Cassandra Morrison
Senior Marketing Manager
Data management in finance is an increasingly important consideration for both large and small firms. In the past, financial institutions relied on the Enterprise Information Archiving (EIA) approach to managing data—companies kept physical records of their communications in-house, stored in a physical location.
But the compliance landscape has changed, now that businesses use a variety of digital communication methods and platforms, including text messaging, email, social media, and chat applications like Slack and WhatsApp. Digital storage of these records may sound simple, but with an increase in large companies and governments falling victim to cyber incidents, organizations can’t afford to leave records unprotected and exposed to modern digital threats.
With the SEC and other government institutions cracking down on violations, the old way of communication tracking is no longer feasible. Businesses need a new approach to staying compliant with changing regulations and ensuring the records they store are accurate and secure—and that’s where Digital Communications Governance (DCG) helps.
DCG is beginning to overtake EIA in many organizations. In a recent report, Gartner announced digital communications governance as a new category for data security in 2023. DCG allows businesses to make use of their data in new ways and take a more proactive approach to governance, so it pays to understand what it is and how to create a robust DCG framework.
DCG is the system businesses use to allow access to collecting, storing, and securing business data to protect company data and comply with regulations. Proper adherence has several goals:
Financial organizations need a reliable DCG framework to comply with current local and international regulations. For example, international banks must consider Basel III, which requires banks to set up robust data governance and compliance systems.
Investing in a modern DCG framework allows institutions to safeguard their information—they know exactly what data they have, who has access to it, and whether unauthorized access occurred. A strong DCG framework offers a proactive approach to data access that helps firms lower the risk of noncompliance and makes it easy to provide proof of compliance if requested by regulatory authorities.
Good governance helps financial institutions provide their customers with a safe and transparent communications environment. It helps by:
A reliable DCG framework has several components that help it stay effective. Organizations should consider the following when building one:
Communication surveillance plays a significant role in helping financial organizations create an efficient data governance methodology. It involves capturing all forms of communication, cataloging the nature of the communication, and storing it securely for future use.
Modern communication surveillance solutions offer many features that help companies manage their data governance compliance efforts. It allows companies to catalog information in a single location and quickly surface data when requested.
Additionally, surveillance software provides monitoring and alerting capabilities to notify compliance teams about potential misconduct. AI helps analyze communications using natural language processing (NLP) to determine potential internal misconduct and alert the compliance team. The importance of good surveillance goes beyond just looking at the words but looking for context and insights (essential now that courts are finding that even emojis can be considered digital signatures).
These features help compliance teams manage huge amounts of data, reduce their workloads, identify internal misconduct and other issues, and work with regulators to ensure they stay in compliance.
Financial organizations need a strong surveillance and data management strategy to meet the growing demands and risks associated with digital communications. A comprehensive platform like Shield gives organizations the tools and processes they need to safely store data, meet regulatory compliance requirements, and act on true misconduct.
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