Many corporations in Brazil are grappling with the implications of increased mobile phone app use for business communications and collaboration. Tools like WhatsApp are growing rapidly in enterprise user adoption and providing significant advantages for employee productivity and collaboration. Yet IT, legal and compliance leaders continue to worry over the impact these tools have on regulatory compliance, IT security, data protection and investigations.
Some organizations may choose simply to prohibit the use of these types of tools. At first glance, this may seem the safest choice. But considering the widespread use of such tools and the increasing migration to mobile data in Brazil—more than 146 million people here now use WhatsApp, largely in response to changes in our country’s mobile charging system—that position is becoming more and more difficult to enforce.
For some business, especially those that are more dependent on an agile and dynamic sales teams operating on field, the more realistic stance is to accept that some employees are likely to use mobile apps, collaboration platforms and other cloud-based tools whether or not they are sanctioned by the enterprise. They therefore must determine a path forward and policies that support conscious, compliant app use. Teams can begin to mitigate the risks these new tools bring by understanding the pitfalls and establishing balanced yet strong controls. Tips for getting started include the following.
Businesses are undergoing unprecedented and rapid digital transformation. This shift is creating a landscape in which the use of apps in the workplace is becoming mostly unavoidable. Legal and compliance teams must acknowledge these new risks, accept them and establish ways to mitigate them. With a mindset that prioritizes healthy balance, teams can support agility within their business as well as establish meaningful and necessary control over sensitive information.
The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals.
Douglas Leite,
Partner, Licks Advogados
Maíra Ayres Torres,
Compliance Officer , Chiesi
Antônio Gesteira,
Senior Managing Director, FTI Technology
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