Word quickly spread across the company about the possibility of litigation, and employees began speculating with each other via Skype, leaving a virtual conversation history the entire time. In turn, the subordinates did the same with their team members. The company’s executive team used Skype IM sessions with various subordinates to gather information about the customer. Instead of meeting in-person to discuss the customer’s problems, the company’s executive team and employees initiated a group Skype conversation to discuss what happened and the company’s position. Real-World Example of Skype Messages Used At TrialĪ recent real-world example of the dark side of Skype involved a company who had received a demand letter from a dissatisfied customer threatening a lawsuit over services performed. In-house counsel and outside counsel need to assume employees are using instant messaging and be aware of the legal risks. While most employees understand that what they say in an email can come back to haunt them, many employees are less restrained when it comes to what they say in IM conversations. Just like traditional emails, conversations on Skype and similar IM platforms can be used as evidence in Court against the company, if properly authenticated and relevant. Seems like a great business feature for your company, right? Well, maybe not, especially if your employees are discussing sensitive business issues in Skype that may wind up in litigation. Skype preserves these conversations in Outlook for months or even years after they took place. You can easily find specific conversations by navigating to my Outlook Conversation History Folder and entering search terms that would have come up in the conversation. Since I have not changed the default Skype settings, Outlook keeps a searchable electronic transcript of what was “said” by all participants in my Skype conversations, the names of the participants, along with helpful time and date stamps. Skype’s default setting captures all of your IM sessions as a transcript and automatically stores them as items in your Outlook conversations folder.īelow are my current Skype default settings. Skype is Microsoft’s business solution for IM, conferencing and file sharing, interfacing with both Outlook and Office 365. The benefits of IM for businesses, however, do not come without dangers and unintended consequences, especially in situations that have led the company into litigation. Unlike a phone call or in-person conversation, however, IM sessions can be easily recorded. When an IM conversation is over, the participants “end” the conversation by closing the IM session. IM conversations tend to be candid and free-flowing, without a lot of structure. IM increases workplace efficiency, allowing colleagues to communicate through rapid back-and-forth discussions and on-demand file-sharing. Employees leverage the speed and flexibility of IM as an alternative to more traditional methods, such as phone and email, to get their work done. IM applications are often free, come imbedded with Office 365, and are accessible on employees’ computers and smartphones making access possible from wherever your employees happen to be. IM platforms in the workplace have increased in popularity in recent years as the single-office model is less common, and more often employees are spread across multiple time zones and locations or are simply working remotely. Today, many modern employees are using instant messaging (“IM”) as a “virtual water cooler” or “virtual conference room” to collaborate and share information and files with co-workers and customers in real-time, using platforms such as Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, Slack and Google’s Hangouts. The days of face-to-face meetings between managers and employees in conference rooms or popping into someone’s office to discuss a project are no longer the norm. Instant messaging applications are increasingly present in today’s corporate world and a popular form of communications both internally, between company employees, and externally with clients and partner organizations.
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