Peter Alexander of entrepreneur.com thinks so …

Once viewed primarily as a secret language used by teenagers, instant messaging (IM) is maturing into a viable communications tool for small businesses. For example, many IM services are now offering video conferencing and Voice Over IP (VoIP), in addition to messaging.

IM is gaining momentum in the workplace. According to The Second Annual Instant Messaging Trends Study, over 27 percent of IM users now communicate via instant messaging at work.

I suspect that most of that activity is for personal use rather than business communication. That aside, is their potential for using it to increase productivity and communication? Certainly with the right system you are able to see immediately if the other person you need to talk with or pass on a client's enquiry is available, no more waiting for that reply to the lost e-mail.

Of course there are pitfalls, security and vulnerability to viruses and depending on relationships with employees - the risk of abuse for personal use and wasting time. Both of these cons can be dealt with by the implementation of a comprehensive security strategy - you and your clients have got one haven't you? - and the adoption of a 'use of Instant messaging' policy that covers security issues - opening files etc., personal use, archiving - for evidence in that embarrasing employee tribunal case, appropriate use of language. A similar policy to that applied to use of the internet and e-mail.

Do you use Instant Messaging or Voice over IP (eg Skype or Google Talk)? For what purpose?

Try it out and Contact me on :
Google Talk: policomm AT Gmail.com (replace AT with @)
Jabber: policomm AT policomm.info
Skype : Policomm

If you're new here and you like what you read, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feedor get Updates by E-mail Thanks for visiting!