Keeping compliant as the UAE’s workforce defaults to digital

Sally Bou Jaoude Account Director, Avaya explains that as organisations add personal touches in the digital realm, keeping to compliance requirements becomes more of a challenge

As one of the world’s most connected countries, citizens of the UAE have high expectations from both online services and experiences delivered in brick-and-mortar stores. We find it difficult to wait in queues and expect our purchases as soon as possible. We want the businesses we interact with to be aware of our needs so they can address them proactively. We expect problems to be solved in real time, the first time, and we dislike repeating ourselves.

But as public and private organisations ramp up efforts to add the personal touch in the digital realm, compliance risks are beginning to rear their heads. This is less to do with potential cyber threats, which are well understood and heavily publicised, but more about inadvertent privacy and compliance lapses.

Having recently fired a trader as part of a compliance sweep, a major global bank reportedly reminded staff that apps like WhatsApp should not be used to engage clients, as unauthorised channels like these fell outside regulatory obligations. Whether any data is compromised is a moot point.

Consumer-grade smartphone applications are extremely common in professional contexts, and personally identifiable information (PII) and other sensitive data are regularly shared through these platforms.

Sally Bou Jaoude, Account Director, Avaya

An alternative route

It’s difficult to say whether these compliance breaches are malicious; some can be attributed to negligence or happen because of roadblocks that employees encounter while trying to do their jobs serving customers, leading them to seek out other options.

According to a study by Freshworks, 42% employees in the Middle East and Africa region say their company’s workplace technologies make them appear ‘behind the times’.

While companies must provide employees with the necessary skills to carry out their roles, there is also a constant need to educate teams on their responsibilities in order for them to remain compliant.

The study by Freshworks also reported that nine in ten employees in Middle East and Africa region are frustrated by their workplace technology.

Bringing together CX and compliance

But it takes more than flashy apps to connect with customers to deliver the best experience - increasingly the make-or-break factor for a business. It entails enabling digital tools to enhance collaboration, streamline procedures and tasks, and establish a “safe space” where employees and clients can communicate without worrying that their information and conversations will be made public.

To reduce uncertainties and grey areas, the way forward also entails extending automation and artificial intelligence (AI) affordances to employees so that they can carry out judgment-based work and check that regulations are being followed. Employees interact and converse more effectively when they have access to a streamlined communications platform, and the risk of data misuse is reduced.

When a wide range of applications connect to a workplace’s network, digital environments can become complicated under the current hybrid work setup, making it even more difficult for management to monitor the entire perimeter to prevent any breaches of compliance obligations. Employees can perform their jobs as intended, managers are given assurances about how information is handled, and customers are given confidence that their personal information will remain safe when all channels for communicating with customers are combined within a secured and authorized environment.

As digital services become more and more integrated into our daily lives, companies must consider the risks that are inevitably present as they seek to stay compliant with customer data. The good news is that, with the right tools, it’s possible to unlock the full potential of digital communications and stay on the right side of regulation.