How to Automate Communications Archiving to Unburden Your Staff
Last updated on November 29th, 2023 at 04:17 pm
The volume of communications—including emails, text messages, social media, and calls—that organizations accumulate is staggering.
While most communications allow employees to easily search through messages for day-to-day needs, companies need to make sure to preserve some communication records in secure, tamper-proof archives. Communication archiving is necessary in order to keep up with relevant regulations and stay compliant
However, archiving isn’t necessarily an easy job, especially when employees have other work to complete.
Here are some of the main reasons why employees can’t keep up with archiving and how automation can help unburden your staff.
1. Archiving can be time-consuming
Archiving can be a complicated, time-consuming process. Employees must identify which communication records need to be saved, where they should be saved, and when they are due for archiving.
Some records may need to be saved for legal reasons. Others need to be saved for organizational purposes. Whatever the reason may be, archiving takes up valuable time. This time could otherwise be spent completing other work that is important to your business.
How automation can help:
Automated archiving solutions can help reduce time spent archiving. Once they’re set up, your employees won’t have to worry about communication archiving on a daily basis.
Automation can take the guesswork out of retention, and not only free up valuable time for your employees but also minimize the risk of mistakes.
2. Communication data is constantly growing
Employees now have access to an ever-increasing number of data sources. Companies are using multiple different channels for communication and many of the messages exchanged on these platforms need to be preserved in order to remain compliant.
However, if employees have to deal with an overwhelming amount of data manually, things can easily slip through the cracks.
How automation can help:
Automation can help tackle communication data from multiple different platforms. There are many specialized archiving solutions from email to WhatsApp archiving that can help you properly preserve growing communication data, no matter which platform(s) you use.
3. Retention policies can be complicated
Retention policies are complex and difficult to comprehend. It can be complicated to identify which documents need to be archived, how long they should be retained, how to save these documents, and where to store them.
On top of that, legal requirements are constantly changing and retention policies need to be regularly updated. Keeping up with compliance industry trends on top of their regular tasks can be extremely burdensome for employees.
How automation can help:
Automation can help simplify this process. Archiving solutions offer the ability to create customizable retention policies that will be automatically implemented.
That way, communication records are only kept in the archive for the duration of the retention period and will be automatically deleted once this period expires, freeing up space, while also ensuring compliance.
4. Archiving requires knowledge
Not all employees have knowledge of archiving best practices. Some employees may save documents in an improper way. Documents may be saved in the wrong format or saved in the wrong location.
Most employees lack the training needed to successfully manage and archive data. Relying on legal teams and compliance officers can be expensive and unattainable for most organizations. However, this won’t exclude them from legal responsibilities and save them from the consequences of non-compliance.
How automation can help:
Organizations should transition from a manual, error-prone archiving process to a fully automated one. Automation provides consistent processes, and consistent results, and reduces the risk of human error.
Automated tools can capture and classify data according to business-defined parameters. Rule-based automation ensures adherence to legal and compliance regulations, even if employees don’t have extensive knowledge of best practices.
5. A lack of archiving resources can hinder productivity
Organizations may not have the resources needed to support communication archiving. Companies may not have the financial resources required to purchase proper communication archiving technology or may not have the resources required to train employees on proper data management.
Without resources, employees are left to their own devices. This puts too much responsibility in the hands of employees who are likely insufficiently qualified to handle retention, leaving employees burdened with additional tasks and the company vulnerable to compliance risks.
How automation can help:
While investing in automated communication archiving solutions may seem expensive at first, it certainly pays off in the long run. Not only do they help ensure compliance and protect against legal fees and fines, but they also save time and leave employees with more time on their hands to dedicate to revenue-making tasks.
6. Archiving can be overlooked
Finally, employees may simply forget to archive certain messages if they have to do it manually or forget to delete them in a timely manner. If employees have other commitments or don’t receive the proper training, archiving can easily be overlooked.
How automation can help:
With automated archiving solutions, employees don’t have to remember to manually archive communication records. You can set up automation rules so that archiving can be done automatically, according to a pre-set schedule, and employees don’t have to worry about deleting messages.
Conclusion
As communication data continues to grow, companies need to remain compliant by properly preserving communication records in secure archives. However, manually archiving and deleting communications can be a complicated and time-consuming process.
Automation can help by simplifying communication archiving processes and freeing up valuable time for your employees.
