Instant Messages
The modern world is full of different communication methods - SMS/TXT, phone calls, email, VoIP, web forums, voice mail etc etc. How frustrating is it when you send that email into the ether and not hear anything back? Or when you’re on hold for god knows how long … and no idea how long it will be …
Instant Messages (powered by various Instant Message Clients) however are sublime. The ability to deliver a message to the desktop of someone and know for a fact that it has arrived is great. “Call me”, “it’s done”, “what are you wearing” etc. Brilliant.
IM clients have moved steadily into the corporate environment too where they fill a gap. Their ability to navigate seamlessly through firewalls boost their popularity, but again make for a headache for IT managers. Most IM programs have the ability to transfer files and as such bypass traditional corporate virus scanning (email, web proxy etc).
As a corporate tool an IM client quickly dispenses with that very important audit trail. Many times I have relied on email headers, and the contents of my own “Sent Items” as confirmation of a particular fact. Many times it has saved me - and a couple of times it has put me on the spot. IM clients remove this and make it harder to keep a track of communication.
Careful decisions must be made to correctly implement an IM client in a corporate environment - and care must be taken that a) all relevant information is logged and b) the privacy of individuals - even in their workplace roles - is not compromised.
To this end many companies have created IM clients aimed at the corporate market. As you would expect, Microsoft have been on the bandwagon for a while touting their LCS (live communication server).
