Business Texting - Archiving and Discovery

[rajbhatia]

We really would like to use Business Texting feature in our organization. However, there is NO way to archive or retain the messages for industries that are regulated like Finance, Healthcare, etc. This is a critical requirement to use this feature as regulators REQUIRE you archive all messaging to/from external parties, especially clients/patients!

Business texting has been available since beginning of the year but not usable for a vast majority of corporate customers due to this limitation.  When will this be solved for?  At minimum, the Events API should be able to capture this data.

[kctrey]

Business Texting messages are archived for 400 days currently. If you need those records for a discovery/compliance matter, you can open a ticket with Cisco to obtain those. Cisco is working to add Business Texting to the eDiscovery tool within Control Hub, but there is no committed roadmap date at this time.

In December (targeted), Cisco will be releasing the Events API for Business Texting which will allow real-time events via a webhook so that they can be stored in an external system. Because many companies already have a service for their compliance and eDiscovery that aggregates messaging from various sources (email, text, IM), this may be a solution for those companies.

[rajbhatia]

Hi @kctrey , just checking in to see if the Events API for Business Texting has been released yet.  Thanks!

[rajbhatia]

Thanks for the quick response!  Do you know if Cisco has done some beta testing for business texting archival with firms/services that aggregate data (like Global Relay, etc.) and already leverage the Events API for capturing WebEx IMs, etc.?  Our existing service provider for compliance/discovery/retention was not aware of this updated functionality and we would be willing to move to a provider that would be "ready" to go with this functionality.  THanks!

[kctrey]

I will also mention that Webex Connect SMS does support archiving and retrieval, and is a more comprehensive solution for clients/patients that are wanting to message the business, rather than just individuals. When you think of a client or patient sending a message, are they intending to reach the business, and don't care who answers, or are they messaging the person directly? In most regulated industries, the first case is more common and is what Webex Connect is designed for. It also works in the second case, but provides the ability to add intelligence to that workflow. For example, if the employee is no longer with the company, Webex Connect can ensure that the message is still routed to someone who is able to assist the client, rather than having the message go unanswered if the phone number has not been reassigned.

[rajbhatia]

Great question.  In our case, it would be clients communicating directly with individuals within the firm.  There would be no generic message to the business.  SEC regulations call for archival of all communications with clients and we are trying to leverage WebEx to provide a solution to our employees to be able to communicate via SMS/text and be compliant with regulators.

If an employee leaves the company, that number would be reassigned or monitored by another employee for backup purposes - similar to what we would do for email for that employee.

Thanks!