R U Ready 4 IM @Work?

Adoption of IM in a corporate setting

Cheryl NicholsNovember 24, 2003

R U Ready 4 IM @Work? IM growing in popularity among

businesses Unique Characteristics of IM Adoption in the Workplace Considerations for Enterprise Users

IM Use Growing

Unique Characteristics of IM

Synchronous or real-time nature Immediacy

Awareness of presence Negotiate availability of others Maintain a sense of connection

Group chat (many-to-many) Enhanced collaborative opportunities

IM Adoption in the Workplace

Employees driving the revolution Critical mass in community of

interest Perceived value differential Costs of adoption

Acquiring new skills, tools Variation in contributions

IM Adoption in the Workplace

Business use internally

IM as a support tool

Pros and ConsPros Immediacy for quick,

informal responses Presence awareness Available, functional Ease of connection Reduce long distance Multi-tasking

Cons No audit trail Security concerns Interoperability

issues Privacy concerns Administration Spam concern

Considerations Security (firewall, file sharing, virus) Business tools (web integration,

spam) Documentation (legal, legislative) Access to external partners/vendors Reliability, Scalability Licensing, maintenance contract Administrative

Questions?