Why You Should Archive iMessages on iOS Devices

Apple has gradually become a more common choice among business owners, especially those run by or serving Millennials and Gen Z. If you manage one of these organizations, you likely rely heavily on instant messaging to communicate internally and with customers. But, what should you do with these conversations? Should you start archiving iMessages? If yes, how long should you store them?

What Are iMessages?

If your company has not yet switched to instant messaging on Apple devices, you might wonder what iMessages are. These are instant messages sent between Apple devices. If you have an iPhone, you probably already use iMessage to communicate with friends and family who also have Apple products. This feature also works on the iPad and Macbooks and can sync across devices.

What Is Message Archiving?

When you archive iMessage conversation records, you save them in a safe place. In the business world, this often means storing data or documents so you can access them later. When you archive messages, you securely save these instant messages so that they are protected but also accessible and searchable for authorized persons.

Why Would a Business Need to Archive iMessages?

Before you take steps to archive iMessage conversation records, invest time reviewing the potential benefits. You likely also need this information to sway other decision-makers in the company to embrace message archiving.

1. Tracks Customer Communications

These messages contain critical information you might need to reference later. Examples include contractual agreements, offered refunds, special requests, or even inappropriate remarks. If you do not archive them, you could lose this data or have difficulty accessing it when you need it.

2. Helps With Investigating Grievances

If an employee files a harassment or even fraud claim, you need to investigate the situation thoroughly. Part of this process might involve reviewing past iMessage conversations. You can quickly pull up records if you ever need them for an investigation or during litigation by first archiving these messages.

3. Ensures Compliance

In some cases, the law requires businesses to save certain types of communications. For example, you likely must follow FINRA regulations if you run a financial institution. These rules state that firms must preserve broker communications for two years. This requirement applies to electronic records like instant messages sent through iMessage.

4. Safeguards Your Business Records

When you take measures to archive your business’s iMessages, you help protect this data from deletion. Even if you have a strict company policy that requires employees to delete only some old messages, human error could lead to the loss of important information. By archiving iMessages, you create a backup of this data so you can still access it even if someone deletes the message from their device.

5. Improves Employee Productivity

If your team spends hours each day searching through iMessage conversations for specific information, this process wastes time and hurts productivity. When you archive these messages, you can quickly search for keywords or terms to find the data you need without scrolling through months or years of chat history.

6. Helps You Audit Customer Service

Most companies create scripts for customer service agents to follow. Companies need to review customer responses and resolution statistics. SMS archiving and accessing iMessage responses facilitate this review for team leads and other managers in the customer service and sales departments.

How Long Should You Store Archived Messages?

The answer to this question depends on your business’s needs and compliance requirements. It can also vary based on the specific record and the department that needs it.

For example, you might need to store any records used to support tax claims and deductions for as long as seven years. Employment or HR records also have long retention schedules. SHRM shares that most employers follow a nine-year rule.

Evaluate your company’s compliance obligations to determine how long you should store your records. Note that how long you need to store records and how many customers and employees you have will ultimately affect storage needs and costs.

How To Archive iMessages

Organizations will face some unique challenges when attempting to archive iMessages. The app does not route through a mobile carrier and does run into issues with mobile device management systems. As a direct result, business managers have found that manual archiving is a time-consuming and inefficient process.

Leap Xpert provides a better way to archive messages on iOS. Our third-party service makes it easy to automate the process and capture all the data you need. You can then set parameters for how long you need to store each record based on internal policies or regulations that affect your business.

Are you ready to see what LeapXpert can help your company achieve? Contact us to get started.