As an increasing number of employees across various industries were forced to work in their homes, the use of mobile devices worldwide increased significantly as people communicated through mobile SMS, voice calls, and different messaging platforms. Even people in both the public and heavily regulated financial sectors use untraditional communication channels to connect with other people.
Many people shift to less-secure messaging platforms even if they are uncompliant with various regulations or company policy due to how convenient they are. Most people now also use such channels to communicate with their families and look for the services they need, so companies need to follow suit to achieve better engagement.
As the coronavirus pandemic struck the world and kept many people inside their homes, more people started sending mobile SMS and contacting people through voice calls since they can’t meet in person.
Recorded Mobile SMS
The recorded numbers on mobile phone usage increased month by month, and the growth differed per channel or carrier. The number of messages multiplied between 2 – 7 times during the pandemic. Different carriers and geographies saw varying increases in the volume of messages sent as well.
Text messaging became a main source of information as they provide timely and accurate information to different people depending on their geography. Timely information updates ensure that everyone stays informed on what’s currently happening regarding the pandemic.
Text messaging became one of the most popular means for people to maintain social interactions with other people. Organizations can also stay in touch with their customers and employees as the situation constantly evolves. Because more mobile SMS are sent by both the companies and their employees, it’s vital to monitor sms text messages to ensure that no illegal activities or confidential information are passed from one party to another.
Recorded Mobile Voice Calls
The number of mobile voice calls made during the pandemic also multiplied by 3 – 5 times in March and April. Phone calls were once dying out, but the volume of voice calls made have skyrocketed as COVID struck.
Phone calls are excellent for getting a personal response from the other party, and various companies use this to finish business with their clients on the spot. Phone calls don’t have restrictions limiting how many words a caller can say, unlike text messages, allowing them to provide a detailed message in a short amount of time.
Voice calls are excellent alternatives to meeting someone personally and having a conversation with them. Many people now make voice calls to substitute for personal meetups since it is still enough to create a connection between the two parties.
Companies need to invest in solutions that can record voice calls to ensure that even if employees make extensive use of mobile voice calls, they can remain compliant with regulations and monitor phone calls.
Arguably, most of the increase in mobile text messages and voice calls are done mainly in WhatsApp. WhatsApp’s user growth averages about 30% month-over-month, which is doubled from February to April.
WhatApp Message Volumes
The current WhatsApp message volume user grew for 180% over a period of 3 months during the Pandemic, which might account for the significant growth in the volume of text messages sent worldwide. The app’s user growth is also solid and will likely only intensify as companies and financial institutions adopt it for their official business communications.
Regular WhatsApp Growth Trends
WhatsApp is currently the most popular messaging application in the world, with 2 billion people users worldwide. The users of this messaging application are also more active than users of other platforms, as the traffic of WhatsApp users keeps on growing by 40%. Among the many WhatsApp users, a large number are likely using WhatsApp Web.
Since many WhatsApp users also come from regulated sectors, firms must invest in robust WhatsApp archiving solutions to comply with various data retention regulations.
Conclusion
The coronavirus pandemic led to many people using mobile devices for various purposes, including personal and work-related purposes. As more people become dependent on mobile phone calls and messaging to gather information, communicate with others, transact with businesses, or work, businesses must ensure that they can retain mobile communications to comply with regulations.
When investing in archiving solutions to capture mobile text messages and record voice calls, companies must ensure that their archives allow supervisory reviews. It’s essential to have the capability to locate and retrieve a particular conversation when monitoring employee communications as they adopt new communication channels.
The TeleMessage Mobile Archiver effectively addresses compliance, regulatory, eDiscovery response requirements. TeleMessage captures and records mobile content, including SMS, MMS, voice calls, WhatsApp, and WeChat conversations from corporate or BYOD mobile phones. The messages are securely retained in one central location, either within TeleMessage servers or to an 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. Contact us to learn more about how our mobile archiving products can help your company or agency record mobile messages for a timely response to eDiscovery requests.
