How can we monitor, log and audit Skype accounts and conversation history in an organisation?
26th December 2011
In this article we will firstly look at the benefits of using Skype for business. Then we will look at the problems and issues that companies face adopting it, and finally we will look at how Kudos Chat Search for Skype – Enterprise Edition, can satisfy those issues.
What are the benefits of using Skype for business?
- Instant Messaging allows an employee to see if another user (employee/client/service provider/contractor) is available to communicate without actually communicating with that user
- Instant messaging allows for instantaneous communication when both users are available to do so
- Adopting Skype for business represents a massive reduction in telephony costs, thus providing for a cheaper way to communicate with internal staff and external customers
- Communications are direct, relevant and more efficient
- Unlike email, all communication is relevant by being spam free
To summarise, the main reason to adopt instant messaging systems is to provide for cheap and more efficient communications. (Pergamon, 2007)
What are the issues, problems and obstacles of using Skype for business?
Depending on the organisation, the following issues will have varying importance:
- Privacy
- Security
- Confidentiality
- Compliance
- Legal issues
These generally translate in the following priorities:
- The need to monitor and log staff communications on Skype
- The need to audit company, employee and staff communications on Skype
- The need to control company communications on Skype
What issues apply when using Skype for business?
- Currently Skype offers no facilities for monitoring and logging staff communications over Skype.
- Skype offers no auditing facilities to cover instant messaging and other communications and activities over Skype.
- The Skype for business solution provides some limited support for controlling employee features.
- The need for staff to communicate with an approved list of staff, clients, service providers and so forth may be required, so that staff don’t communicate on personal matters. In this case the business may require controlling the contact list of staff.
- Alternatively staff may be allowed to have open contact lists to facilitate productivity and remove the need for managing control, but then there may be a need to implement an audit or logging solution and make staff aware that all their communications are being monitored.
Unfortunately this means a lot of organisations will be unable to adopt Skype for business due to compliance, privacy, security, workplace and legal issues that cannot be satisfied.
How can Kudos Chat Search Enterprise Edition satisfy these organisational level issues?
With the current Enterprise edition of Kudos Chat Search for Skype v2, these concerns can be satisfied:
- Monitor Skype communications on each employee networked machine
- Log, backup, index and audit Skype history conversations, databases and communications on all employee networked machines
- Allow for searching, filtering and reporting of employee instant messaging communications.
How can Kudos Chat Search for Skype benefit all your employees?
With the Enterprise edition, Kudos Chat Search for Skype can be rolled out organisation wide. The immediate benefits of this for employees are:
- Increased productivity amongst all your workers
- Employees can work smarter and quicker by leveraging the knowledge and information trapped in Skype.
- Provides employees with instant access to personal conversations for statements, questions and answers
- Employees will bother other employees less as they can be more autonomous
Find out more about Kudos Chat Search for Skype Enterprise Edition
More companies are using SkypeTM to communicate internally and with customers. Empower your employees across your organisation with Kudos Chat Search (KCS) for SkypeTM Enterprise Edition.
Find out more about Kudos Chat Search for Skype Enterprise Edition
