Spending too much time “IM”ing friends might end up paying off for the next wave of college graduates preparing to enter the workforce. Instant Messenger services, such as AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Yahoo Messenger, and Microsoft's MSN Messenger, are heading the newest trends in business communication. IM is no longer being used strictly for social purposes but has found a niche within the business world, providing on-the-spot interaction between employees, managers, and, ultimately, customers.

From a corporate standpoint, IM can provide a significant increase in productivity. Employees use the communication tool to instantaneously check on others in the workplace and avoid wasting time on email and the phone (1). Out of the office, IM brings the customer closer to the company through customer support and mass message delivery to thousands of customers simultaneously (2). With the messaging systems, companies also save money on long distance and toll free phone costs (3).

While the advantages of IM appear to streamline the communication within businesses, instant messaging hides some downsides to software usage. Public IM tools, like AIM, provide doorways for viruses, largely because they are free and not protected by the corporations' firewalls. The conversations sent with these services are not private and are set out unencrypted, attracting hackers (4).

To prevent the negative side effects of public IM and, yet, still reap the benefits of presence awareness in the workplace, most businesses have installed corporate IM services, like Lotus Sametime, divine's MindAlign, and WiredRed Software's e/pop, that send messages within corporations' private networks. For example, Avnet Computer Marketing freed its computers of AIM in favor of Lotus Sametime and now bars all public IM software, which prevents chatting with friends during company hours. With Sametime, Avnet also monitors the messages traveling within their network behind the safety of the company's firewall, protecting fromviruses and hackers (5).

The use of business-based IM services has spread almost as fast as it sends messages. According to IDC (a sister company to CXO Media, Inc.), international corporate instant messaging will compound from the 20 million consumers in 2002 to 300 million in just two more years (6). With such a predicted rise in usage for the coming years, instant messenger will no longer be the new-age trend in business communication—it will be the norm.

Return to Top

Grimes, Brad. “Instant Messaging; Case Study No Longer Just a Fun Diversion,
IM Is Now a Legitimate Corporate App.” PC Magazine . ( February 25, 2003 ):
66 [online], available from Lexis Nexis Academic http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=c73b08647dcba835f58bbc754618f0d7&_doc
num=4&wchp=dGLbVzz-zSkVb&_md5=38da2fae0da7721cb54004bbae19a313;
WRAP=1064165820-68.157.58.58 ( September 21, 2003 )

Janke, Art. “Ready For Instant Messaging?” CIO Magazine. (March 15, 2003):
[online], available from Lexis Nexis Academic http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=4882b760bfe6f7020e90a9a351271b6f&_docn
um=21&wchp=dGLbVzz-zSkVb&_md5=61cb4a74c00961f2e07b1a1601c5aa8e;
WRAP=1064165820-68.157.58.58 (September 21, 2003)

Patton, Susannah. “7. IM Goes Corporate.” CIO Magazine . (January 1, 2003):
[ online], available from Lexis Nexis Academic http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=c73b08647dcba835f58bbc754618f0d7&_docn
um=5&wchp=dGLbVzz-zSkVb&_md5=a1cacd1ba6782c875f489feb09fd0ef8;
WRAP=1064165820-68.157.58.58 (September 21, 2003)

Return to Top

Web Sites:

Title of Web Page: Instant Messaging Planet
Web Address: http://www.instantmessagingplanet.com/
Brief Description: This site has up-to-date information and news about
different IM programs, public and private. It highlights IM products
and security issues for businesses. The site also contains info about
wireless IM software. The majority of the information on the site relates
to business-associated instant messenger.
Source of the Web Page: Earth Web

Title of the Web Page: Jabber
Web Address: http://www.jabber.com/
Brief Description: This site is the promotional website for the software
company Jabber, Inc> IT is an example of a business-related instant
messaging service. The site lists case studies on the results of Jabber
usage and the businesses that already use the service. Recent news about
the software is also highlighted on the home page.
Source of the Web Page: Jabber, Inc.

Title of the Web Page: FaceTime Communications
Web Address: http://www.facetime.com/main.shtm
Brief Description: The site is the home page for the company FaceTime
Communications that provides services to companies who already have
instant messenger programs. The company develops software that delivers an infrastructure and business applications that works with any IM network. The site has press releases and news that relate to the use of FaceTime and also has free downloads available.
Source of the Web Page: FaceTime Communications, Inc.

Return to Top