IM No Longer a 'Toy'

August 15, 2005

No longer are high school- and college students the only computer users taking advantage of instant messaging. According to a survey by Omnipod, an on-demand enterprise IM provider, and IM-related IT intelligence provider InfoWorld, enterprises now recognize that IM is “a critical competitive differentiator and should be viewed as a critical business tool” — not simply a consumer toy.

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As such, the survey, which was fielded in June 2005 and garnered more than 500 senior IT professional respondents, revealed that 43 percent of the enterprise respondents believe that the choice of IM provider impacts customers.

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Although IM isn’t brand new to enterprises, as many have used the online tool to enhance communication between employees, the survey’s results show that users are using IM increasingly to collaborate outside of corporate walls. Consequently, “functionality and usability of IM is key in maintaining good business practices as well as customer service satisfaction.”

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All you have to do is simply look at the number of CRM solutions providers that have integrated and included instant messaging within their customer service solutions. There are many, as IM technology is no longer for “forward-thinking” providers — it is now nearly essential because end users (i.e., the customers calling in for customer service) want to use the IM outlet more and more to get service and answers.

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Of course, data security can be an issue of concern, of which the survey also notes: 72 percent of respondents claim security as the biggest enterprise concern.

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“There’s a ‘sea change’ occurring in the business world where IM is no longer looked upon as a 'toy' but as a useful ‘tool,’” said Evan Sohn, Chief Marketing Officer, Omnipod, in the announcement of the Omnipod/InfoWorld survey results. “Our survey with InfoWorld and implementation with customers like DLA serve as proof points that companies are now using IM to their competitive advantage.”

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USA Today, interestingly, proffered an article this morning about office etiquette (e.g., dress codes, etc.), also touching upon the integration of tech gadgets (e.g., cell phones, MP3 players, etc.) and tech tools (e.g., IM, etc.) within the work place (as well as a more casual style). It’s gaining rapidly, mostly due to the young, recent graduates, college interns and incoming graduated employees, who rely more upon their gadgets during the day though without a slack in productivity — it’s a matter of employee-centricity and multitasking.

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According to the article: Those who have been logged on since grade school “are a different breed,” says Teresa Alewel, career services director at Central Missouri State University. She speaks from 20 years of experience.

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Talk to career counselors and corporate recruiters and they’ll say today’s kids multitask — IM-ing, e-mailing and reading, all while chatting on their cell phone or listening to their MP3 player. (And they assume they'll have at least some access to their toys at work.) Technology has allowed them to blend their schoolwork into their personal lives seamlessly and wirelessly, so they balk at the image of a rigid 8-to-5 office where everyone's tethered to a desk. Though they shun corporate conformity, they're not a bunch of slackers, says Deb Chereck, director of the University of Oregon career center. “They want to view work in its place — that it's part of a lifestyle, but it's not what rules the lifestyle.”

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JPMorgan interns can listen to their iPods at the office. IM, too, is increasingly becoming an accepted part of the workplace. According to a report in September by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 21% of IM users send instant messages at the office; a third of those at-work IMers acknowledge that they're usually blitzing friends and family. And even as some businesses brand IM a distraction to productivity and ban it outright, 47% of at-work IM users say it has “regularly provided moments of relief from the daily work grind.”

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Considering that a Pew Internet study in July found that three-quarters of online teens use IM, the second-most-common tool among this group for communicating with friends after the good old landline, a future of taking IM breaks at work instead of coffee breaks isn't far-fetched, says Mary Madden, co-author of the more recent report. It's akin to the idea that employees increasingly use their downtime to shop or check the news. "We're the IM generation," Young says. "They're going to put our screen names on our tombstones."

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