February 23, 2016
A study by Infinite Convergence Solutions, Inc. released at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona has found that enterprises across retail, legal, healthcare and finance industries allow employees to use third-party consumer messaging apps to communicate with and send documents to colleagues, clients or customers and external partners or stakeholders.
Upwards of 44% of employees regularly use mobile messaging throughout the workday, with SMS/MMS, Facebook Messenger, Skype and Google Chat/Hangouts being the most popular chat apps used. Only 17% say their company has and uses an internal, company-created mobile messaging app the most.
“Third-party messaging apps, especially those that are primarily for consumer use, do not have the necessary security regulations in place to protect sensitive or classified business information,” said Anurag Lal, CEO of Infinite Convergence. “Instead of implementing an enterprise-grade platform, employers are allowing their employees to use the apps they’re most familiar with from personal use, which risks information being compromised.”
Across various industries, employers are not implementing official mobile messaging platforms to regulate and secure employee communication. According to the study, 54% of retail employees, 51% of healthcare employees, 44 % of legal employees and 38% of finance employees say their company does not have an official mobile messaging platform. However, 84% of employees would use a company-wide mobile messaging platform if one was implemented.
Additional findings across these industries include:
Retail
Healthcare
Legal
Finance
Overall, the study found that employees across industries are frequently in communication with colleagues, clients or customers and partners or stakeholders via a range of mobile devices:
“Our study suggest that employees are increasingly using mobile messaging to communicate at work, but they’re receiving mixed signals on the dangers associated with third-party messaging apps,” said Lal. “Many of them are aware that consumer apps are not secure, but their employers are not providing an official, compliant platform for their use. Enterprises across industries need to realize that a secure, internal mobile messaging platform is crucial to increase efficiency, maintain compliance and secure communication.”
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