IM Headlines
If you need information about trends, issues and adoption of IM in the Enterprise, or if you're on a fact finding mission for building a business case and ROI for the management of IM on your network, this is a great resource. All news here is non-vendor specific and purely covers the issues.
If you would like assistance in building a business case or ROI, please contact us.
CORPORATE USE OF IM
Locking Down IM
Before you embrace instant messaging, be sure to address the risks
Instant messaging has fought the battle for business turf and won. The use of IM in the corporate sector has reached mainstream status, and it's a welcome productivity boost.
Computer World
Instant messaging to overtake business e-mail
Instant messaging (IM) is set to overtake e-mail as the preferred form of business communication by the second half of 2010, according to research by IDC.
Computer World | 07 03 08
Study: E-Mail Becoming Thing Of The Past
The study revealed that almost 60 percent of online users have replaced some of their e-mail communication with instant messaging, online text messaging, social-network sites and web-based voice calling.
WCVB Boston | 07 01 08
Word on instant chat: Real-time messaging a business asset
Their study found that using instant messaging led to more but shorter conversations, Danziger said. People ask colleagues to become IM buddies, and an icon on their screens lists those who’re logged in and ready to reply.
“The key take-away is that instant messaging has some benefits where many people had feared that it might be harmful,” Garrett said. He said the study of 912 people found that those who used instant messaging reported being “interrupted less frequently” than colleagues who didn’t.
NWA News | 06 30 08
Consumerization of small business IT
The Altiris panel seemed to agree on the idea that consumer tools will migrate into corporations no matter what, so the companies better get ready.
Network World | 06 19 08
Unified communications with ROI in mind
Today’s CIOs must focus on developing more effective strategies toward taking connectivity and messaging capabilities to the next level. And there’s no denying that unified communications is an IT issue that all CIOs in the 21st century should carefully consider. Given all the communication technologies today’s knowledge workers now use on a daily basis, the potential to quickly and seamlessly shift between voice, IM and videoconferencing technologies is fast becoming more than nice to have – it’s becoming the shape of working more productively and collaboratively in the 21st century.
IT Business CA | 06 18 08
How safe is instant messaging? A security and privacy survey
The prospect of managing telephones, email, fax and videoconferencing on one platform is appealing. In fact, according to international research firm Gartner, by 2011 almost 95 percent of enterprises will have started or completed the integration of their voice and data systems. With every new technology, come new security risks. Deploying unified communications (UC) requires both the right technology solutions and services to ensure that the workforce can benefit from a highly-connected and collaborative environment without increasing corporate risk. Instant messaging (IM) can also be a driver for corporate deployment of a UC solution. Corporations are now beginning to understand the value of instant communication, but public IM means that communications are untracked, un-archived and unfiltered. Deploying their own solution and tying it to public IM gives them the control and security they need.
eChannelLine | 06 11 08
How safe is instant messaging? A security and privacy survey
The number of interested parties eager to listen in on your online conversations, including what you type through IM, has never been higher. The need, in other words, for secure IM communication has never been greater. But not all IM networks offer the same privacy and security. To chart the differences, CNET News.com surveyed companies providing popular IM services and asked them to answer the same 10 questions.
CNET | 06 09 08
Unified communications soon to become business differentiator
Rapid advance in technology and a growing acceptance of unified communications – linking telephony, email, IM – are revolutionizing business communications, according to Frost & Sullivan. The analyst reports that recent trends indicate rapid adoption of fixed / mobile convergence, ‘presence’ management, as well as Internet telephony, underpinned by integrating technologies on a session initiation protocol platform.
Manufacturing Computer Solutions | 06 05 08
Instant Messaging Proves Useful In Reducing Workplace Interruption
A recent study by researchers at Ohio State University and University of California, Irvine found that workers who used instant messaging on the job reported less interruption than colleagues who did not.
Science Daily | 06 04 08
Does UC Improve Productivity?
The whole reason for Unified Communications (UC), it’s believed, is that UC makes your workers and your business processes more efficient and productive. But productivity benefits are almost always tough to quantify and measure reliably, and that’s certainly the case with UC. A new report out from UCStrategies takes a first whack at demonstrating the productivity benefits of UC, and the authors, Blair Pleasant and Nancy Jamison, present some interview quotes and anecdotal evidence supporting the ‘soft’ productivity benefits. The also offer up some harder data on which communications systems people actually use today, how they use those systems and what they expect from UC.
Information Week | 06 03 08
Future workers will demand IM and Facebook
Companies that do not provide such facilities will fail to attract and retain the staff they want, according to a recent study by IDC.
IT News | 05 30 08
Web 2.0 in business
According to Forrester Research, Web 2.0 technology spending will grow to US$4.6 billion in the next five years. More and more companies are offering some type of Web 2.0 or consumer technology as corporate applications to their employees. In fact, two-thirds of respondents to a CIO research study earlier this year said they do so, with IM, wikis and blogs leading the way.
MIS Asia | 05 29 08
Four vulnerabilities affect two IM apps
On Thursday, Zero Day Initiative announced four flaws affecting two instant-messaging applications, three affecting Cerulean Studios Trillian Pro, and one affecting IBM Lotus Sametime. Zero Day Initiative is a part of TippingPoint and is controversial in that it pays researchers for finding flaws.
Cnet | 05 22 08
Banks Turn to Smart Software for Employee Monitoring
In the wake of the credit crisis, many banks are looking into the possibilities of allowing computer software to monitor their employees actions, including their e-mails, phone calls or online chats.
Reuters | 05 20 08
Strong prospects in software to spy on bank staff
Banks try to keep a much closer eye on staff in the wake of scandals such as Jerome Kerviel's rogue trading at Societe Generale, or the aggressive rumor-mill that undermined banks including HBOS and Bear Stearns.
Reuters | 05 18 08
Mobile phones more important than wallets
The survey, conducted by market research firm IDC and sponsored by Nortel Networks Corp, found that while more than 38 percent of the 2,367 people polled chose their mobile phones, less than 30 percent chose their wallets first.
Reuters | 05 14 08
Top Instant Messaging applications in the enterprise
MSN-85%; Yahoo!-55%; AIM-55%...
TechRepublic | 05 07 08
Beware the unmanaged risk of e-mail and IM
Flynn notes that many companies don’t know that retention and content policies should apply also to instant messaging, which is, “just turbo-charged e-mail. We know that only 11 percent of companies have installed software to control and manage their employees’ IM use while about 78 percent of employees are IMing at the office. It’s a time bomb waiting to go off.”
TechRepublic | 04 25 08
Instant Messaging Via Mobile Set To Challenge The Status Quo Of Non-voice Communication
Mobile instant messaging (MIM) is set to cannibalize SMS and eventually email from PC, a survey from TNS Technology has found. The TNS Global Telecoms Insight study, which interviewed 17,000 respondents across 30 countries, has found that once mobile users adopt MIM, it overtakes other messaging tools to become the primary non-voice method of interacting – with potentially dramatic consequences for service and network providers’ revenue. Among those who use MIM, it is the most used feature on their phone: 61% use it daily, compared to 55% who use SMS daily and only 12% who use email on their mobile.
Shootonline | 04 24 08
Infosecurity 2008: use of new technologies exposing UK firms to risk, report finds
The adoption of new technologies is exposing UK companies to high levels of risk, according to a government security survey. The 2008 Information Security Breaches survey for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform reveals that although 17% of UK companies have adopted VoIP, only 30% have evaluated the security risk involved. IM was another area of concern because it exposes companies to the same risks as email, but half of companies using IM do not have any security controls in place. The report notes that financial companies take the most steps to mitigate IM risks, but said even in this sector, a third have taken no steps.
Computer Weekly | 04 23 08
IBM Predicts Technology Will Accelerate Global Expansion of Small U.S. Businesses
Many more American small businesses will go global using collaboration technology to transform themselves from local businesses into global trading partners, predicted IBM executive Sean Poulley at the US Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week conference. Poulley described how the evolution of technologies, such as Web conferencing, IM, software appliances and portals, offered as software-as-a-service applications will increasingly allow local businesses to transform into global trading partners.
Press Media Wire | 04 23 08
Communication in the Workplace: Beyond the Virtual Water Cooler
Technology that enables a business team to send messages and notes to each other from anywhere at any time is great for speed and agility, but it cuts back on valuable personal interaction. IT department heads and other personnel often have to strike a tricky balance between quick but cold instant messages (IMs) and emails and slower but more deliberate face-to-face meetings. Most young workers today grew up talking through text and IM, and many prefer it. While wireless devices – laptops, BlackBerrys, cell phones – clearly allow workers to respond quickly, managers are beginning to question whether office spats, bad decisions and lack of teamwork could be avoided by more in-person conversations.
ComputerWorld | 04 20 08
Businesses get green light on IM interception
Businesses will be able to intercept email and IM communications under proposed changes by the federal government to prevent data leakage. The changes will give employers power to intercept all Internet-based communications without consent, including emails, IM and chat room discussions.
ComputerWorld | 04 14 08
Technology in the workplace: a recipe for legal trouble
Not since the adoption of surveillance cameras in the workplace has there been such a national panic over the issue of employee privacy, nor have the stakes been higher. Because computer privacy laws are still in the early stages, no one knows what the future will bring, and navigating the legal intricacies can be like navigating a minefield with nothing but a pointy stick and a pair of oven mitts. There are three central liability issues an employer should pay careful attention to in the coming years: rights regarding the monitoring and confiscation of employee email, the rise of instant messaging (IM) and the proliferation of cell phones and handheld wireless devices.
Workforce | 04 14 08
Unified Communications Technologies Enable More Secure Exchange of Data and Plans
One of the most important changes that will make this all possible is the fact that every individual will have a single digital identity for all of their communications. Today, most people have phone numbers for work, mobile devices, and home, along with multiple email addresses and different identities for instant messaging and all of the communities they belong to. Soon, all it will take is a name to reach someone. Based on the context, software will know who that person is and will automatically figure out the best way to reach them.
Industry Week | 03 28 08
Generation Y demand instant messaging at work
77% of the Generation Y respondents believed that a webcam and access to instant messaging in the office (73%) would help them offer clients and suppliers a faster and more personal response.
CBR | 03 27 08
Millennial Worforce: IT Risk or Benefit?
A recent study measured millennial workers perceptions and expectations regarding their use of new devices and Web 2.0 applications in the workplace, and to compare those results with their older co-workers as well as the IT crowds perception of this issue.
TMC Net | 03 20 08
IBM Predicts Five Future Trends That Will Drive Unified Communications
IBM predicted five future trends that will increase demand for the fast-growing UC market and reshape the way businesses and workers communicate and collaborate worldwide. IM and other real-time collaboration tools will become the norm, bypassing email. Just as email became a business necessity, a new generation of workers has an expectation for IM as the preferred method of business interaction.
IBM | 03 19 08
Facebook To Launch Instant Messaging Service
Facebook has been testing a new instant messaging (IM) service and will be launching it to the public soon, perhaps in the next week. Our understanding is that the service will be built into users’ Facebook pages and allow them to Web chat with their Facebook friends. We’ve also heard that, like Gtalk, it will be built on the Jabber open source platform, allowing users to add the service to many popular IM clients like Trillian and Adium. I’d also expect Web chat services like Meebo and eBuddy to add support for the service.
TechCrunch | 03 14 08
Graduates bemused by low-tech offices
Three-quarters think that a webcam and access to instant messaging applications in the office would help them respond more quickly and personally to clients and suppliers.
vnunet | 03 12 08
IBM muscles into Microsoft unified communications turf
IBM said that it will invest more than a $1 billion over the next three years in the unified communications market, setting up another race between the computing giant and its rival Microsoft.
CNet | 03 10 08
Smaller Businesses Confront Instant Messaging
Just remember, when you go free, you get what you pay for. If your company really needs a more customizable system, especially one that will integrate with your current communications systems, it's time to consider putting your money where your messages are.
United Business Media | 03 04 08
Every Click You Make, Your Boss Is Watching You
Though only two states in the U.S. require businesses to spell out for employees exactly what their policies are regarding electronic surveillance and monitoring, 83 percent of companies told researchers that they do so anyway. However, that's still not enough for some workers to curtail their personal use of company e-mail and Internet -- 58 percent of companies said they've fired employees for such violations.
eCommerce Times | 02 29 08
Business urged to embrace Web 2.0
It'll soon become outdated to use older Internet formats like e-mail as newer tools like instant messaging catch on
TheRecord.com | 02 28 08
The Technology Tech Leaders Fear the Most
3. Instant Messaging. Online chat is a large enough security threat that 11% of tech leaders said it was their biggest fear. Over the last few years, there’s been a number of computer viruses that use instant messaging to get onto corporate computer networks.
Wall Street Journal | 02 25 08
The Lowdown on VoIM
Given the wild popularity of IM, it’s no wonder that the matchup of VoIP and IM would happen. Fortunately, enterprise-grade VoIM solutions from vendors, including IBM, Microsoft and Effusia, offer built-in security features, such as 128-bit SSL encryption, to safeguard against intercepted messages and IM-based viruses. Another safe alternative is for companies to turn to IM-management vendors – such as Akonix Systems Inc – that provide security and compliance services for corporate use of IM and other real-time communications.
VOIP News | 02 15 08
Defining the Value of Unified Communications
With so many ideas and definitions of UC, it is difficult to determine the value it delivers to businesses. However, if the number of emails, voicemails, telephone calls, IMs, newspapers and Web sites the average employee encounters during a given day are considered, it is clear this abundance of information brings employees into a faster, more challenging work environment.
TMC Net | 02 15 08
On the hunt for this year’s killer app
Few technologies have changed the workplace. What new killer apps are on the horizon? Over the past few years, IT companies have been quick to impress on businesses the merits of technologies like instant messaging (IM) and VoIP. Despite the productivity claims, neither of these technologies has yet made it into mainstream working culture. However, 2008 looks like the year when they could finally gain a significant foothold in the market thanks in part to more consolidated products and a name change. Unified communications is the buzzword being bandied about and it brings all communication methods, voice, email, IM and video, onto the PC.
Independent.ie | 02 14 08
Unified communications - delivering real value
The art of communication in the workplace is changing as UK workers now have a diverse range of communications tools and applications at their disposal, such as IP telephony, mobile phone, voice mail, email and IM. Managing all these voice and data communications types can be a complex task for organizations of all sizes.
NCC | 02 11 08
Unified Communications in 2008
As 2007 drew to a close, I turned my focus on what the year had produced in terms of UC. Looking ahead, here are some predictions of what 2008 is likely to bring. There are two fundamental missions for UC: Either to enhance productivity of individual users or to integrate communications directly into business processes and transform how work gets done. You can expect to see the major vendors launching concerted sales efforts during the first half of this year, which will ramp up during the second half. Many will promote the ‘business process’ approach, but time will tell whether they can sustain that focus or whether the vendors slip back into selling IM.
UC Strategies | 02 11 08
Will IM ever kick off its shackles?
When it comes to instant messaging, AOL doesn't talk with Microsoft, Microsoft doesn't talk with Google, and Google doesn't talk with Yahoo. The snarling between Microsoft (maybe soon "Microsoft-Yahoo") and Google gets worse. Translation: I wouldn't be overly confident of an IM breakthrough any time soon.
Zdnet | 02 08 08
IM Security Threats: How to Protect Your Business
Instant Messaging has become an effective business tool. But its increasing popularity means that it too is now more vulnerable to attack
CMP | 02 06 08
Data loss prevention from the inside out
Unauthorized use of Internet protocols and services – such as IM, peer-to-peer file sharing, blogging, social networking sites and unauthorized uploading of data to Web sites – is a major contributor to data security incidents and should be controlled via a detailed policy.
TechTarget | 02 05 08
Yahoo IM affected by ActiveX vulnerabilities
On the heels of ActiveX vulnerabilities in the image uploading tools for Facebook and MySpace.com, researchers warned Monday that Yahoo Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger are vulnerable to ActiveX-based attacks.
CNET | 02 04 08
New virus has gift of the gab
Users lured to doom by social networking bait
Tech Central | 02 04 08
Microsoft bids $45 billion for Yahoo
Microsoft hopes to close the deal by the end of the year.
CNN | 02 01 08
Former County Commissioner Questioned About Explicit Messages
In total, 22 Highlands County board of county commissioners employees used their instant messaging capability on their county computers inappropriately, according to Bob Jamison, senior director of business services in the Highlands County Clerk of Courts office.
Highlands Today | 01 31 08
Yankee Group Says Consumer Technology Increases SMB Productivity by 30% to 40%
Yankee Group announced that consumer technologies can increase small and medium business (SMB) productivity outside the office 30 to 40%, especially for the least empowered employees. According to the recently published Yankee Group Report, ‘Unleash the Hidden Power of Your SMB’, technology solutions drive productivity for SMBs outside the office, not inside. Of the consumer technology solutions, blogs, wikis, smart phones, wireless-enabled laptops, IM and online travel services have the greatest impact on SMBs, increasing productivity 25 to 50% for SMB mobile employees.
News Observer | 01 31 08
Rollout: Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007
We put Office Communications Server 2007, Microsoft's flagship unified communications offering, to the test and found it does UC right, if not simply.
Information Week | 01 26 08
Missed calls costing industry millions
In that vein, the survey revealed that 24 percent of respondents are using unified communications and so-called presence technologies (IM and web conferencing) in the office. Of the respondents already using these technologies, 91 percent said they were helping them to work more effectively. Of the respondents that were aware of these technologies but did not have access to them at work, 88 percent believed they would be useful.
ENN | 01 25 08
Worm Fears Shut down Skype Video Feature
Skype turned off a video-sharing feature in its software because it could be misused to launch a self-copying worm attack against Skype users, security researchers said today.
Washington Post | 01 22 08
How companies can determine policies for instant messaging
Instant messaging has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a chat tool. It's now considered a full-featured business application.
SF Gate | 01 16 08
Top Networking Trends of 2008
Track Everything
Whether for compliance enforcement, eDiscovery, or network troubleshooting, more organizations are implementing tools that record and store every packet traversing the network. With storage costs decreasing and the need to produce electronic evidence increasing, this trend of long-term storage will continue.
Windows IT Pro | 01 15 08
Corporate Use of Social Networking
If you see that many employees are using IM or social networking sites, you should try to figure out why. Rather than out-right banning an application, consider replacing public tools or sites with more secure private collaboration tools.
Network Observations | 01 15 08
IT Security: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
IT personnel are responsible for a third of all data leaks, says a recent report by researchers. Small and midsize businesses are as vulnerable as bigger enterprises -- and maybe more so
bMighty | 01 15 08
How to combat the Sans Institute's top 10 security threats
If one were to go back through the archives of the Sans Institute’s Top Threats lists, some of which I contributed to, one would find the range of threats and vulnerabilities shifting and changing through the years along with the ever-changing security landscape itself, writes Timothy Mullen, vice-president of consulting services at NGS Software. Over time, issues, such as the default installation of Internet Information Services, weaknesses in the Lan Manager authentication protocol and Null Session attacks, gave way to vulnerabilities in plug and play services, Windows Messenger services and Internet browsers. Those in turn were replaced by exploits in Microsoft Office applications, IM programs and even in security products, such as anti-virus software.
ComputerWeekly | 01 14 08
Busting the 10 Myths About Data Protection
Data breaches happen all the time in industries ranging from retail to government. Protecting data is a key concern for CIOs, but there are a lot of misconceptions about data protection. Controlling instant messaging (IM), Web email and external storage devices may increase basic data security; however in today’s connected world, putting tight restrictions on information flow can hinder business process and ultimately constrain company growth. Effective leak prevention requires the ability to keep information inside the company’s walls without disrupting its legitimate use for normal business operations.
CIO | 01 11 08
Enterprise IM: Reality or Myth?
It's a perfect tool in technical support situations. It allows technical support agents to post step-by-step troubleshooting steps during a chat session; and users can help eliminate confusion by cutting and pasting any error messages they may be getting related to their service call.
Intranet Journal | 01 07 08
The value of unified communications
As unified communication technologies mature, the focus is shifting from making a business case for UC to concrete and tangible deployment issues. To succeed, it is critical that business leaders, IT managers and planners understand where UC solutions offer value and how they improve competitiveness.
Network World | 01 02 08
