The use of messaging apps has exploded in recent years, with users attracted to their ease of use and accessibility. Their popularity has, predictably, spread to the world of work, with many employees adopting such apps, thus blurring the line between personal and business communications. Employee use of these so-called off-channel communications — through work or personal devices — involves encryption and ephemeral features, making corporate tracking of these messages prohibitive and complex.
Over the past few years, there has been an uptick in US and UK regulatory action against corporates, almost exclusively in the financial services sector, where there is evidence of failures in record-keeping of off-channel communications.
