Regulators are tightening expectations on data completeness and retrieval speed across all communication channels — from voice and meetings to digital messaging and AI-generated content.
However, new research by Wordwatch highlights that many compliance teams remain reliant on outdated systems, fragmented archives, and manual workflows that slow investigations and inflate operational risk.
The findings expose a significant compliance gap within regulated organisations. According to the research, 79% of firms were asked by regulators to produce complete communications records over the past year. Despite this, only 17% of organisations currently operate a unified, cross-channel compliance archive capable of rapid data retrieval. Meanwhile, 79% still depend on legacy or disconnected systems for archiving and governance, creating fragmented records that are difficult to verify and time-consuming to manage.
Perhaps most concerning, just 27% of firms reported having full end-to-end visibility and assurance across their communications data. This means the vast majority still rely on manual intervention for capture, retention, and retrieval — an approach that introduces human error, increases maintenance costs, and prolongs compliance investigations. In an environment of heightened scrutiny and rising data volumes, these inefficiencies are becoming increasingly untenable.
To address these issues, leading compliance teams are beginning to consolidate their data capture processes, automate policy enforcement, and implement systems that guarantee evidential quality across all communication channels. These steps not only reduce regulatory risk but also transform compliance archives into valuable business assets that can feed AI-driven analytics and insights.
Wordwatch’s upcoming session will present detailed findings from its latest research, providing attendees with benchmarks to assess their own communications compliance strategies. The session will explore how organisations can eliminate off-channel risk, close capture gaps across voice, meetings and messaging, and securely decommission outdated legacy systems by 2026. Participants will also learn how to automate end-to-end policy adherence, streamline audit processes, and dramatically reduce record retrieval times.
The webinar aims to help regulated firms modernise their compliance architecture, improve data governance, and future-proof their systems ahead of upcoming regulatory and technological shifts. Registration is now open for professionals who wish to join the live discussion or receive the post-event recording.
Register to join the webinar session here.
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