APL, a 12,000-employee containerized shipping company based in Oakland, Calif., put the hammer down on IM when employees began installing consumer-grade client software on their desktop. "We started to see that it was eating up bandwidth; we started seeing file transfers via instant messaging," says Van Nguyen, APL’s IT security director. After determining that IM was more of a convenience tool than an essential business application, Nguyen and senior managers pulled the plug. "We have implemented a corporatewide security policy to disallow instant messaging clients?period," he says.

On the Other Hand...

While banning client software is an easy way of dealing with IM’s problems, the move may also prove shortsighted. Many enterprises that have adopted IM are beginning to appreciate the technology’s potential to actually boost productivity. Adopting a formal IM strategy also lowers the likelihood that employees will sneak in less secure consumer-grade products.

At Avnet Computer Marketing, about 500 employees use IM for a variety of tasks. In one pilot project, for example, customers can use IM to contact technical people at the company. The software also reduces the need to place costly international phone calls. It’s too early to tell just how much money IM is saving, Stuttard says, but he’s sure that the technology is having a positive effect on the bottom line. Stuttard says that when all is said and done, the company hopes to reduce its number of voice mails and e-mails, while providing faster turnaround on decisions.

IM’s cost savings potential hinges mostly on how the technology is used. "If it was used primarily as a replacement for long-distance calls," says Osterman, "then the savings in telephone charges could be substantial in a large organization." Similarly, if the technology serves as an e-mail replacement or supplement, "there could be some savings in disk storage and related requirements," he says.

As time goes by, even Nguyen is contemplating a return to IM?but only under tightly controlled conditions. "We’re looking to internal instant messaging servers," he says. APL’s planned approach would place IM activities into an encrypted, VPN-type environment that would encompass only employees and selected external parties. "If it’s a business requirement, definitely we would allow external partners to communicate with us," says Nguyen.

IM Integration

As IM becomes a deeply ingrained technology, messaging functions are likely to begin popping up inside all sorts of business-oriented applications, ranging from word processors to accounting applications. "For example, you might see a future version of Microsoft Office that contains IM functionality," says Osterman. (Houston-based Advanced Reality already offers tools for adding collaboration to any application.)