Shadow IT: Why WhatsApp and iMessage aren’t the answer
If your frontline employees are turning to WhatsApp, iMessage, or Facebook Messenger to get work done, you’re not alone. Increasingly, however, regulatory fines and security vulnerabilities are making these consumer instant messaging tools more trouble than they’re worth. In November 2024, NatWest Group blocked WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype on company devices to eliminate non-compliant communication, and US banks have been fined close to $2 billion for failing to retain and monitor conversations on unauthorized messaging platforms.
Frontline workers and the “Compliance Gap”
According to research from Gartner, 82% of employees say it’s important for their organization to see them as a person not just an employee, yet only 45% of employees believe their organization actually sees them this way. The parity of tools is a significant factor in giving hard-to-reach frontline workers a voice. While knowledge workers enjoy well-governed platforms like Microsoft Teams or Slack, frontline workers have for years used consumer apps to bridge the gap. Meanwhile, we have heard companies candidly admit that part of frontline onboarding involves showing new hires which WhatsApp groups to join.
But as Shadow IT creeps deeper into daily operations, organizations face:
- Skyrocketing compliance risks: Failure to track and store messages can lead to massive fines, especially in regulated industries.
- Brand and security threats: Data breaches from unsecured apps can erode customer trust overnight. 1 in 3 breaches involved shadow data (IBM), showing the proliferation of data is making it harder to track and safeguard.
- Disjointed employee experience: When your frontline relies on personal messaging apps, you lose a direct line of oversight and a consistent onboarding process. As new employees join and others move on, there’s no seamless way to bring them up to speed, slowing productivity and creating communication gaps.
A change in policy - and culture
By blocking consumer instant messaging apps, leaders like NatWest demonstrate zero tolerance for unregulated channels. The key question becomes: What’s your plan for replacing them? You can’t simply take away frontline workers’ primary communication method without offering a viable, secure alternative.
- Beyond banking: With new or updated data privacy laws popping up worldwide, fines could escalate beyond financial services. Will we see similar crackdowns in regulated industries like insurance, pharmaceuticals, and government?
- Employee engagement: Restricting messaging with no replacement alienates frontline teams further, exacerbating turnover and disconnection.
Introducing Unily’s native Chat
To address this growing frontline worker gap, we’re excited to announce our native Instant Messaging feature – Chat.
Unily’s native Chat delivers secure, real-time communication when speed matters most. Whether it's day-to-day updates or urgent alerts, every message reaches your frontline quickly and safely. Designed for large, distributed teams, Unily keeps your people connected - no matter where they are.
We’re doing things differently and rather than just tell you about Chat, we’ve created a 2-minute, self-paced interactive product demo that lets you explore how Unily’s integrated messaging can drive business value across customer experience (CX), security, and frontline engagement. Start the tour and you’ll be able to choose one of the scenarios below to dive in:
1. Customer Experience (CX)
“In their Future of CX report, PwC surveyed 15,000 consumers and found that 1 in 3 customers will leave a brand they love after just one bad experience.”
In this 2-minute interactive walkthrough, see how Unily Chat empowers frontline teams to solve customer issues instantly - preventing those poor experiences that could cost you money.
2. Security threats
“The average data breach costs $4.88 million globally (2024 IBM report), and can climb to 30% of operating income (ThreatConnect).”
When employees lack a secure, enterprise-sanctioned chat solution, they resort to risky personal apps—exposing your organization to cyberthreats and eroding stakeholder trust. Jump into our product demo to see how Unily’s integrated chat locks down communication, keeps IT in control, and protects sensitive data.
3. Creating a direct line between HQ and frontline workers
“According to Gallup, frontline employees who are supervised by highly engaged managers are 59% more likely to be engaged than those supervised by managers with below-average engagement.”
We know the correlation between engagement and communication so giving a direct line between managers on the frontline and HQ can have tangible benefits. Your knowledge workers have Teams or Slack, but what about the people actually serving customers, producing goods or in isolated roles? Explore our 2-minute interactive scenario to discover how Unily Chat delivers real-time collaboration and equal access to information - bridging the gap between HQ and the frontline.
Unily Chat: the features
- Integrated people directory for quick search
- Secure messaging to replace shadow IT
- Encrypted 1:1 and group chat functionality
- Emojis, a rich text editor, and link sharing for more engaging interactions
Ready to replace Shadow IT?
Now is the moment to rethink how your frontline communicates. With Unily’s native Chat, you eliminate the pitfalls of Shadow IT while strengthening engagement and meeting compliance demands head-on with an integrated solution that fits in with your wider EXP strategy.
Get in touch to learn more about how our secure, mobile-first chat solution can bring your frontline and HQ closer together - without risking fines or fractures in your digital workplace.
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On-demand
