Transparency is an important business practice for many organizations, especially those in the private sector. Taxpayers are always cautious of misappropriation risks, so providing the public with a way to view daily operations and communication is vital because it can give taxpayers peace of mind in knowing that their money is being managed properly. As communication continues to become mobile, sending text messages can allow an organization to record important conversations.
The city of Jacksonville, Florida, is implementing a policy that requires all business-related text messages between public offices to be captured and stored. This will allow citizens the access to view communication records, should the need arise. For city offices, capturing SMS messages is the easiest and most efficient way to record communication.
Cole Cartledge, the director of Intra-Governmental Services for the city of Jacksonville, said to the online publication The Daily Record that his organization plans to work with various groups to determine the best practices of storing text messages.
"I've directed our staff to start holding those indefinitely and we are going to coordinate with the Office of General Counsel to see how long we need to hold those," Cartledge said.
It is unknown at this time how long these messages will have to be held for, as various legal factors will have to be considered before the policy goes live. However, the fact that this city office is planning such a policy shows how important text messaging can be in both public and private business settings.
All organizations must display ethical conduct if they are to remain viable, and recording SMS communication can easily show taxpayers in the public sector and investors in the private sector that operations are on the up and up. As such, businesses should consider using SMS technology to perform all work-related communications such as marketing and customer service. Swift SMS Gateway can provide organizations with the tools needed to implement a text messaging business strategy.