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Instant messaging/IMPS
Priscilla Awde looks at the likely impact of instant messaging as a business tool in the work environment
It’s not the first time that, what started out with youngsters exploring technology to exploit new ways of chatting to friends without spending a fortune, has ended up as a business application. The last time it happened the explosion of text messaging surprised everyone. This time Instant Messaging (IM) has crept into the working lives of most people, and by the back door.
“People started playing at home with MSN, Yahoo and AOL systems and IM leaked into the workplace as a means of keeping in touch with buddies,” explains David Perry, senior manager, carrier VOIP/multimedia at Nortel. “IT managers only noticed it was there once it was entrenched. They could have blocked it but it is now a legitimate business tool that allows people to deal with more work, faster than e-mails.
“Combined with the 'presence' facility, it replicates the environment of people working together in a small office when, in reality, they may be based on the other side of the world.”
The result: IT managers have woken up to discover that people are using the public Internet for electronic business conversations thereby potentially opening the corporate environment to abuse and transmission of confidential information over insecure links.
Gartner analyst David Smith estimates that, although slow now, by 2010 the penetration in enterprises will be 90 per cent. “The drivers are rapid information dissemination and availability of experts to answer enquiries – especially useful for contact centre agents. Speed and convenience are prime drivers.”
IM has recently become an even more interesting business tool with the addition of the 'presence' facility which highlights someone's availability and the best means of contacting them. Having to ring around to find people, leave voice messages or send e-mails, hoping they will eventually be answered, is time consuming, frustrating and inefficient – all annoyances IM avoids.
Users can control their virtual presence and create their own site by posting information about whether, how and when they want to be contacted, block access and list priority contacts. They can coordinate IM with their diaries so their availability is automatically adjusted according to their work schedule.
Connecting to phones, sending files or other data is a click away. Video can be added and during either video or audio conferencing calls participants can type comments to each other without interrupting the main meeting. IM allows people to use two communication channels in parallel. IM is, as it says, instant, real time communication but less intrusive or disruptive than phone calls, and it is changing the way people work.
Communications mix
IM is one part of the communications mix and will be used together with e-mails and phones. People use different channels for different things: if something is not too urgent they will use e-mails, but real time IM or telephony for immediate contact.
“Until recently, IM wasn't available outside corporate networks, which became a problem because people needed to extend their contacts to include business customers, partners and suppliers,” explains Neil Lock, head, messaging/collaboration products for BT Global Services. “Now SIP is being used to connect islands of IM systems securely and dynamically.
“Within about five messages people want to talk on the phone so we have integrated communications channels in BT iBridge so they can click to connect any pre-populated phone number, set up conference calls or add video. The next step is to integrate 'presence' into other business applications. Among the advantages are that queries can be instantly resolved and sales staff at customer sites can 'see' which office bound experts are available and invite them into real time conference 'calls' with customers.”
Responding to the need for tighter controls and more features, operators are offering IM as a fully managed hosted and bundled multimedia service complete with all the usual authentication, encryption and service level agreements which not only guarantee performance but bring the application within the corporate security umbrella. “It is important to build a high quality product which has the right service levels, traffic priority and collaboration tools built in. IT managers must be able to turn features on and off and control access,” explains Alistair McKinnon, senior product manager for ntl:Telewest Business. “Teleworkers can connect into the corporate VPN via secure tunnels even if they are using WiFi hotspots.”
Companies are installing their own IM servers and, according to Graeme Pinkney, manager, threat intelligence/analysis at Symantec, are routing all incoming messages through a proxy to screen for malware or malicious documents. “It is easy for hackers to inject code into messages, infect systems or spoof users into believing messages come from their contacts. As e-mail becomes more protected, the threat will move to IM but, as in the early days of e-mail, users need to be educated about the risks and trained not to click on links they were not expecting. Banning IM is not an answer because users will find a way around it.”
Although still early days, there is growing demand for mobile IM where there are interesting possibilities: with a small headset, laptop and webcam, employees working in multiple sites can access full office facilities. As well as seeing who is available and even their location, IM makes it easier to send multimedia files over broadband 3G networks.
Mobile standards are starting to emerge and the latest version of the OMA IMPS (Open Mobile Alliance IM Presence Service) standard is embedded in new phones. “It will be some time before SIP is mature enough to be deployed in mobiles,” says Anders Teslo, executive VP, business development at Colibria. “IMPS is one of the hottest mobile services, especially as a social tool. In the business world it can be used to arrange meetings or find out where people are. Particularly useful for mobile workforces, 'presence' allows managers to see who is available and locate and dispatch the nearest qualified person to a job.”
Although undoubtedly a beneficial addition to the business communications toolbox, the question is how long will it be before dealing with IM becomes as time consuming and intrusive as e-mails.
• Priscilla Awde is a freelance communications writer
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