Corporations and government agencies are discovering the need to manage text messages as records. That is to say, text messages are records, and need to be managed as such.
Records are defined as “any recorded information, regardless of medium or characteristics, made or received and retained by an organization in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business” in the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles (GARP). Although some may argue that text messages have simply replaced phone calls and in-person discussions and thus do not need to be managed, the fact is that text messages largely fit GARP’s definition. However, the retention of text messages needs to be addressed.
A No Jitter article from October, “How to Keep Text Messaging Inside the Business Secure & Compliant,” discusses some of the problems facing the capture and retention of text messages as records. However, while it addresses the issue as a concern for Information Technology, it is of equal concern to records managers.
Security is a major concern. Regular consumer-grade messaging apps are vulnerable to hackers, who could easily gain access to sensitive information about employees or customers. Text messaging must be more secure in a business or governmental setting. The information exchanged must be protected against unauthorized access.
Accountability is another reason text messages need to be managed. In order to provide accountability, texts need to be retained and preserved. As the above article explains, the use of unsanctioned apps means that business conversations are not archived and thus not able to be found during discovery proceedings. Ultimately, this lack of control puts businesses at risk of not being compliant with various regulations, as well as being open to litigation risk.
Both of these concerns are behind the removal of text and social media messaging apps on the official phones of White House officials. This is an extreme solution, certainly, but one that must be taken until systems can be put in place to maintain compliance with the Presidential Records Act. This is already something that is proving difficult with emails, so it may be some time before text messages are appropriately managed to meet government standards.
Capture and retention solutions also need to be investigated. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard 15489 lays out processes for creating, capturing and managing records. Record capture is more than making sure that a record is not destroyed. It involves entry into a records system such that it can be located at a later time; the capture or creation of metadata is an important part of this step. Similarly, storage has particular considerations as well, such as security from tampering or loss.
The No Jitter article presents the possible solution of a business-dedicated messaging app as the best means to separate personal and professional messaging. Such an app needs to provide message retention and archiving, in addition to encryption. A cloud-based service would be especially beneficial, as it allows for centralization within the business. This is perhaps the best solution for businesses that do not provide devices to their employees.
One concern I would raise with this type of app is how it may affect relationships with clients. The app should not be of the sort that will only communicate within itself, as this would require clients to download and use special messaging apps in order to conduct business, which could be seen as a hassle. It would especially hurt business if a client has already had to use different apps with different companies.
If a few messaging apps that meet these requirements become relatively ubiquitous for conducting business, there would be benefits for businesses, clients, and archivists. Businesses may begin to receive employees already familiar with the app, and clients would have fewer apps to worry about. Most importantly, this makes it easier for records managers and archivists to manage text message records. The hope would be greater file preservation support, and records managers could be more easily manage one or two messaging platforms, rather than ten or fifteen.
It is not uncommon, at the personal level, to use multiple messaging apps on a single device. On my own device I use around three at any one time depending on who I am communicating with. With this in mind, the transition to more secure messaging apps should be fairly painless. There is also no need to re-invent the wheel. Text messaging only needs to become capturable and more secure.
Should such messaging apps gain traction, the benefits may begin to extend to personal messaging, as well. Text messages play an increasingly important role in our daily lives, so it is reasonable to believe that archivists may wish for some to be preserved, and this is something that will only happen if we engage with it today. Besides, it may mean less time spent scrolling through your messages because you know Joe sent you the information you need, if only you could find it.