Digital communications is a rapidly evolving field where legislators struggle to make up for widespread changes. The Harvard Business Review now believes a huge change in social media regulation is on the way to meet these challenges, and with that will come a shakeup in how businesses are able to retain and process digital communications. Digital communications are important to the modern online business, but they contain a lot of data – properly managing that is key to staying onside in regulatory terms.
Unified approach
Getting all of your communications in one place is a good place to start. When you’re working in SaaS, it can be non-negotiable. The broad range of users you will onboard and provide services to will necessitate communications in a broad fan. There are plenty of products on offer, too; Yahoo has highlighted a $167.1 billion sector growth when it comes to unified comms. Not using a one-size approach, or having the appropriate systems in place to issue unified communications, can lead to slips in standards. Compliance experts MirrorWeb also recommend this approach due to its help in meeting compliance rules; book-keeping is that much easier when all of your data is retained in one place.
Expanding data
The data that communications provide is not a static measure, either. CNBC highlights how Kepler Communications are going to raise the level of data made available to businesses via their communications with the release of a satellite internet network. That means more opportunity, but more risk, too. Any new data sets brought into the business must be administered in the same diligent fashion as previous communications were.
Section 230
Most intriguing for businesses, especially SaaS, is the potential change in Section 230. CBS News notes that, while more applicable to social media giants than small enterprises, Section 230 allows businesses to have content published on their platform without taking liability for it themselves. Where this could impact SaaS operators is in their clients; Section 230 rules could broaden the definition of liability for the service provider. While nothing has changed yet, it’s an important area of law to keep your eye on.
Communications are a tricky part of the business compliance cycle. Being aware of how it will impact your business, and how to mitigate risk, is important. It starts with a unified platform, but change may be on the way – stay aware.