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While instant messaging apps have become increasingly popular, they aren't suitable for the workplace. US regulators have recently cracked down on the lack of transparency and data protection risks for businesses using consumer messaging apps, handing out huge fines to Wall Street earlier this year.

Apps like WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal have become massively popular for communication between colleagues due to their familiarity and ease of use. However, this often results in sensitive data being spread when using these apps in the workplace. Businesses must look to embrace solutions thatcomply with the legislative (and ethical) obligations within a given region or industry.

Faced with security risks for workers and businesses, several regulators have recently taken steps to crack down on non-compliant workplace messaging. For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) havefined 16 US investment banks $2B, which circumvented oversight and hurt the security of employee data and communications. The UK expressed similar concerns as the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) reported in July that elected officials used their personal WhatsApp accounts to carry out official government business.

When using consumer messaging apps in the workplace, businesses cannot ensure data transparency or control the dissemination of sensitive or confidential information. Businesses simply are not able to adequately assess how data is processed, where it is transferred, who has access to it and for what purpose. If employees use WhatsApp, for example, their communications will be stored on Meta-owned servers.

This problem should concern businesses looking to take charge of their data. They need to know how and where data is stored and used to enhance their defense against external threats, to protect the personal data of employees and customers and guard against million-dollar fines from regulators. However, the solution isn't just to compel workers not to use consumer apps by banning them in the workplace, but also to provide a user-friendly alternative that protects confidentiality, compliance, integrity and accessibility of the data.

Moving away from apps such as WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram in the workplace is a difficult challenge - but not impossible. Companies must procure a solution that offers equal, or better, functionality to provide a truly attractive alternative. Workers end up using consumer messaging apps because they are simple, all of their colleagues are on them, and they offer a superior user experience compared to alternatives like email. Additionally, firms will also need to understand that full adoption of a new communications platform may be slow, and user habits won't change overnight.

One way to create an enterprise messaging app that workers will actually use is ensuring interoperability: the ability to share data between different systems. For instance, workers could communicate with their clients or people from different companies regardless of the platform they use (email allows us to do this). So interoperability brings people together, bridging the conversation back into the company's own system and avoiding fines due to the lack of an audit trail.

To overcome the security problem and embrace the future, it will be essential to consider other key features. A single app that offers interoperability with decentralization in addition to end-to-end encryption (E2EE) goes a long way to solving these problems. While E2EE is a good step to ensuring data is communicated securely, if a platform is still centralized, then all the metadata is transferred through one place, and if the app goes down, it goes down for everyone.

Decentralization offers data ownership, improves privacy and offers enterprises a choice of where they store their data. They can control and own their data on-premise and in the cloud. And most importantly, companies can define their own terms to communicate and exchange data. Combining these features in one platform ensures that the business can comply with the legislative obligations while the workers benefit from all the same benefits of a consumer messaging app.

Ultimately, companies need to provide a secure, compliant, and user-friendly alternative to current consumer messaging apps in order to meet regulatory obligations and protect workers' data privacy. Decentralized applications with features such as E2EE can offer security, data ownership, and improved privacy, while interoperability allows for seamless communication between different systems and helps to avoid large fines from regulators. Many workers are still unaware of how much of their personal data is used by Big Tech and therefore it is essential that businesses make the first move and implement viable alternatives. This is no longer a luxury, but a legal obligation that companies cease to use apps that use data in opaque ways to make a profit.

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