Organizations face strong customer demand to engage with them via Facebook-owned WhatsApp. This customer pull faces equal corporate IT pushback regarding privacy and security. Software engineering leaders need to understand the issues, trends and concerns when making decisions on WhatsApp support.

Key Findings:

• Traditional communication modes such as email, telephony and Microsoft Teams are not as effective as advanced messaging for engaging customers, particularly younger users who prefer consumer messaging apps like WhatsApp.
• WhatsApp Business API offers many business controls that IT departments are unaware of. This includes encryption, in-country storage support, GDPR compliance and customer opt-in approval.
• Organizations with strict policies against messaging apps like WhatsApp are at risk of noncompliant usage. This can result in fines, loss of business, employee terminations and damaged business reputation.
• Consumer messaging apps like WhatsApp — followed by Instagram, TikTok and Viber — are encroaching on the business IT landscape. It is increasingly difficult to have blanket rules against some form of adoption without alienating your customer base.