Mobile messaging and SMS have significantly evolved employee communication. These communication channels offer numerous benefits, such as immediacy and convenience, but they also present challenges in terms of public records archiving.
Organizations are responsible for ensuring that all relevant employee communications are properly archived and accessible for public records requests; failure to comply can lead to legal issues, reputational damage, and significant financial penalties. However, they can address these challenges by integrating SMS, mobile capture, and centralized archiving systems. Here are some of the best practices organizations can do.
Establishing a Centralized Archiving System
Storing all archived communications in a single, secure location can help organizations simplify the retrieval process and ensure that records are easily accessible during audits or public records requests.
Cloud-based storage solutions offer a scalable and cost-effective option for centralized archiving, allowing for secure access from multiple locations. These solutions typically provide robust security features, such as encryption and access controls, to safeguard sensitive information. These solutions often offer advanced search and retrieval functionalities, so organizations would be able to locate specific records based on various criteria quickly.
Implementing Indexing and Categorization
Once a centralized archived system is live, organizations can maximize this space by implementing an indexing and categorization matrix that would group communications based on relevant data, such as date, sender, recipient, and subject matter. Additionally, advanced indexing solutions often incorporate machine learning algorithms to classify automatically and tag communications based on predefined rules or patterns. Introducing these systems as an organization-wide mandate would not be easy, as previous communications must be considered. However, having them would allow for quick and accurate identification of specific records when needed.
Ensuring Compliance with Retention Policies
Technological developments have allowed people to use their smartphone cameras to perform administrative tasks. As grand as the possibilities are, mobile capture compliance must also exist because legal damages can result if an individual or organization fails to heed legal standards.
Clear retention policies that specify the duration for which different types of records must be retained must exist within an organization. These policies should be regularly reviewed and updated to align with changing regulations and best practices.
Providing Employee Training and Awareness
Effective public records archiving requires the active participation of all employees, not just the top management. Organizations must provide regular training and awareness sessions to educate employees on the importance of public records archiving and their role in the process. Regular training sessions should cover topics such as the organization’s archiving policies, the legal implications of non-compliance, and best practices for communication in the digital age.
Additionally, organizations should provide clear guidelines and resources to help employees navigate the archiving process and address any questions or concerns they may have. These programs are also investments to achieve an improved and effective archiving system.
Utilizing a Secure Messaging Software
Communication is an integral part of the workplace, and with work mostly having digital modes of delivery, companies must use secure messaging software. The ideal software would provide both mobile archiving and secure enterprise messaging and mass messaging. You’ll find these at TeleMessage, an innovative messaging leader that equips any workplace with reliable, secure and integrated mobile enterprise messaging solutions.