Read Time: 3 mins 13 seconds
Category: Digital Commerce
Excerpt: This article is a quick look at the issues that have come up with the use of Whatsapp for Online Business Management or Hyperlocal Delivery Management with the rise of small businesses during the pandemic.
Since the pandemic, many small online businesses came up because of the ease of communication. With that came the functioning of delivery and online business management through Whatsapp. Whatsapp Business gained a lot of prominence in recent times. But it is quite difficult to manage hyperlocal deliveries through Whatsapp pr Whatsapp Business.
Let’s have a quick look at the issues of managing online business/hyperlocal deliveries via Whatsapp:
Issues With Managing Online Business through Whatsapp
1. Whatsapp Business App is not GDPR Compliant
Be it be Whatsapp or Whatsapp Business, the fact that any employee can join anyone else to a WhatsApp group without their permission, including customers and suppliers, should be cause for alarm. If an employee provides WhatsApp access to their phone contacts, and those connections include other employees or customers, that data is sent to Facebook without their knowledge.
WhatsApp protects itself by delegating this ‘consent’ to specific users:
“You provide us, all in accordance with applicable laws, the phone numbers of WhatsApp users and your other contacts in your mobile address book regularly, including for both the users of our Services and your other contacts.”
However, if these users are your workers, you may be held liable if they do not obtain permission from all of the people in their address book (which they plainly do not).
2. Unreliable ‘end-to-end’ encryption for security information
Even if you reject the possibility that Facebook is using ‘wiretapping’ to defeat encryption on WhatsApp, you can’t trust the end-to-end encryption of your communications to keep your information safe. This is because your message content can be seen unencrypted in at least two places:
- WhatsApp backups are not encrypted. As a result, if you or anyone with whom you are conversing backs up their WhatsApp, the content is not encrypted.
- Chat exports are not encrypted. Anyone in any group you’re a member of can export the group’s full conversation history as a plain text file and publish it or send/store it unencrypted wherever.
As a result, despite the messaging app’s end-to-end encryption, you should expect that any sensitive business information in WhatsApp can be easily revealed at any time.
3. No API Interfaces with existing CRM systems
Even small and medium-sized businesses want to provide easy, timely, and targeted communication to their customers. This includes always being aware of the most recent topic of discussion. It was also possible that it was a phone call or an email. Almost every business today has a CRM system in place to keep track of this. Because the WhatsApp business app lacks an interface, customer communication on the smartphone is fully separated.
4. Limited Automation Options
The WhatsApp Business App does not even come close to matching the promise of WhatsApp chatbots and simple automation. WhatsApp chatbots can now be set up quickly and easily without any programming skills and can automate up to 80% of repetitive inquiries.
5. Whatsapp Can Be Terminated At Any Time
“WhatsApp reserves the right to modify, suspend or terminate service for any reason without prior notice, at our sole discretion.” And if that’s a problem for you? “If you believe your account’s termination or suspension was in error, please contact us at support@whatsapp.com.”
So, before you put too much time, resource, or business value in WhatsApp as a channel, think about the consequences if it is abruptly removed for no reason you understand and you have no recourse.
Conclusion
Individual professionals may be excused for not knowing the dangers of using WhatsApp or other consumer messaging apps for work, but corporations are finding it increasingly difficult to disregard the consequences.
The need for businesses to use a messaging app like Guild, which is dedicated to professional use, becomes further evident as Facebook merges WhatsApp with Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook, as well as bringing ads to WhatsApp.
Q1: Business Problems Faced By Entrepreneurs
- Lack of Proper Marketing
- Getting And Retaining Customers
- Maintaining Online Presence
- Money Management
- Time Management
- Social Media Management Tools
Q2: What’s a business problem?
Business problems are current or long-term challenges and issues faced by a business. These may prevent a business from executing strategy and achieving goals. In some cases, business problems also threaten the long-term survival of a firm.
