How to ensure mobile recording compliance for remote employees

A flexible working arrangement that welcomes remote working is not new. Many organizations were experimenting on or considering it before 2020. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, remote and hybrid work became the norm.

A Global Workplace Analytics survey revealed that remote work has increased by 140% since 2005. At the height of the pandemic, about , close to ..70% of full-time employees worked remote.

Given this shift, ensuring company mobile compliance for remote employees is an essential provision every regulated industry must address.

Organizations in the financial services industry are subject to strict regulations such as MiFID II, Dodd-Frank Act, and other country-specific laws. Regardless of the work mode, they demand that financial organizations perform surveillance, reporting, and record-keeping of all electronic communications related to their financial trading activities.

Violation of those laws may result in massive penalties. It is therefore important for every regulated organization to ensure remote working employees are equipped with the required tools to record their work-related communication.

 

Use Cloud-Based Archiving Solutions

Traditional archiving solutions use on-site systems for monitoring, recording, and storing phone calls, text messages, etc. Such systems cannot capture these data from remote employees or are difficult to extend to new platforms.

Therefore, it is important to have a modern, cloud-based archival system that can actively monitor and record communications in remote settings. Cloud-based solutions enable organizations to have all their records in a central repository accessible at any time and at any place.

Additionally, cloud-based solutions support faster record retrieval and are equipped with essential risk management methods to protect data in any disaster. Make sure to opt for software-based solutions rather than hardware-based solutions for mobile recording. Such solutions are easily deployable in remote working devices and easy to onboard many remote employees at once.

 

Support recording IM messages

Today, Instant Messaging channels are used by most employees working at the office and at home. Companies should find out which of these what IM messagengers are most used by their employees and which are preferred by and allow them to continue using them but in a compliant, secure, and responsible manner. Ensure the cloud-based monitoring, message capturing, and archiving solutions support the most widely-used messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal.

For example, by using a WhatsApp recording solution that works as a native app, companies can ensure they can preserve the records of employee communications even if they are required to switch to work from home suddenly without having to deploy the solutions separately for remote settings. Also, ensure that such systems do not negatively impact the user experience. You need solutions that work in the mobile phone’s background without interfering with the user experience.

 

Ensure the solution works reliably in different network settings

Home networks are only sometimes stable and susceptible to changes like outages, impacts from electricity supply interruptions, etc. Also, bandwidth issues can cause delays in capturing and uploading data from the devices to the central cloud servers. Thus, ensure that the organization has a reliable solution that can operate on Wi-Fi and cellular data under different network conditions.

Also, invest in solutions that cover wider geographic areas so that organizations can standardize the solutions over every region they operate. Furthermore, it is important to equip the staff with required power backups for networks, so they are always operational and do not miss out on capturing important conversations.

 

Capture communications through collaboration apps

Traditional telephone systems have replaced online collaboration apps like Microsoft Teams and Zoom for face-to-face communications. Such platforms are also subject to regulations like MiFID II or Dodd-Frank Act which requires all work-related digital communications through these apps to be captured and retained for a specific period.

Those platforms also work on mobile platforms. Therefore, ensure your mobile recording solution is integrated with such collaboration apps to comply with legal requirements. Identify the retention periods for such captured data and communicate the best practices when using such collaboration apps for work so that employees can refrain from non-compliant behavior.

 

Equip the employees with appropriate security tools

Data security is a critical issue every company must address for remote working settings. Unlike on-site working settings, it is difficult to control privacy and security issues in remote settings. Provide adequate security measures to protect physical devices like company phones, computers, and BYOD. For example, ensure they connect to protected networks, install virus guards and other essential security tools to protect their physical devices from cyberattacks, the unnecessary scrutinization of employees’ conversations, and record data access by unauthorized parties.

Proper access control and authorization methods for recorded data must be implemented and revised periodically. In the event a remote employee leaves, companies should ensure their access is immediately terminated  Additionally, devise a security policy when working remotely, explaining the best practices. Ensure secure VPNs and Wi-Fi connections are available for remote employee communications.

 

How does using LeapXpert solutions help achieve mobile compliance in remote working settings?

LeapXpert offers organizations a modern, high-quality, and compliant mobile messaging solution. Its federated architecture integrates with many instant messaging apps, including WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram, Signal, and LINE, allowing organizations to carry out secure and compliant remote mobile communication supporting BYOD.

It provides different deployment models and supports fast information search and retrieval. Also, LeapXpert mobile communication capturing, and archiving solutions are ‘secure by design because it maintains a high level of security using mechanisms like malware scanners, antiviruses, DLP, and many more.