Mobile Device Data Collection: What You Need to Know in 2025

Mobile data collection is entering a new era.

For U.S. companies, 2024 was a year of trial and error—balancing the need to extract company data from employees’ mobile devices for investigations, litigation, and compliance in accordance with DOJ guidelines, while avoiding employee privacy issues, operational bottlenecks, and other unnecessary risks.

In 2025, the stakes are higher. Stricter privacy laws, escalating cybersecurity threats, and the growing dominance of encrypted messaging platforms are rewriting the playbook for businesses managing employee and corporate data. Companies must adopt smarter, leaner, and more secure strategies to stay compliant while protecting sensitive information. Here’s how the game is changing and what you can do to stay ahead.

Three Challenges Defining 2025

Many organizations learned the hard way last year that over-collecting data from employee devices can be as damaging as under-collecting. Inadvertently sweeping up sensitive employee information, like medical records or personal messages, amplifies privacy and security risks, increases legal exposure during investigations, and drives up operational costs for storage and downtimes.

In 2025, organizations must adopt even more precise and targeted mobile data collection strategies to address the following emerging factors:

1. Evolving State Privacy Laws

As state-by-state privacy regulations expand, some states are pushing for stricter deletion timelines and enhanced consent requirements that favor consumers (think: California’s CCPA), others remain more business-friendly. Navigating these fragmented rules will require laser-focused tools and frameworks to avoid breaking the law (and the bank) when it comes to data collection and governance.

2. Rising Cyber Threats

With data breaches becoming more frequent and costly, robust security protocols, such as encryption and advanced access controls, are essential to prevent leaks during mobile data collection. And, as U.S. customers becomes more privacy-minded––with a potential federal privacy law on the horizon similar to the EU’s GDPR––protecting sensitive information is not just a legal obligation but also a critical differentiator.

3. Encrypted Messaging Platforms

Platforms like WhatsApp, Signal, and WeChat will take over workplace communication in 2025, leaving traditional SMS and MMS in the dust. While great for privacy, these platforms pose challenges for organizations using tools that can’t access encrypted messages.

The Hybrid SaaS Movement

In response to these pressures, 2025 will see a growing shift toward hybrid SaaS applications for mobile data collection.  The increasing frequency of data breaches and the tightening grip of global privacy laws have exposed the limitations of traditional SaaS models. Although agile and convenient, these models often require organizations to relinquish control over their data, leaving them vulnerable to compliance risks and unauthorized access.

Hybrid SaaS models, by contrast, leverage an enterprise’s own cloud infrastructure to provide a balanced solution. As adoption of this approach grows in the coming years, software vendors are expected to meet demand by offering applications through cloud marketplaces and providing deployment packages that enterprises can manage within their own environments. This model fosters a mutually beneficial relationship: vendors gain broader distribution and simplified update processes, while enterprises maintain control over their data––strengthening compliance and privacy capabilities.

How to Win in 2025: A Quick Checklist

Considering all the above factors, here’s how you can prepare your organization for sound mobile device data collection for litigation, internal investigations, and compliance activities in the new year:

1. Targeted Data Collection
   Avoid the pitfalls of over-collection by implementing processes and technologies that capture only what’s necessary for legal and regulatory purposes. A focused approach reduces storage costs, minimizes risks, and helps maintain employee trust.
2. Secure Messaging Policies
   One way to get around the encrypted messaging issue and improve data collection processes: enforce clear mobile device management (MDM) policies. Encourage the use of approved, secure platforms for business communication to reduce fragmentation and limit the use of unauthorized channels, ensuring compliance teams can monitor and archive messages quickly and effectively.
3. Invest in Advanced Tools
   A better way to manage the rise of encrypted messaging? Seek out solutions capable of capturing encrypted data while preserving its security and privacy. That way you won’t hinder critical business activity in the name of compliance. Many advanced tools now incorporate AI to enhance precision and streamline mobile data collection processes, further improving compliance processes and reducing operational downtimes.
4. Embrace Hybrid SaaS
   Consider a hybrid SaaS approach to your SaaS strategy, ensuring to evaluate your unique risk appetite and compliance and regulatory requirements to pick a strategy that delivers business value while balancing risk.
5. Leverage Privacy as a Competitive Advantage
   After adopting precise, secure data extraction tools–ideally through a hybrid SaaS model–promote your security and privacy posture to employees and customers alike. In 2025, this commitment to data protection will become a selling point.

Looking Ahead

In 2025, mobile data collection isn’t just a compliance challenge—it’s a strategic opportunity. With the right mix of precision, security, and innovation, your organization can lead the way in a privacy-first world.