WeChat and WeCom Chats and Call Recording: How To Do It Right

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When businesses worldwide shifted towards hybrid and full remote working modes with the coronavirus outbreak, the demand for online collaborative working and instant messaging solutions grew exponentially. The WeCom application is one of the communication platforms that helped the labor force worldwide continue business-related communication without any interruption, by facilitating independent personal and business messaging with WeChat communications.

WeCom, also known as WeChat Work, is one of the most popular internal communication applications with office automation tools developed by Tencent China, offering a communication experience similar to the standard WeChat app but also a more professional version. The usage of WeCom skyrocketed with the first wave of the Covid-19 outbreak as employees in different organizations found it a helpful tool to continue business work remotely.

WeCom consists of useful office automation (OA) and management features such as attendance marking, approvals, and reporting, and its Wexin integration enables cooperative payments and mini-programs, providing the ability to offer better customer services. With WeCom, employees can connect with their customers using WeChat or Wexin, create group chats, and invite customers. Employees also can work collaboratively with video conferencing and live streaming.

Why do organizations need to record WeCom conversations?

Violation of WeCom Account Usage Rules

There are many reasons why organizations need to record WeCom conversations. One reason is according to the Tencent WeCom Software License and Service Agreement and the  WeCom Account Usage Rules, users must comply with specific rules regarding the message content they can send. There are three types of violations that can occur through WeCom, and some defined penalties are applicable for each type.

Violations include sending fraudulent, false, harassment, and illegal content, content that threatens the organization’s security, and fictitious transactions to users. Depending on the severity of the violations, the penalties may include banning the member account permanently or banning the administrator and enterprise accounts, blocking the entire organization from using WeCom. Thus, organizations need to do a WeChat risk assessment to identify potential violation areas that could ban the app. Accordingly, monitoring WeCom chats helps organizations to identify employees who misuse WeCom and take action against them in advance.

WeCom could be subject to Chinese mass surveillance.

WeCom is a Chinese app subject to a Chinese mass surveillance network. China regulates electronic communication apps through China Cybersecurity Law which requires capturing personal digital information and storing it in mainland China. If any company that offers products or services outside or conducts businesses in China requires sending data outside, they must seek government permission. However, the security and privacy laws do not restrict the Chinese government monitoring those communications.

For instance, if the government requests any WeChat communications, companies must provide them. It implies that the government may be monitoring and archiving the communications without permission from the users. Many countries, including the USA, tried to ban WeChat within their countries because of this scrutinization by the Chinese government. The USA, for example, discovered that the WeChat app could bring threats to national security. As WeCom also connects with WeChat, there is a higher possibility that similar surveillance applies to it.

Record-keeping regulations require recording WeCom communications.

As per record-keeping regulations of different worldwide regulatory bodies, Companies that allow employees to use WeCom to communicate with customers must monitor those conversations. Many organizations have established surveillance technologies to capture and archive WeCom Communications, including Wall Street Banks. For example, the J.P. Morgan WeCom usage guide explains that they will record all the communications through WeCom from its monitoring and surveillance program.

WeCom is now a highly popular app in China. For that reason, companies aiming to work with Chinese clients and business partners will have to use WeCom for effective business communications. To avoid compliance risks while using WeCom due to various data protection regulations, those companies need to have a robust WeCom monitoring and archiving solution.

How TeleMessage WeChat archiver helps archive WeCom communications

TeleMessage offers WeChat Archiver to capture and record the WeChat application’s work-related communications. Not only WeChat but also the archiver works well with WeCom using the standard app with the complete feature set and WeChat web interface. In addition, it supports both iOS and Android devices for WeChat recording.

When you activate the WeChat archiver, it will run in the background, and no user intervention is required for its operation. If an international client outside China wants to connect to WeChat, TeleMessage provides that facility as it owns a Chinese ICP (Internet Content Provider) license.

With WeChat Archiver, recording work-related communications from WeCom is an easy and efficient task for regulated firms. It can capture WeCom chats, multimedia, group chats, files, voice and video calls using the standard WeChat interface and encryption. It uses a WeChat connector to connect with servers in Tencent and captures the communications directly from those servers in China. Then TeleMessage will upload the captured data to an enterprise archive of the company, and it provides end-to-end encryption from the mobile to the enterprise archive.

There are many other benefits of using this WeChat archiver for companies. One of the most important benefits is the clear separation between work-related and personal communications. Another great benefit is the efficient search and retrieval capability it provides. Organizations can search and filter WeCom chat by: the employee’s name, mobile number, email address, attachments, and message type. Therefore, company compliance officers who use it can easily facilitate eDiscovery requirements.

Thus, if an organization wants to use WeCom while staying compliant with mobile compliance regulations, WeCom archiver is the best solution to rely on.

About TeleMessage

TeleMessage offers employees the freedom to use modern messaging applications on the mobile and desktop. Our mobile archiving products securely record content from mobile carriers and mobile devices, letting companies meet recordkeeping regulations and compliance requirements.

With multiple archiving solutions, you can always find the right tools or blend for your requirements:

TeleMessage offers cross-carrier and international mobile text & calls capture and archiving for corporate and BYOD phones. Visit our website at www.telemessage.com to learn more about our mobile archiving products.

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