Many companies still conduct work correspondence on Telegram, despite the unrelenting controversy surrounding its safety and security. In this article, we will explain why Telegram is not a suitable tool for work communications, what risks are associated with its use, and what alternatives are available today.
What are the risks of using Telegram for business
Telegram, like other public messengers, is subject to several risks. Data security, protection of accounts from attackers, and information control are all in question. The messenger remains a foreign service, and this creates threats of blocking or limiting it at any time, depending on the foreign policy situation. Also, due to the storage of data on servers outside of Russia, the use of such applications may violate the requirements of Russian legislation (152-FZ) on the protection of personal data.
In Telegram, end-to-end encryption is not enabled by default and is available only in «secret chats». However, most communications are conducted in regular chats, which creates a vulnerability — messages can be intercepted at the transmission or storage stage. All data created in Telegram without end-to-end encryption (messages, media files) are stored on the platform's servers, which makes them available to attackers. In addition, there are often cases of accounts being hacked or tampered with. For example, employees may receive messages from an "imaginary" CEO or chief accountant asking them to provide personal data or card details for salary transfers.
The controversy surrounding Telegram security has been going on for several years, but since the arrest of its founder Pavel Durov in September 2024, the issue has been particularly acute. For example, some Russian agencies have banned officials from using this messenger for official purposes. This decision was taken to protect work correspondence. As an alternative, civil servants were recommended to switch to a Russian platform for corporate communications.
Why businesses should use enterprise messengers
When talking about communication methods in Russian companies, it is worth giving preference to domestic developments in order to have a reliable solution in the long term, which will not be exposed to the risk of blocking. And if you compare public and corporate solutions, it is worth looking at the latter in the context of convenience and information protection. Such messengers offer a high level of data protection, centralised control and compliance with legal requirements. Let's take a look at the main advantages of corporate services.
Compliance with legislation
As already mentioned, Russian companies are obliged to comply with legal requirements, especially in the area of protection and storage of transmitted data. Corporate messengers are developed taking into account all legislative norms and make it possible to avoid fines and other sanctions for violating these requirements. As a reminder, the ban on the use of foreign messengers came into force on 1 March 2023 (149-FZ "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection"). We wrote more about the law and which messengers were blacklisted by Roskomnadzor earlier.
Technical support
Russian corporate solutions offer high-quality technical support and maintenance, independent of the requirements of other countries (many Western services have left the Russian market and stopped servicing implemented solutions). This is especially important for businesses that value promptness in resolving issues. Plus, Russian solutions are often better adapted to the realities of the domestic market and the requirements of local legislation.
Access management and control
Access control tools, tracking employee actions within the system and controlling data exchange - all this is only possible in corporate services. For example, you can configure employee roles and differentiate their rights in different chats. This is important to protect confidential information and prevent unauthorised access.
Integration with business systems
Corporate messengers can be integrated with various business systems such as CRM, ERP, EDMS and others. This simplifies work with data, automates processes and increases the efficiency of interaction between departments. Unlike public messengers, such solutions help to bring together information from different corporate systems, which reduces time spent by employees and helps them to be more productive.
How to choose a corporate messenger for business?
Today, there are many decent services on the market for team communication that can replace popular foreign solutions. We wrote a review of the best corporate messengers of 2024. To choose the right solution for your business, first determine the company's needs - the size of the business, the number of employees, and the need for integration with other systems. Then compare the most relevant messengers for your needs based on a number of factors:
- Compliance with legal requirements.
- Ability to create a workgroup within the company and with external users.
- Temporary accounts for external participants, their number and cost.
- Support for various operating systems.
- Deployment options (SaaS/On-premise).
- Federation mode for interaction both internally and with external users of the solution.
- Different functionalities for communication - chats, audio and video calls, tools for working with files, etc.
- Availability and ability to implement chatbots.
- Variants of integration of messenger with various internal systems of the company to automate business processes.
- Ability to scale the system as the load grows.
- Stable technical support and regular updates.
Benefits of eXpress messenger
Since Telegram was banned from a number of state-owned enterprises, eXpress has become a key alternative. Let's take a look at what features the platform offers and why it has become the choice for more than a million users.
eXpress is actively used in government, finance, industry and logistics, IT and other areas. The solution uses various security methods and protocols to ensure information protection, and eXpress SmartApps technology allows to unite all the company's business applications within one ecosystem.
