6 ms·

If you're here, reading this, and using WhatsApp for any Operations channel of any kind: what are you doing?

nsriv 3y ago
I've seen major airport operations in India run off of WhatsApp groupchats and forwards between chats. People will gravitate to what they know lol.
- mrweasel 3y ago
  Oh, that's is terrifying. How is there any oversight into an operation running on WhatsApp?
  - davchana 3y ago
    In India, anybody can get a business account, which allows you to setup a catalogue of things, services, and you can pay inside app through underlying UPI interface (government operated quick guaranteed no-return money transfer). I have booked cars for rental, I have bought grocery, pizza, shoes n stuff.
    - elforce002 3y ago
      That's crazy. I'd never use something like that to order anything but each their own I suppose...
      - mousetree 3y ago
        You're not going to like WeChat then either
      - sharadov 3y ago
        You don't have a choice - in India it's as ubiquitous as paypal is here.
  - dspillett 3y ago
    There isn't. That is why the UK government likes it for their use, but wants to ban or backdoor parts of it (E2EE) for everyone else.
    - smcl 3y ago
      Ah don’t worry they’re claiming they only used it for coffee orders and such ;)
- tinus_hn 3y ago
  Also to what actually works, unlike the Enterprise turd sandwiches they are supposed to use.
- i67vw3 3y ago
  One of the companies I interned was using Whatsapp but then migrated to Teams/Slack. Employees did not like it and after a few months everyone migrated to Whatsapp.
jasoncartwright 3y ago
I've seen Thai police stations use WhatsApp groups for distributing photos of paperwork and other information. Oh, and the core of the UK government runs on WhatsApp https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/02/senior-tories-express-doubts-over-covid-inquiry-legal-challenge https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/02/senior-torie...
- barbazoo 3y ago
  > the core of the UK government runs on WhatsApp Wow, I'm surprised a government IT would allow this. Any corp I've worked for strictly prohibited use of messaging tech that's not self-hosted. That makes me wonder, what _do_ governments around the world use for p2p communication?
  - 0xbadcafebee 3y ago
    > Any corp I've worked for strictly prohibited use of messaging tech that's not self-hosted. I'm sure the business profited greatly from that...
  - Aleklart 3y ago
    phone calls, zoom, hosted email servers, private islands, etc usual stuff.
  - discordance 3y ago
    Have worked with gov in a few countries and seen lots of Teams usage.
  - theaudacityofyw 3y ago
    To my horror, the Irish government also uses WhatsApp quite extensively.
  - technion 3y ago
    There's a fairly wide history of self hosted Government Microsoft Exchange servers ending in ransomware payouts that suggests that blunt self hosting rules isn't as useful as it sounds. And right now you look can look all the big MoveIT mass exfiltration hitting a wide range of orgs that wouldn't use Sharepoint "for security reasons".
dspillett 3y ago
Ask the UK government…
Havoc 3y ago
Shadow IT systems
snake_doc 3y ago
WhatsApp was used by the Afghan Army to coordinate military communications and maneuvers. I wouldn't be surprised if other under-resourced military forces (i.e. Ukrainian) use it as a form of communications. See this movie's footage for Afghan Army usage: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/retrograde_2022_2 https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/retrograde_2022_2
- Georgelemental 3y ago
  Then again, the Afgan Army was never a model of competence
  - emikulic 3y ago
    You mean the one that defeated two superpowers?
- flusensieb 3y ago
  Afhanistan and the Ukraine both have a little less than 40M inhabitants. (Which is around half of germany, or like 20M less than France). The Ukraine has/had a relevant IT-offshoring sector, from Wikipedia there's around 1/3 of the soviet military industry that was sitting there (including companies like Antonow)... and they had a few years of preparation since the krim was occupied where they knew that russian secret services would try to undermine any kind of communication infrastructure. I doubt that they currently rely on WhatsApp for military communication...
  - switch007 3y ago
    It’s just “Ukraine” now btw. No “the”.
    - flusensieb 3y ago
      Sorry, I'm not a native speaker. What do you mean by "It's just Ukraine now". Was it always just Ukraine or hast that changed recently? Edit: But thanks for the information :)
didntknowya 3y ago
yet people use slack for similar and get applauded?
qeternity 3y ago
I think you would be surprised at what portion of global commodities trade, and perhaps trade in general, transacts via WhatsApp.
- mike_hock 3y ago
  And they can lie in the bed that they've made.
  - crobertsbmw 3y ago
    Everyone has to make their bed somewhere…
AHOHA 3y ago
Exactly!

I've seen major airport operations in India run off of WhatsApp groupchats and forwards between chats. People will gravitate to what they know lol.

mrweasel 3y ago
Oh, that's is terrifying. How is there any oversight into an operation running on WhatsApp?
- davchana 3y ago
  In India, anybody can get a business account, which allows you to setup a catalogue of things, services, and you can pay inside app through underlying UPI interface (government operated quick guaranteed no-return money transfer). I have booked cars for rental, I have bought grocery, pizza, shoes n stuff.
  - elforce002 3y ago
    That's crazy. I'd never use something like that to order anything but each their own I suppose...
    - mousetree 3y ago
      You're not going to like WeChat then either
    - sharadov 3y ago
      You don't have a choice - in India it's as ubiquitous as paypal is here.
- dspillett 3y ago
  There isn't. That is why the UK government likes it for their use, but wants to ban or backdoor parts of it (E2EE) for everyone else.
  - smcl 3y ago
    Ah don’t worry they’re claiming they only used it for coffee orders and such ;)
tinus_hn 3y ago
Also to what actually works, unlike the Enterprise turd sandwiches they are supposed to use.
i67vw3 3y ago
One of the companies I interned was using Whatsapp but then migrated to Teams/Slack. Employees did not like it and after a few months everyone migrated to Whatsapp.

jasoncartwright 3y ago

I've seen Thai police stations use WhatsApp groups for distributing photos of paperwork and other information. Oh, and the core of the UK government runs on WhatsApp https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/02/senior-tories-express-doubts-over-covid-inquiry-legal-challenge https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/02/senior-torie...

barbazoo 3y ago
> the core of the UK government runs on WhatsApp Wow, I'm surprised a government IT would allow this. Any corp I've worked for strictly prohibited use of messaging tech that's not self-hosted. That makes me wonder, what _do_ governments around the world use for p2p communication?
- 0xbadcafebee 3y ago
  > Any corp I've worked for strictly prohibited use of messaging tech that's not self-hosted. I'm sure the business profited greatly from that...
- Aleklart 3y ago
  phone calls, zoom, hosted email servers, private islands, etc usual stuff.
- discordance 3y ago
  Have worked with gov in a few countries and seen lots of Teams usage.
- theaudacityofyw 3y ago
  To my horror, the Irish government also uses WhatsApp quite extensively.
- technion 3y ago
  There's a fairly wide history of self hosted Government Microsoft Exchange servers ending in ransomware payouts that suggests that blunt self hosting rules isn't as useful as it sounds. And right now you look can look all the big MoveIT mass exfiltration hitting a wide range of orgs that wouldn't use Sharepoint "for security reasons".

dspillett 3y ago

Ask the UK government…

Havoc 3y ago

Shadow IT systems

snake_doc 3y ago

WhatsApp was used by the Afghan Army to coordinate military communications and maneuvers. I wouldn't be surprised if other under-resourced military forces (i.e. Ukrainian) use it as a form of communications. See this movie's footage for Afghan Army usage: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/retrograde_2022_2 https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/retrograde_2022_2

Georgelemental 3y ago
Then again, the Afgan Army was never a model of competence
- emikulic 3y ago
  You mean the one that defeated two superpowers?
flusensieb 3y ago
Afhanistan and the Ukraine both have a little less than 40M inhabitants. (Which is around half of germany, or like 20M less than France). The Ukraine has/had a relevant IT-offshoring sector, from Wikipedia there's around 1/3 of the soviet military industry that was sitting there (including companies like Antonow)... and they had a few years of preparation since the krim was occupied where they knew that russian secret services would try to undermine any kind of communication infrastructure. I doubt that they currently rely on WhatsApp for military communication...
- switch007 3y ago
  It’s just “Ukraine” now btw. No “the”.
  - flusensieb 3y ago
    Sorry, I'm not a native speaker. What do you mean by "It's just Ukraine now". Was it always just Ukraine or hast that changed recently? Edit: But thanks for the information :)

didntknowya 3y ago

yet people use slack for similar and get applauded?

qeternity 3y ago

I think you would be surprised at what portion of global commodities trade, and perhaps trade in general, transacts via WhatsApp.

mike_hock 3y ago
And they can lie in the bed that they've made.
- crobertsbmw 3y ago
  Everyone has to make their bed somewhere…

AHOHA 3y ago

Exactly!