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May 12, 2006
Should IM be considered as an internal communications vehicle?
The short answer: yes.
Companies such as IBM, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft have embraced instant messaging as a tool for more streamlined communication and information sharing. IBM employees exchange around 2.5 million messages each day through the company's Lotus Sametime platform, virtually eliminating all voicemails, as David Marshak, the company's senior product manager for collaboration, told The New York Times.
While instant messaging is most commonly used in technology and communications organizations, the productivity gains it provides are possible in nearly every business where employees use the Internet.
Here are some ways instant messaging (IM) can help your company:
IM is conversational – With its back-and-forth nature, instant messaging lends itself easily to continuous dialogue. Additionally, IM does not require the formality often associated with e-mail.
IM is unobtrusive – Used properly, IM is a relatively silent tool that sits passively in the background of your computer while it’s not in use. It lends itself to multitasking such as communicating with colleagues during conference calls or answering a question while reading a document.
IM is informative – IM can be a valuable tool to monitor the work status of colleagues. The technology allows users to post messages while they're away or do not want to be disturbed, meaning that time isn't wasted trying to track down individuals.
IM is all grown up – At its inception, IM was used primarily for one-on-one and group text conversations. Today, most IM platforms allow for video and audio conversations, meetings, file transfers and streaming content. This can be helpful if you are looking to share a Web link or picture quickly.
IM is inexpensive – Most public IM hosts are free, so companies are only paying for the bandwidth they use. Companies who use IM can save money on conference calls, Webinars and international communications.
IM is…well...instant – When you need an answer now, IM can save precious seconds relative to e-mail. Ideal for brief exchanges, IM conversations often last seconds, meaning employees can work more efficiently without the worry of a cluttered e-mail inbox.
While IM can bring value to a workplace, it's not inherently any more useful than other communication tools such as e-mail, phone calls and blogs. Whether the technology is an asset or a liability is not dependant on the application, but rather how employees choose to use it. Similar to other tools, IM can be abused for personal use, used to leak sensitive information and serve as a portal for hackers and viruses. Many employee IMers integrate work-related and personal contacts under one user identity, increasing the potential for negative exposure.
Posted by Christopher at May 12, 2006 5:09 PM
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Comments
Chris,
We couldn't agree more that IM should be considered as important vehicle to add to the internal communication mix. According to Strategic Communication Management (v.10, issue 1, Jan 06) over half the US workforce uses instant messaging at work. The tricky part is working out how to harness this technology as part of formal corporate communication campaigns, rather than just as an informal device between small networks of colleages.
Posted by: Victoria Brown, Stromberg Consulting at May 16, 2006 3:27 PM