Instant Messaging: Communications godsend or security back door?
IM is becoming increasingly popular as a business tool. According to Gartner, IM will surpass email as the preferred method of interpersonal communications by 2006. Even now, more than 85 per cent of businesses use IM according to a recent Radicati Group report. As well as the specifically developed services, like that used by Reuters, employees are downloading any number of different IM clients such as MSN Messenger from Microsoft, AIM from AOL and Yahoo! Messenger – currently the three biggest players in a market. Instant messaging is truly interactive, with an immediacy that email lacks. It is an ideal way for two or more people to communicate quickly, and the ability to see if someone is away or busy makes it extremely useful in the fast-paced business world today. Many organisations are already reaping the business benefits of instant messaging: productivity gains; increased global, real-time communication; and lower phone, travel and collaboration tool costs. It has also proved t
