Teaching business to get the message

Most companies already have Instant Messaging but aren't aware of its potential. Time to change all that, writes Martin Lynch.

There's nothing harder than selling bleeding-edge technology to a business that hasn't heard about it.

So why not tell businesses all about bleeding-edge technology they already have but don't know about? What could be easier?

Instant Messaging (IM) software is now used in up to 80 per cent of companies, much of it without the company knowing or caring about it.

Indeed, those firms aware of IM probably view it as some kind of IT rodent infestation that nimbly sidesteps their expensive firewalls.

But IM has a number of key business benefits and the IT pest is tipped to be the biggest leap forward in business communications since email.

Right now, employees in firms all over the UK are chatting to their mates across the hall or country using free, public IM tools from AOL, Yahoo or MSN. Admittedly, they're talking about last night's EastEnders.

IM started off as the email version of a telephone call, where you chat by typing messages. Transmission is instantaneous and more than one person can join in. But the key benefit of IM is known as 'presence': it lets you know when friends are online.

Email and phone calls are essentially blind communication tools because you never know if the person is actually there. Short of implanting global positioning chips in people, IM is about as precise as communications can be.

You can contact people anywhere in the world immediately because you know when they are at their desks.

The business benefits are clear, as long as you implement IM properly. It makes getting hold of people more precise and can cut down on email traffic. IP telephony via IM tools is also a lot cheaper than phoning colleagues or customers in other countries.

But getting IM under control should be the priority of every business, if only to secure the data flowing in and out of the company.

There are a growing number of tools out there to help companies do this. In the business space, IBM Lotus Sametime and Microsoft Exchange are the leading suppliers of enterprise IM tools, but the cost can prove a bit high for many firms.

The public IM players are also frantically working on enterprise versions of their tools.

However, the real opportunity for VARs is the number of IM tools from smaller firms, such as IPSwitch, that are selling corporate IM solutions for about £500.

Unlike every other 'new' technology, IM is already in the market and everybody has it. All you have to do is educate your customers on how to control and exploit it.