Also entering the field are numerous pure-play IM startups, such as Bantu, Ikimbo and Jabber. These companies hope to beat the competition with IM multimedia messaging tools that span multiple platforms.

A World of Pain

The thought of employees flinging unencrypted messages through public networks, however, is enough to give almost any CIO the willies. The idea that external IM senders may be able to toss viruses and other types of destructive code into an enterprise is at least equally chilling. Although most enterprise-grade IM software offers some type of security mechanism, primarily encryption, many consumer-grade products?the kind brought in by employees without the IT department’s knowledge?don’t. "One of the problems with traditional consumer-grade clients is that they can open a hole in the firewall," says Osterman. "Then you have a path for viruses and malicious codes."

Compatibility problems also plague IM. With a universal standard lying somewhere in the future, most IM products can’t display messages from competing systems. "[AOL IM] is a popular service in some departments, and MSN is popular in other departments," says Kalehoff. "The problem is they don’t talk to one another."

As if IM’s security and compatibility traps weren’t enough, CIOs must also worry that the technology will eat into productivity. After all, repeatedly pausing to answer messages and swat nuisance IM pop-ups isn’t a great way to focus. "You can specify that you’re busy, but you have an extra step not to be disturbed," says Osterman. Employees are also likely to use the technology to chat with family and friends. "This is something that could be used as a time waster," says Osterman.

Many businesses also deal with IM’s legal implications. This is particularly true in the financial industry, where Securities and Exchange Commission regulations require securities companies to record and log both IMs and e-mails. Although most enterprise grade IM products, such as Sametime, provide archiving capabilities, many financial industry CIOs would simply prefer to skip the complex job of tracking individual IM pop-ups. These CIOs have either banished IM from their organization or limited its use to purely administrative functions. "We’re not really communicating dollar figures or anything like that," says Robert Stabile, senior technology officer at investment company J.P. Morgan Partners in New York City.

In fact, given the strong likelihood of technical and management headaches, CIOs at all sorts of organizations would simply like to exile IM technology. Many already have. According to Osterman Research, 22 percent of companies block IM traffic from their network.