Robert Cruz is the Vice President of Information Governance at Smarsh and is Tom Fox’s guest on this episode of the Innovation in Compliance Podcast. Tom and Robert talk about information and data governance, communications data strategies, and how Smarsh helps its customers mitigate risks through its platforms.  
 

 
New Communication and Risk
In the hybrid work environment employees use new communication sources such as Whatsapp, Discord, and Slack to converse daily. This poses a risk that compliance professionals are now challenged to govern since each of these technologies is different. Firms have to update their systems for this purpose and this is where Smarsh comes in. “Our communications intelligence strategy and platform helps customers bring [communication data] into a central point of control, so they can not only identify the risk but also that they can leverage this information as an asset of their business,” Robert tells Tom. These new communication sources are simply ways for companies to engage, and if leaders can engage on their clients’ terms, it can allow them to expand their markets. 
 
A Level of Complexity
Workers have started to return to the office. Tom asks Robert to share how this has impacted the hybrid work environment, and if it has added any complexity for the compliance individual. The biggest challenge for compliance is that controls need to work consistently regardless of where an individual is. “You need to be securing an individual, not securing the particular location that individual is located in,” Robert says. Compliance professionals need to make sure that they don’t have blind spots, and that their controls work regardless of technology. This has also created more areas for which compliance professionals have to be accountable. 
 
What’s Next
Communications data strategies in the coming years are not going to be heterogeneous. Robert stresses that when data is heterogeneous, it makes it difficult for people to understand. What is going to happen in the future is an acceleration in public cloud adoption and the adoption of artificial intelligence solutions. “The use of the machine to help individuals get through the volume and variety of information… are definitely on trend lines and will just become even more prominent and common across not just large enterprises but into medium size and even smaller firms in the near future,” Robert remarks to Tom.
 
Resources
Robert Cruz | LinkedIn 
Smarsh