Decentralization of information and data vulnerability: learn how communication via emails and WhatsApp creates chaos for Corporate Governance

The concern of companies with corporate governance has grown (IBGC) in 2024 the private sector showed an average adherence of 66% to the practices recommended by the Brazilian Code of Corporate Governance, a high of 1.6 percentage points compared to 2023.

Despite this, some common factors still hinder the good exercise of governance, according to Andrea Migliori, CEO of Digital Workhub, HR Tech of solutions for corporate portals.“The pillars of governance are equity, transparency, integrity, sustainability and accountability. For all of them, communication is key, and unfortunately there are many challenges in this area among companies from all” segments, he explains.

The CEO exemplifies with the most used methods for sending information in organizations: emails and WhatsApp. “Although they are very useful and widely disseminated tools, both bring risks and delays that can impact all communication of the company”.

The first negative point raised is the issue of organization and access to information segmentation. With conversations and documents scattered in hundreds of emails or WhatsApp groups, it becomes very difficult to identify who said what and when. This also leads to different people having access to different information, which brings inconsistency in decision making. By itself, this situation disrupts the day-to-day business and the productivity of teams, but can also bring specific complications at the time of the audit, which requires traceability.

In part because some email operators and messaging apps may not have the best security certifications, and in part because decentralization can take sensitive issues to people who should not have access, through recipients in copy or presence in WhatsApp groups, for example.

Andrea also indicates information overload as another common difficulty. “Channel saturation leads to a loss of time and focus, with teams spending more energy trying to organize than actually working.It is not unlikely that data will be lost when this is the case, which directly affects the governance practices”, says the professional.

One of the main solutions for this “caos” is the use of a single communication channel capable of concentrating and organizing company information, playing the role of “dorsal” of the internal communication strategy and enabling the exchange of information and documents securely.This is the proposal of intranets and other corporate communication systems, especially those that bring integrated solutions so that everything is registered within the same program.

“A good system can meet all the needs of internal communication and also offer ease at the time of the audit, with transparency and practicality”, explains Andrea. But she also reinforces: “It is a change of tool as much as it is a cultural change. People need to adapt and it is essential that the entire team understands the reasons behind the novelty, and use it according to”, he concludes.