Why Your WhatsApp Archiving Solution is Crucial in the Modern Regulatory Landscape

As WhatsApp messaging becomes a regular part of client-business interactions, organizations must invest in archiving solutions or risk serious consequences, including heavy fines and a hit to their brand reputation.

Instant messaging, often on the WhatsApp platform, has become one of the most popular ways for customers to interact with businesses. Even traditionally conservative industries like banking have adapted to shifting customer preferences, launching Whatsapp services that enable their customers to reach out directly to financial institutions from their mobile phones. While some banks offer automated chatbots that allow customers to perform specific actions, such as transferring funds from one account to another, other banks have permitted their employees to engage with clients using this instant messaging platform.

But although the medium is a favorite for consumers, regulators have launched crackdowns on organizations that aren’t managing and recording WhatsApp messages as they are protected, sensitive business conversations. On the heels of heavy fines and statements from regulators publicly shaming financial institutions for their cavalier approach to WhatsApp communications, businesses are scrambling to remain in compliance while providing a means for lighting-fast communications with their customers.

Is there a connection between compliance issues and instant messaging?

The truth is that there have been enough high-profile slip-ups around compliance and instant messaging to suggest that the phenomenon is a widespread issue.

Financial and banking industry titans have learned the hard way that instant messaging often blurs the line between business and personal. The lack of understanding that communications conducted on these platforms are officially business conversations, and must be appropriately recorded as such, has led to multi-million dollar fines and major damage to brand reputation.

But as the pandemic has made face-to-face meetings less tenable and consumer preference for on-the-go convenience when communicating with businesses grows, organizations are caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to balancing the need for quick responses with secure conversations.
While the benefits of instant messaging for business are clear, from fostering a better, more communicative company culture and strengthening the connection between brands and customers, this medium has its fair share of drawbacks.

As technology progresses and consumers expect instant gratification from conversations with companies, there’s no option to simply drop instant messaging due to the risks and resume more archaic forms of communications. Businesses need to accept the reality that the brave new world of instant messaging comes with risks, but the rewards, like superior customer service and enhanced cross-department collaboration, outweigh them.

Organizations need to embrace responsible messaging platforms, which ensure that both internal and client-facing conversations are properly recorded in accordance with regulations.
Instant messaging compliance is possible. Companies just need to leverage the right tools to make it happen.

Whatsapp archived messages and your contingency plan

A crucial key to protecting your business, both for compliance purposes and in the event of a future dispute or audit, is making sure that all work-related conversations are captured within a comprehensive digital record.

A WhatsApp archive, along with text message archiving, is critical. This means going beyond reminding your employees that they can’t delete messages between each other and with clients conducted via SMS or instant messaging – you need an automated program that guarantees you’ll have a digital trail of these conversations, which isn’t subject to human error.

As the old saying goes, “Hope for the best, but expect the worst.” There’s nothing wrong with remaining optimistic, but you need to prepare your organization for a doomsday scenario in which a regulator comes knocking and wants you to instantly turn over your conversations, or a problematic client hurls a lawsuit your way.

With a clear, expansive digital record in your arsenal, you can rest easy knowing that you’re ready for any of these situations. But beyond the ease of navigating a potential investigation or litigation, WhatsApp backups also protect your company from falsification or tampering in messages.

For example, with just a click of a button, a user can delete messages within a conversation and create the impression that an entirely different discussion took place. They can also doctor or alter screenshots in order to push a false narrative.

But with a digital record of all conversations at your disposal, you can more easily disprove false narratives, bring clarity to points of misunderstanding or contention, and support your organization with clear documentation that demonstrates your company’s responsibility, transparency, and commitment to best communications practices.

Other benefits of WhatsApp archiving

How often are your clients sending follow-up messages to your customer success teams after their initial query has been acknowledged? Is it because of slow response times?

Are there specific topics that customers are frequently complaining about, or aspects of your operations that prove particularly challenging for them to navigate? Are you seeing a flurry of new help messages from clients after a new feature or policy is rolled out?

With a complete record of your WhatsApp and text messages between your teams and from your business to clients at your fingertips, you can leverage communications as an invaluable resource for learning more about your clients from common complaints to favorite services provided by your organization.

Analyzing your company’s text message and communications data can give you a neutral, big-picture overview into how your business is performing, their strengths and areas for improvement, via real-world, concrete examples more accurate than a customer satisfaction survey.

Want to learn more about how WhatsApp archiving can help protect your company, remain in compliance, improve customer service, and protect your business in the case of a regulatory crackdown or litigation?  Reach out to us at LeapXpert.

We provide a responsible business communications platform that keeps track of business conversations across multiple apps in one place, creating a comprehensive digital record of all messaging conversations between your employees and your clients. Our solution gives you unparalleled ownership over critical data, alongside crucial information you can leverage to optimize your business operations and communications strategy.

For more on how WhatsApp archiving can benefit your organization, get in touch with us! We’d love to show you how archiving instant messaging can fit into your business’ unique communications infrastructure.