IM 4 Enterprise!

Since its introduction in 1996, instant messaging (IM) has

worked up its way from homes and cyber cafes to work places. With its innovative

and convenient features, it has begun to make its mark in the business world.

The real-time, interactive nature of instant messaging makes it a valuable to

tool for collaborative efforts with business partners, customers and fellow

employees.

The speed, convenience and flexibility of the instant

messaging system is undeniable. IM solutions allow users to share files, have

presence control, talk real time and also organize multi-user chat. The use of

IM has seen exponential growth in terms of usage in the corporate world. The

fact that it can be easily deployed, has led to the spread of IM within the

enterprise, largely outside the control of corporate IT organizations. Owing to

this, the consumer IM clients (cIM) such as AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo!

Messenger, MSN Messenger and Google Talk have found their way into the

enterprise communication system. The recent addition of Internet telephony to

these solutions has made them even more desirable and indispensable.

Till now, the business world has used IM solutions that are

public network solutions. Individual workers or departments have discovered its

utility and are fast adopting it as a business utility tool. But since it began

as a consumer oriented technology, IM developed without much emphasis on

manageability, reliability and security, which is desirable by the enterprise.

Securing IM



Despite all its benefits, IM poses serious security threats to an

enterprise. Since most of the organizations are still using public network

solutions, there is no way to ensure that the information that is being

exchanged is secure. This is an immediate threat, as there is a possibility that

critical corporate information transmitted over public IM could be exposed due

to the fact that instant messaging travels through networks outside the company.

So the challenge is related to the control of free access

that exists for users of IM, from within the network, while leveraging the power

of IM as an enterprise productivity tool. The instant communication features of

IM solutions provide cost efficiency and increased productivity, but the threat

of security also looms large.

Virus writers and spammers are also targeting this

technology and using its unmanaged presence in the businesses. Therefore,

enterprises are rendered vulnerable to threats like viruses, worms, spyware,

violations of policy or regulation and identity theft.

To avoid these issues, the corporate world has two options

either to completely block all the public IM solutions or to allow its use under

controlled environment by applying controls on top of public IM. The development

of customized IM solutions for the enterprise is also an option for those who

are looking for an even greater degree of control and privacy. These solutions

provide features of the already existing IM solutions along with the security

features.

Managed Service Solution



Enterprises can opt for layering out a gateway solution on top of the

existing public IM networks. There are a number of solutions that run on an

enterprise network to authorize, monitor and manage employee's use of public

IM networks. These include IMlogic, IM Manager, which manages public IM traffic

by provisioning IM capabilities to some, limiting access by others and blocking

unauthorized users at the discretion of the corporate IT. Akinox is another

gateway vendor in the infrastructure security space, which offers solutions to

control IM communication.

These gateways provide real time threat protection,

scalability and reliability, ease of deployment, platform flexibility and a host

of other features for the enterprise. Enterprise instant messaging (EIM) vendors

are also working with the gateway solutions to link enterprise IM with public

networks safely.

Adding gateways to EIM systems will give companies, the

freedom to choose its EIM system as per its requirements. At the same time make

it able to communicate with other organizations via the public network. The only

flaw is that they lack security and management capabilities desired in an

enterprise solution.

Internal Server Solution



Internal server solutions are standalone IM systems, which are hosted and

operated entirely within the organization. These systems remove all the concerns

about security and privacy and allow businesses to implement IM management along

with bringing the entire messaging infrastructure in-house. EIM systems offer

user interface customization and compatibility with existing or legacy software,

a feature not available in public IM networks. The drawback that EIM have is

that since they are designed specifically for an enterprise, it often limits

their usefulness. Yet the popularity of EIM solutions is increasing steadily.

Meta group, an industry analyst anticipates that the number of IM users in the

enterprise will touch 95 mn in 2007. IDC also expects EIM market to grow from

$315 mn in 2005 to $736 mn in 2009.

Using instant messaging has many business benefits. It

offers value for short turnaround projects by enabling immediate access to

colleagues for quick questions or to gain insights on recent developments.

Instant messaging helps users to react and respond to

issues by enabling them to handle multiple conversations concurrently-even

when they are on the phone or in a meeting, improving the speed and output of

daily work. These solutions also open up new channels for communication with

employees, customers and partners and can be beneficial for the service sector.

Enterprises with geographically dispersed and highly mobile employees can use

instant messaging to help workers bridge time zones, while reducing

long-distance telephone costs.

EIM systems help in increasing staff productivity, provide

better control and management of corporate communication, and follow security

and compliance-related policies. Some companies have announced plans for

products with several feature enhancements to provide end users with a rich

communication experience. EIM systems also provide archive features wherein

information exchanged during an instant messaging session conference or poll is

captured. Security and compliance issues such as unauthorized access to

conversations, no encryption, lack of information audit trails and historical

records of important business conversations can be dealt with by using EIM

solutions.

Today, EIM solutions are being offered by IBM Lotus Domino,

Microsoft Live Communication Server 2005, Novell Groupwise 7, and Sun Java

System Instant Messaging.

The Future



Instant messaging solutions have the potential to revolutionise enterprise

communication, data-sharing, and collaboration. “Businesses now demand more

than just chat-they want collaboration tools as well. Besides text IMing,

there is a demand for online voice communications (a la VoIP), group calendaring

and contact lists, shared document archiving and editing, and a host of other

workgroup collaboration tools,” says Kalyan Sridhar, country manager, Lotus

Software Group, IBM India.

Integration of video capabilities helps businesses to embed

business-quality video into their existing instant messaging infrastructure.

This further enables organizations to enhance communications and extend existing

investments.

The convergence of leading telephony capabilities with EIM

systems will enable businesses to place a telephone call to an instant messaging

or e-mail contact immediately while still remaining in their inbox or instant

messaging client. Vendors are coming up with solutions which include

technologies designed to help customers communicate, share information and

conduct business faster, using the collaborative tools that best suit their

business need.

Mobile instant messaging applications are also on the

anvil. Mobile hardware and software vendors are coming up with handsets and

software to support enterprise instant messaging. Solutions are also being

unfolded that support development of applications that mobilize corporate

applications. The popularity is such that mobile e-mail and instant messaging

(IM) are expected to be the main drivers for growth in the mobile industry.

While enterprises are clearly realizing the value in mobile EIM, the biggest

factor that is holding them back is cost. Mobile enterprise IM capabilities are

valuable for a company's sales force, and on-the-move executives. But

companies are not willing to pay significant premiums for mobile capabilities.

Other areas of concern for the enterprise are security and logging capabilities

of any mobile EIM solution, which are important for the business world.

Features such as real-time communication and online

presence detection offer advantages to the enterprise in an increasingly

competitive business environment. IM has its own advantages and disadvantages

but its use is increasing rapidly and industry experts expect this trend to

continue. With the right features, EIM solutions are sure to be the next big

thing in enterprise communication.

Sonia Sharma



sonias@cybermedia.co.in