Information system development in the bookmaking industry: Impact on counter staff

摘要

To date, the bookmaking industry has been largely untouched by information technology. Many of the counter staff are female, poorly paid and have misgivings about the impact of technology on their work. Using insights from personal experience in the industry, the authors outline the current procedures found in one large national chain of shops. They reveal some of the pressures to automate much of the routine work of both counter staff and management. Finally the authors assess the likely operational and technical issues to arise under computerization and how the difficulties can be alleviated. They show that the industry is ill-prepared to handle the impending changes.