Regulated organisations are heading into 2026 facing a communications environment that is more complex than at any point in the past.
What was once a relatively contained set of channels – email, mobile and voice – has expanded into a sprawling constellation that now includes Microsoft Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp and a growing list of digital collaboration tools. As these channels multiply, regulatory expectations around capture, retention and evidential retrieval have risen sharply, leaving firms with little margin for error.
Yet many organisations continue to depend on outdated infrastructure and incomplete workflows that cannot keep pace with today’s requirements. Legacy recorders, fragmented archives and a reliance on ad hoc processes remain widespread across the industry. This patchwork approach makes it difficult to establish a reliable “single source of truth” for communications records, often resulting in increased operational strain and heightened exposure to regulatory scrutiny, penalties and reputational risks.
Data quality sits at the heart of these challenges. AI and analytics play an increasingly important role in surveillance, misconduct detection and decision-making, but their effectiveness depends entirely on consistent, unified data. When organisations maintain multiple archives or store records in mixed, proprietary formats, their capacity to generate trustworthy insights is significantly diminished. Consolidating communications data into a single structured dataset is therefore foundational for any firm planning to scale its use of AI.
Wordwatch recently conducted a survey of compliance, surveillance and IT practitioners across regulated sectors to gauge the scale of these issues. The findings reveal an environment where outdated systems remain commonplace and the pressure from regulators has intensified. Many teams report being under what feels like “constant audit conditions”, with ever-growing demands to produce complete and defensible communications records at speed.
The guide breaks down the dominant trends highlighted in the research and explains how they are reshaping compliance operations. It also outlines why a unified strategy for communications governance is emerging as a critical differentiator, enabling firms to move away from reactive firefighting and towards proactive, continuous assurance.
One of the core insights from the survey concerns the industry’s reliance on legacy systems. Wordwatch found that 79% of regulated businesses still depend on disconnected recorders, while just 17% have successfully unified their archives across voice and digital channels. This fragmentation creates blind spots where communications are not captured, stored or monitored effectively, exposing firms to off-channel risks that may not be discovered until a regulator intervenes.
Another pattern is the persistence of coverage gaps across digital platforms. The guide details the most common areas where firms are failing to maintain visibility and explores how these gaps undermine oversight, particularly as employees increasingly adopt consumer-grade tools for work. The associated compliance risk is often far greater than many organisations assume.
The research also highlights how inconsistent datasets are preventing firms from developing robust AI and advanced analytics. Siloed communications repositories limit firms’ ability to train reliable surveillance models, while proprietary file types complicate any attempt to build a consistent evidential record. Standardisation is therefore a non-negotiable step for any organisation aiming to modernise.
Automation is another area where firms are progressing unevenly. According to the findings, only 37% have fully automated their retention schedules, legal holds and deletion policies. Even fewer – just 27% – report having comprehensive end-to-end visibility across their communications estate. The guide illustrates how leading firms are closing these gaps and the governance frameworks they are deploying to strengthen oversight.
Regulatory pressure also continues to mount. With 79% of survey respondents having been asked to provide complete communications records in the last year alone, the guide shows how firms can shift from “fire-drill” responses to a model of continuous readiness powered by consolidated data and automated assurance.
To support this shift, the guide presents a practical six-step roadmap for 2026. It starts with conducting a full audit of an organisation’s capture estate and identifying fragmentation, before moving through modernisation strategies, governance processes and, ultimately, the transition to a unified compliance archive. The roadmap is designed to be pragmatic, enabling teams to advance at a manageable pace while steadily reducing operational and regulatory risk.
Industry experts, including specialists from Wordwatch, provide commentary throughout the guide. Their insights help organisations translate the research findings into actionable steps, ensuring they can benchmark performance, identify their biggest vulnerabilities and chart a coherent plan for modernisation.
The guide offers independent data from 100 regulated organisations, a clear assessment of critical risks and bottlenecks, and a structured roadmap to help firms strengthen their communications governance ahead of 2026. For compliance leaders seeking to modernise their approach, this resource offers a grounded, evidence-based starting point.
The guide can be downloaded here.
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