The means of communication used by government and private sector employees has seen a paradigm shift.
Gone are the days when regulators, company management, or the judiciary had to wait for days to get employee call logs to identify wrongdoing or bring accountability.
The nearly $2 billion worth of WhatsApp fines on banks and stockbroking companies with employees who used the unapproved communication channel from the US financial regulators bear testament to how radically times have changed.
Governments are also quickly catching up. States across the US have passed Sunshine Laws or Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Laws mandating the agencies and departments to archive text messages relating to public business. Recently, the Judiciary Committee of Connecticut went as far as approving legislation that could fine municipalities up to $10,000 for FOIA violations.
Call monitoring trends
Despite all the recent focus on new-age communication channels, calls are still highly relevant in both the business world and the public sector, with an estimated 13.5 billion phone calls happening daily worldwide.
Previously compliance officers focused on recording conversations that happened via telephones to access in case of investigations or demands from regulators or the judiciary. But nowadays, it is mission-critical for them to record voice calls from a wide range of platforms. Alongside WhatsApp call monitoring, Telegram call recording, etc., there is also the need for retaining these voice calls for as long as the regulations mandate.
Importantly, the recordkeeping has to happen irrespective of the device, location of the employee or customer, and the operating system. This is where a network archiver comes into the picture, as it can capture voice calls in real-time over the network without the need for an app to be installed on the employee device. Companies can have their employee calls securely stored in the archiving vendor of choice until they have use for them.
In addition, compliance officers are rushing to implement systems that automatically transcribe the voice calls along with the metadata, such as the phone numbers involved, the length of the call, and the start time of the call. Owing to the transcription, companies or government departments can quickly search through voice calls based on keywords or the date of the conversation until they find what they want. Notably, this feature can go a long way in helping companies with the e-discovery process.
The future of employee monitoring—moving beyond traditional telephony
While call monitoring operations are being streamlined across the private and public sectors, more advances and use cases of employee surveillance keep emerging.
Recordkeeping of new-age communication methods
Regulators have taken note of how communication has evolved, with FINRA even issuing a warning that emoji use could trigger a customer complaint.
Along with emoji compliance, businesses now may need to archive their employees’ WhatsApp statuses.
Further, with the advent of features, like disappearing messages and editable messages on almost all instant messengers, compliance officers are in a mad scramble to put in place systems that will securely keep records of all communication in a tamper-proof manner even if the phone records are deleted or modified.
Communication compliance to boost remote/ hybrid employees’ productivity
Post the pandemic, a massive chunk of the workforce got the opportunity to continue working remotely or in hybrid mode.
Employee monitoring initiatives, like automatic call recording can go a long way in helping companies gauge their productivity, ensure there is no non-compliant activity, such as harassment or sharing of company secrets, and provide feedback based on the insights gained from the monitoring.
It is worth noting that employers or government departments shouldn’t engage in micromanagement or non-compliant behavior themselves. Compliance teams have to be careful to follow rules, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), etc.
For companies to comply with the likes of WhatsApp GDPR, they need to get employee consent for monitoring conversations. Employees also need to be made aware of how their information will be processed and for how long it will be retained.
Predictive analytics
When a company or an agency gets hit with an order to submit copies of their employee communication, it can be challenging to recover the specific data. Also, because of the volume of text messages and calls exchanged daily, potentially problematic communication may have slipped through the IT team’s or compliance officers’ monitoring mechanisms, which can lead to fines or even criminal cases in matters, like financial fraud.
AI-powered systems or archivers with analytics capabilities that can analyze hundreds or even thousands of hours’ worth of speech and texts to ensure communication compliance is proving to be the answer to this problem. Implementing such a solution can also help the company identify patterns of non-compliant behavior and even prevent violations from happening because they will know where to scrutinize the most.
Besides, the use of advanced speech analytics capabilities can help companies identify the sentiment behind their employees’ interactions, allowing them to gain key insights into their workforce’s emotional wellbeing, motivation levels, etc. Consequently, employee burnout, underperformance, and toxic behavior traits can be a thing of the past.
As a bonus, when companies make use of their communication records to better understand their customers to give them better service and sales pitches, it can positively affect the bottom line.
Transparency in communication for diverse workforces
Another significant trend in employee monitoring through call recording and other compliance measures is increased inclusivity and collaboration among diverse teams. Companies can make use of the surveillance tools at their disposal to ensure that communication among employees is respectful, which is crucial for creating a safe environment and retaining more employees.
One-stop solution for compliance across regions and regulations
The same company might have offices in places, like Europe, the US, and Canada, along with remote employees located elsewhere. Even within these countries, there are regional and industry-specific variations when it comes to retaining messages, such as the requisite retention period, what type of messages need to be archived, etc. Companies can no longer have multiple systems to record each of their communication channels or rely on the backup capabilities provided by instant messengers or call management apps. Instead, they need a comprehensive archiving solution that can be configured to meet any recordkeeping requirement, including the ones from the MiFID, FCA, SEC, FINRA, HIPAA, etc.
Conclusion
Starting from telephonic conversations, communication channels across the public and private sectors have come a long way. So, employee monitoring efforts from companies and various government departments have to evolve and focus on retaining instant messenger conversations, including texts, images, emojis & GIFs, and videos as well. Given the variety of devices, both company-issued and employee-owned, compliance officers have to prioritize archiving the conversations over the network and secure the information in a tamper-proof manner. Once companies have the basics right, they need to implement advanced analytics to gather insights from their employee conversations to boost productivity, guarantee well-being, and prevent unlawful or unethical activities. To get a demo of what a network archiver can do for your communication compliance efforts, contact us.
About TeleMessage
TeleMessage captures and retains mobile content, including mobile SMS messages, voice calls WhatsApp, 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 of 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:
