Ninth Annual Report Highlights Concerns, Best Practices for Retention and Oversight of Electronic Communications
Smarsh, helping customers get ahead – and stay ahead – of the risk within their electronic communications, released its ninth annual Electronic Communications Compliance Survey Report. The survey of more than 300 compliance professionals in the financial services industry finds that organizations must rethink their approaches to the adoption, retention and oversight of electronic communications to accommodate modern electronic communication technologies in the workplace, including personal mobile devices.
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The survey indicates that many compliance teams are struggling with limited human resources to oversee the fast-changing electronic communications compliance landscape. Nearly half of respondents (45%) said they are in constant catch-up mode, rather than proactive mode, when it comes to electronic communication compliance. Without adequate technology to automate the collection, preservation and review of an increasingly diverse volume of electronic communications, organizations are struggling to keep pace.
In addition, prohibiting younger workers from using personal devices and messaging applications to conduct business is no longer a viable option. As new multi-modal networks such as integrated voice, video and chats are requested or approved for use, compliance teams will need to get ahead of retention and supervision standards.
“This year’s survey findings show that firms are overwhelmed by the volume, variety and velocity of electronic communications channels, and their oversight practices are challenged to keep up,” said Robert Cruz, Senior Director of Information Governance at Smarsh. “Prohibiting adoption of new tools doesn’t work and also puts firms at risk. A new approach is needed to enable today’s social, mobile and collaborative workforce and to meet the needs of a customer base that will only grow more tech-savvy as younger generations represent a larger portion of each firm’s revenue.”
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Compliance teams understand that much of what they do can help manage overall corporate risk in support of other departments including IT, marketing and HR. Collected data is increasingly being leveraged beyond audit/examination requirements to transform compliance from a cost center into a value driver.
Archived data can be extremely effective to find potential violations of fraud, data privacy, human resources and legal rules. Nearly half of respondents (47%) now believe that electronic communications compliance is more than a cost/risk mitigation center, as it can also contribute to topline growth by maintaining valuable customer intelligence. This figure is up from survey results in prior years, when an average of 39% of respondents in 2017, and 32% in 2018, provided alternative use cases for archived data utilization.
Beyond the improved identification of risks, firms are recognizing that the creation of a centralized data store of communications can also function as a revenue-building asset to the business, especially as providers adopt emerging artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities. These new stores of communications can produce valuable insights into the needs and preferences of prospects and clients, and can be harvested to improve social media campaigns, messaging, and to equip sales teams with additional insights into their targeted firms.
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