Are companies allowed to use WhatsApp to communicate with their suppliers?

[iMore Question]

A company is currently using SMS to send messages to farmers to advise them of the status of the factory to prevent them from delivering goods when the factory is down.

There is a cost to each SMS so the company would like to know if they can purchase a smartphone, install WhatsApp and use that instead to send out messages.

The company is based in South Africa.

You can reply to [redacted]

 

[Just_Me_D]

A company can use whatever communications is at their disposal to communicate with customers, employees, business partners and competitors. Using WhatsApp is no different than using the native SMS app on a smartphone in this regard, and unless the app specifically forbids business use then it is legal.

 

[qbnkelt]

As my boss above just said, a company has a choice. There are, however, agencies that would not allow third party apps to communicate, simply because WhatsApp scans a user's whole contacts base. That would not be permissible with secure agencies.