As a business owner, you know that compliance is vital. The pressure to keep up with rules and regulations likely compels you to store all data to avoid penalties or fines. However, when it comes to text messages, managers often fail to understand and leverage the compliance benefits they bring to the table. Here’s why you should invest in a text message archiving solution for compliance purposes.
6 Ways Message Archiving Helps With Compliance
When it comes to compliance, archiving SMS messages is one of the last things that come to mind. Yet, many companies now rely on SMS records to prove that they have complied with rules and regulations. So, how can you do the same for your organization?
1. SMS Stores Actual Conversations
In the past, you likely relied on paper records or memory after a meeting or conversation. With an SMS archive, you can go back and look at the exact words exchanged. This is useful for proving your compliance in customer service or other interactions.
2. Time-Stamping Helps you Prove When Something Happened
The time-stamps on text messages take the guess work out of who said what and when. If you need to show that you responded to a customer complaint within 24 hours, for example, an SMS archive can help you do that.
3. Recording Discourages Unethical Behavior
When workers know that their SMS messages get archived, they may feel less willing to engage in unethical behavior. This might cause them to avoid ethical gray areas or inappropriate interactions with customers.
4. It Can Provide a Backup During Ransomware attacks or Accidental Data Loss
Ransomware attacks and data loss can occur at any time. If you have an SMS archive, you can quickly retrieve the lost data without paying a ransom. Of course, this recovered data would only include text messages. You need a separate backup solution for the rest of your data.
5. You Can Maintain Records of Financial Transactions.
If audited, you need to show a record of all your financial transactions. This includes any money you paid out or received. Text messages can help you by providing records of when you made payments and to whom.
6. Ensure Patient Safety
If you work in the healthcare industry, you know that patient safety is essential. You can ensure this by keeping records of all interactions with patients and health care workers. This way, you can check to ensure you cover all the bases.
The Top 4 Challenges of SMS Archiving
While there are many benefits to archiving text messages, there are also some challenges you should keep in mind. It becomes easier to create contingency plans when you know your potential problems:
- Data Storage: You will need to have a place to store all of the text messages you archive. Doing this can be costly and time-consuming.
- Integration: You will need to integrate your archiving solution with your other compliance tools. This can be difficult to do and may require the help of a professional.
- Security: You will need to ensure that your SMS archive is secure. Security involves keeping data safe from hackers and data breaches.
- Technical Expertise: You will need to have someone on staff who is familiar with text message archiving. This person will need to be able to set up and maintain the system.
4 Best Practices for Enterprise Text Messaging
How you monitor and store text messages come with its own rules and regulations. These primarily center around employer-employee relationships, personal devices for work, and privacy issues. These rules can vary by state, especially with the passing of California’s data privacy laws. Consider the following best practices.
- Get Consent: Always get consent before sending a text message to an employee or archiving messages. This includes text messages for marketing purposes.
- Be Professional: Remember that you represent your company when you send a text message. Always be professional in your language and tone.
- Respect Boundaries: Respect customers’ and employees’ boundaries for text messaging. Do not send personal messages outside of work hours or on weekends.
- Monitor Usage: Keep an eye on how you and your employees use text messaging. If you see any abuse, take action immediately.
How LeapXpert Helps With Archiving and Compliance
If you’re looking for a good message capturing and compliance solution, you can’t go wrong with LeapXpert. We offer several features that make us one of the premier choices for capturing text messages. Are you ready to see what our technology can do for you? Contact us today.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
Useful tips and helpful information.
You can unsubscribe at any time - obviously!