Once the domain of Internet buffs and teenagers, instant messaging
has moved into the mainstream and is now being considered by
businesses for customer service and real-time communication. Karl
Cushing reports.
If IT managers are finding e-mail communication becoming
unmanageable, instant messaging is ready to come to the rescue.
According to analyst group Gartner, 2002 will be the year that
instant messaging "comes of age" and by 2005 it will be integrated
into 50% of the applications that businesses use to interact with
their customers.
Instant messaging can complement or replace existing media such as
e-mail and voice. Service companies could add instant messaging
capabilities to the customer relationship management software
supporting their Web sites to provide another communications
channel for customers and improve service delivery.
Customers browsing on an e-commerce Web site could click on a link
and open an instant messaging window to request more information on
a product from an operator. The challenge here will be coping with
peaks in demand and the 24x7 nature of the Internet.
There are currently four main suppliers of instant messaging
services. MSN Messenger from Microsoft, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL
Instant Manager and ICQ, which is also owned by AOL. There are lots
of other platforms, each with slightly different functionality and
a stock of devotees.
This illustrates one of the key problems with instant messaging:
the degree of choice and the lack of compatibility. If you use
instant messaging regularly, the chances are that you'll know
people on a variety of different platforms, all using different
client applications. Keeping all of those options on your PC is
costly, inefficient and impractical.
Whilst suppliers such as Odigo, Omni and Colibria produce
applications that allow users to communicate between different
platforms, including all the big four, the price is lost
functionality. Instant messaging in its most stripped-down form is
less likely to grab the imagination of the business user. Although
an undoubtedly useful application in its own right, if it is
coupled with application sharing, instant messaging can help
employees to collaborate and pool expertise more effectively.
However, business uptake of instant messaging has been hampered by
fears of spreading malicious code and the potential for hacking.
The development of encryption algorithms and authentication
products for instant messaging, supported by the increasing use of
firewalls, improved trusted partner features and the use of
dedicated servers to keep track of what has been said, have made it
more viable in business.
Although many popular anti-virus products do not scan files
transmitted via instant messaging, the risk of passing on viruses
and worms can be reduced by products from suppliers such as
Softwin, which intercept, filter and scan each file for viruses and
worms before completing the transfer.
Sending sensitive information over one of the free instant
messaging networks is to be discouraged, however. Users run the
risk of encountering snoopers and hackers and the problem of
authenticating who they are conversing with.
The issue of standards is also being addressed, with the Internet
Engineering Task Force developing the Instant Messaging Presence
Protocol. Consolidation in the sector will reduce the number of
players and thus the size of the problem.
Microsoft is pushing instant messaging into the mobile market. It
signed a deal in the US with Verizon Wireless to deliver its
product and targeted content to the mobile firm's 30 million
customers in May, and has recently agreed to make its instant
messaging service available on mobile phones via the short
messaging service in Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway,
Switzerland and Turkey.
The key area that is driving this technology, however, is the
financial services sector. UBS Warburg and banking group ABN Amro
both use the MindAlign instant messaging product from Divine to
encourage collaboration; enable communication between staff and
clients; and gain access to up to the minute information on markets
and sales.
Firms in the services sector, such as IT services and consultancy
firm Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, are also adopting this
technology. Its consultants use instant messaging to maintain
disparate teams and to work more closely with key partners.
According to Richard Edwards, a technology management consultant at
the firm, the technology provides a valuable channel with the
ability to communicate with colleagues, customers and partners in a
conversational manner in real time.
The company's adoption of instant messaging has been gradual,
initially centred on Microsoft's offerings. However, with proof of
concept confirmed, the company began looking around for a more
secure and feature-rich alternative and since the end of last year
it has been trialling a product from desktop collaboration service
firm Groove Networks.
"For the kind of work that I do - collaborating on projects;
putting together bids and proposals - Groove is great," says
Edwards. The company also uses an application service
provider-based collaborative tool, eRoom, and is looking at another
collaboration tool, Nextpage.
Instant messaging usage guidelines have been incorporated into Cap
Gemini Ernst & Young's security policy and the company is
encouraging those with whom it deals to add instant messaging to
their list of core applications. "The technology is here, and it's
here to stay," says Edwards. "Any business would be foolish to
ignore it."
What it can do for you
- Immediacy of the telephone with the power of written words
- Easy to use
- Useful for collaborating on projects and sharing
applications
- Uses less storage than e-mail and a much reduced archiving
problem, whilst content is still held at server level.