Yes, customized training sessions are available on request at a fixed rate of $250 USD per training session. Read more here.

Does Olark offer a self-service information resource?

Yes, we maintain a searchable help center.