India boasts of the biggest IT crowd. However, news such as companies distancing from a popular messaging tool such as Whatsapp is disheartening.
Companies such as Adidas, Amway, RPG, Hero Group and Jubilant Foodworks are asking their employees to stop using Whatsapp for anything to do with the office, including something as trivial like a leave request.
The reasoning behind the harsh governance has to do with IT security. Although Whatsapp claims to provide end to end encryption, companies do not trust the Facebook owned messenger.
As the servers are not owned or managed by the companies in question, Whatsapp becomes a liability in securing the company’s data.
I know IT and I know companies that safeguards their proprietary information. I agree that Whatsapp must not be used for sharing official data. But requesting a leave? This is taking too far.
My choice is the legendary SMS, or as in iPhone – iMessage. I send trivial information and reminders to join meetings on the SMS and it has served me very well. For starters, I love it because it is a black box. I don’t have to bother to see if the message has been delivered, if the recipient has read (and yet hasn’t responded back), and most importantly, I don’t want to give away my online (or offline) status to others. I know you could turn these things off, but I still prefer to keep my privacy and respect the privacy of others without having to lurk around too much.
