Portland digital archiving firm Smarsh announced Monday that it would acquire TeleMessage, a provider of mobile messaging and voice capture technology.
According to a news release, the deal improves Smarsh's offerings for companies that need to track and archive communications across a growing number of messaging apps and services.
As more workers are hybrid and communicate over personal devices and web apps, storing communications has become more difficult for regulated industries to log communications. The acquisition of TeleMessage will extend its ability to store and monitor communications on apps including WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram, Signal and others, the announcement said.
“Highly regulated firms have always needed to capture and retain their digital communications for regulatory compliance, legal discovery, and to protect their brand,” Smarsh Chief Product Officer Goutam Nadella said in the news release. “However, given the new hybrid workforce and how digitally connected everyone is, it’s more challenging than ever to monitor all the new voice and text channels. Simply put, firms everywhere are overwhelmed by all the new channels — like WhatsApp, WeChat and more effective coverage for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) models — that are necessary for business but pose real risks, because of their variety and the volume and velocity of the data they produce. One of the biggest areas of risk is mobile communications.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Smarsh acquired Digital Safe Business Micro Focus in November 2021 for $375 million, one of the largest M&As in the region in 2021.
