Betfair bets on staff IM monitoring

Online betting exchange Betfair.com has begun recording all staff communications sent via instant messaging (IM) technology.

Staff at Betfair.com often use IM to communicate with each other, favouring the technology over emails and internal phone calls. The firm said it prefers IM because it is "less intrusive, more secure, collaborative and faster" than email.

But employees will now have their chats recorded by IMlogic's IM Manager.

Betfair.com said it began to archive IM conversations two months ago after identifying the need for a permanent record of staff conversations, in a similar way to email archives.

"We chose IMlogic because it integrates with existing instant messaging technology and is scalable, although we did have a few technological issues at the beginning," said Rorie Devine, infrastructure director of Betfair.com.

The company has 400 staff in the UK as well as workers spread across the world.

IMlogic's IM Manager has been installed on a dedicated server and can query IM data in a range of ways, such as by time of publication or staff ID.

"Such a system would be useful for any company with a need to monitor and archive company information," said Rorie.

Betfair said the system would not have any direct implications for its customers, but added that it is considering the introduction of an IM facility to its front page.