Mobile Messaging: How to Meet Rules

Insurance companies face numerous state, federal and international regulatory obligations with customer communications and relationship management. Failure to comply can be costly to reputations and bottom lines. In fact, the vast amounts of personal and sensitive data require businesses in the insurance, financial services and other highly regulated sectors by law to archive electronic messages and ensure customer privacy across communication channels. In our hyper-connected digitized world, these security requirements extend to include interactions done via mobile messaging, which has quickly emerged as the preferred and fastest-growing communication method. There are already 1.6 billion people on messaging platforms world-wide, and projections are that, in 2017, more than 28.2 trillion will be messages sent. See also: How Chatbots Change Open Enrollment   Yet many of the most popular social mobile messaging platforms don’t meet the regulatory requirements set forth by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulatory bodies. They are designed for peer-to-peer messaging instead of contemplating business communications and transactions. A case in point is the recent privacy concerns raised when WhatsApp, a popular messaging app, announced it would share customer data with Facebook. Compliance, legal and regulatory professionals shudder at the thought of "shared customer data." Consumers don't want to use the same chat app for private, business interactions that they use for friends. As a result, adoption has been slow for social chat apps for insurance, as well as banking, healthcare, telecommunications and cable-TV and related services, via social chat apps that provide real transactional capabilities has been slow. Likewise, most insurers and other highly regulated companies aren’t sold on using a social messaging service such as WhatsApp or Facebook for messaging with customers largely because of data privacy issues. So how can insurance companies embrace mobile messaging as the preferred way for customers to communicate, while still meeting regulatory, legal and internal policy requirements?

1. Adopt a messaging platform that allows secure, encrypted messaging purposefully designed for business.
2. Ensure mobile messages are effectively captured and archived in a secure filing cabinet.
3. Ensure compliance and integration of your mobile messaging solution with other customer communication channels and enterprise systems.

See also: The Case for Personalization   The insurance industry has built its foundation on managing risk and building a good reputation. By adopting mobile messaging to communicate with customers in real-time, insurers have an opportunity to create a deeper connection with customers, increase satisfaction and reduce costs while also building trust with customers. The opportunity to improve the customer experience is huge, while also successfully meeting the regulatory requirements around this next wave of change in communication.