Across the industry spectrum, the main perceived purpose of archiving electronic content, such as mobile communications, is to help the organization remain on the safe side during a regulatory audit or litigation. But while ensuring such compliance concerns are indeed the top priority of many companies, enterprise archiving can have a much more positive business impact beyond just meeting regulatory and legal requirements.
According to the latest study from Osterman Research, all of the drivers for deploying an archiving solution – including complying with regulatory obligations – will become even more important in the coming two years.
However, the ability to extract insight and intelligence from archived data – which is the least important reason for investing in an archiving solution today – is the fastest-growing driver. By May 2021, 42% of organizations are expected to have implemented an archiving solution to unearth never-been-seen insights about their business – up from the present 28%.
The research also found additional information types will be archived in the future. The most commonly mentioned content that will be added to the mix of archived content will be corporate social media posts (mentioned by 20% of respondents), text messages/SMS (19%), and content from mobile devices.
Examples of Insights That Can Be Mined from Electronic Archives
Having an indexed record of these electronic communications should be taken advantage of by businesses who need a deeper understanding of their operations. A properly managed electronic communication archive, when analyzed, can contain insight and intelligence such as:
- A time-stamped copy of every communication and attachment sent by everyone with access to the corporate email system, including both senders and recipients of the message.
- Full audit reports showing who had access to what information, when they accessed it, etc.
- The wording and tone of every text messages that have been sent and received.
- A record of how quickly recipients respond to text messages that call for a response, such as a customer or a prospect inquiry.
- Whether or not sensitive or confidential information was sent encrypted in compliance with corporate policies.
- A record of when employees are conducting company business.
- A record of employees or contractors using corporate mobile texting and calling resources for personal uses.
- Employees’ commentaries on clients, prospects, business partners, fellow employees, their managers, senior corporate leaders, and others; including employees’ use of profanity, racially or sexually offensive content, and potential instances of fraud.
Advantages of Extracting Insights from Archived Mobile Communications
A robust archiving solution can provide an organization with a plethora of benefits beyond meeting compliance requirements. When done right, analysis of captured mobile content can help a company improve the various areas of their business, including cybersecurity, marketing/sales, and workforce management.
- Identify Possible Insider Threats
Employees who are often exposed to criticisms and are ridiculed repeatedly by the higher-ups are more likely to be the ones to instigate a data breach in the organization. Analyzing captured and recorded mobile conversations can help to identify these managers and address their abusive behavior before they create disgruntled employees who will not think twice of damaging the company.
- Manage Customer Relationships
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is not enough to provide the business with a complete picture of its clients.
But through analyzing records of their communication with their customers, a business can uncover valuable sales and marketing data, such as the length of time it takes for their salespeople to respond to a customer inquiry, and the mobile platform the customer tends to use the most often when communicating with the business.
Having these insights can then help the company adjust the style and content of their messages based on their customer’s choice of communication channel.
- Analyze the Employees’ Use of Profanity
There have been studies about profanities and their negative repercussions when used within a professional workplace. According to IBM, traders in the United States who reduce their use of profanity may be guilty of nefarious activity, while just the opposite is true in the UK.
That said, using good communication analytics to archived text messages, WhatsApp chats, emails, calls, and social media posts can help managers understand changes in employee behavior and identify employees who create more risks for an organization.
- Detect Policy Violations
If an employee uses a non-approved communication platform to conduct company business, this can violate corporate policies and can create additional security risks because corporate archiving, security and encryption capabilities are being bypassed.
- Detect Employee Sentiment and Behavior
Extracting intelligence from captured mobile communications can also help potential problems that an employee can cause based on their sentiment and behavior they show through these channels. For instance, the compliance manager can search the archiving system for traces of illegal music downloads, sharing of racist or sexist jokes, employee complaints, or manifestations of employee anger so that these issues can be dealt with as immediately as possible.
- Deal with Inappropriate Messages
Some employees tend to use mobile messaging platforms inappropriately, while others use them to cause harm.
For instance, in the case of Enriquez v. U.S. Cellular Corp., an employee filed a sexual harassment lawsuit based on what she claimed were inappropriate text messages from her supervisor. However, the employer’s archive of text messages demonstrated that the plaintiff had forwarded the messages along with her claim that she did not find the messages to be offensive.
In such a situation, analyzing archived text messages could have revealed the problem early on, which could have helped the company address the issue before it escalated into serious litigation.
- Understand How Workplace Communication Takes Place
Through a next-generation mobile archiving solution, employers can identify and track how employees communicate with their clients and colleagues. For instance, a broker may send a text message to a client asking for a meeting, follow it up with an email with the meeting details, and then send an attachment through an encrypted messaging app when working from home.
Archiving all these channels will not only capture all of the messages and attachments sent by the employee but will also help the employer understand the context of the conversation and therefore understand how their people communicate.
Conclusion
Because individuals often do not have a clear recollection of what took place or what might have been said, having access to archived email, text messages, voicemail messages, instant messages, and other content provides clear evidence of actual communication. To ensure access to complete and accurate communication data, a mobile archiving solution that can capture and retain mobile SMS, record voice calls, and other mobile communications and content in real-time is warranted.
The TeleMessage Mobile Archiver is a solution that helps financial firms archive mobile SMS, voice calls, WhatsApp chats, email, MMS, and use those records for further analysis. We effectively address compliance, regulatory, eDiscovery response requirements, and reduces risk across a variety of the financial sector.
TeleMessage captures and records mobile content from corporate or BYOD mobile phones. Messages are securely and reliably retained within TeleMessage servers or forwarded to an archiving data storage vendor of your choice.
Our mobile archiving products securely capture content from mobile carriers and mobile devices for a variety of ownership models (BYOD, CYOD, and employer-issued). With our multiple archiving methods, you can always find the right tools or blend for your text message archiving and voice call recording requirements:
TeleMessage offers cross-carrier and international mobile text and calls archiving for Corporate and BYOD phones. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your organization stay compliant with SEC and FINRA text archiving regulations.
