Over 1.5 billion people around the world use WhatsApp daily for their messaging needs and it has replaced SMS as the first choice of text messaging many years back. Yet many financial firms ban the use of WhatsApp for business communication because it is difficult to use the messaging tool by complying with regulatory mandates. There are financial firms that try to build applications that mimic the features of WhatsApp.
The increased usage of messaging apps like WhatsApp for business communication during the pandemic has made Credit Suisse launch its own texting service for its employees. It is reported that the Swiss lender has launched a collaborative chat solution that mirrors WhatsApp in its functionality. The new tool is made available for the employees of Credit Suisse from the first quarter of 2021. It will help the company to trace and record mobile messages sent between employees, which is important for regulatory compliance. Employees will be able to use the tool to exchange messages sent by customers through WhatsApp itself.
However, these applications that financial firms create to replace WhatsApp are often poor imitations of the messaging giant and fall short of providing the awesome experience that WhatsApp provides. Nevertheless, they are accepted by the employees and customers of these financial firms as they are left with no other options.
There are many disadvantages in using a new application for business communication other than WhatsApp.
- One of the biggest disadvantages of these applications is that they are or not native in nature and the look and feel are completely different from that of WhatsApp. Those who are used to WhatsApp would find it extremely difficult to get accustomed to the new application. And as a business firm, you may have to give employee training on how to use the new application.
- WhatsApp is feature-rich and they continuously add and improve on their usability features. Any imitation of WhatsApp would fail to match it in its features and ease of use.
- Many professionals are used to WhatsApp web and WhatsApp desktop applications as they are easy to use while they are working from the office or home. You don’t need to use your mobile phones, but instead, use your desktop or laptop to send and receive messages on WhatsApp. Any new application that financial firms build would not have these options, thereby limiting the usability of the application.
- WhatsApp brings in innovations and new features continuously and if you are not using WhatsApp, but any of its imitations, you are missing out on these new features and the advantages they provide.
- Customers of financial firms use WhatsApp for their calls with the financial firms’ employees. So, if a firm is using any other application other than WhatsApp then they won’t be able to record WhatsApp calls, which is a mandatory requirement. It is also not practical to expect your customers, who are used to making calls and sending messages on WhatsApp, to adapt to the usage of new applications.
- By using an application of their own, financial firms are creating closed environments and don’t allow firms ownership of their communication, and options to choose archive and storage platform.
- Credit Suisse’s new plan comes at a time when financial institutions around the world are reviewing policies that prevent employees from using WhatsApp for business communication. As WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted, it is difficult to monitor and hence many financial firms are keen on prohibiting the use of WhatsApp for business communication. With the onset of the pandemic, more and more financial professionals are forced to work from home and hence they have to rely more on personal messaging apps for communication in their home settings.
Regulations make it mandatory for financial firms to record SMS messages and monitor phone calls used for business communication. Hence company policies require employees to make use of company-compliant devices for communication compliance. Financial majors like Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan had fired employees for the use of WhatsApp for business communication.
However, the pertinent question is if messaging apps made by banking firms can be an alternative to an established messaging platform like WhatsApp?
WhatsApp has more than 2 billion active users in around 180 countries and is the most popular social media platform after Facebook and YouTube. With its huge pool of international users, WhatsApp has taken an unassailable lead over all its rivals. It was the first on the scene and it continues to upgrade its services and features. When it came to the scene, SMS was very costly and WhatsApp made messaging easy and free of cost. Then WhatsApp upgraded and as a user, you could also send multimedia messages and could voice call contacts and then you could video call your contacts.
It is close to impossible to ride over the popularity of WhatsApp and push new messaging services into the communication ecosystem. Leading services generally attract more users in the market and it takes a lot of time for new concepts to penetrate the market. WhatsApp also has the time advantage as it was launched at a time when people were looking for what it was offering. And before real competition came around, WhatsApp had established itself as a market leader with a huge user base. Now it has the network advantage where the communication using it is free and it has a very wide user base as well.
Regulations make it mandatory for finance firms to monitor phone calls and record mobile messages. But replacing a popular messaging platform like WhatsApp with a company-wide texting solution isn’t the right answer for your recording and archiving needs. WhatsApp archiving solutions provided by TeleMessage is a great tool to satisfy all your compliance needs. Unlike solutions offered by many archiving solutions firms, WhatsApp archiving solution provided by TeleMessage offers a clear separation between your personal WhatsApp use and your professional use. With TeleMessage’s WhatsApp archiving tool, you can choose to archive only your professional messages through the tool and not your personal messages.
About TeleMessage
TeleMessage captures and retains mobile content, including mobile SMS messages, voice calls, and WeChat conversations from corporate or BYOD mobile phones to ensure compliance with various data protection regulations. The messages are securely and reliably retained within TeleMessage servers or forwarded to your choice archiving data storage vendor.
Our mobile archiving products securely record content from mobile carriers and mobile devices for various ownership models (BYOD, CYOD, and employer-issued). With our multiple archiving solutions, you can always find the right tools or blend for your requirements:
TeleMessage offers cross-carrier and international mobile text & calls archiving for corporate and BYOD phones. Visit our website at www.telemessage.com to learn more about our mobile archiving products.
