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