Now's the time to chat in business
Posted 12 July 2007 at 10:13AM by David Crowther in Email and communications
Dubbed "email without the lag time," instant messaging (IM) has spread beyond its early users of high school students and long-distance buddies and is now invading the corporate world. So, is IM really a useful business tool?
That's the prediction made by Gartner analyst David Smith, who's forecasting that 95 percent of employees will use instant messaging as their de facto tool for voice, video and text chat by 2013.
"We're seeing businesses looking to secure their IM and deploy and adopt enterprise IM so we definitely expect continuing penetration by the end of the decade," Smith told internetnews.com.
Currently, Gartner pegs the use of IM in businesses at around 25 percent but is predicting that figure will be close to 100 percent by 2010.
Monte Enbysk, the lead editor for the Microsoft.com network also sees the benefits IM has for business and has put together ten tips for using IM in business.
And here at BT, we have some great news for you, BT has now launched a feature upgrade to the Business Email (Plus Organise and Share) product only, which will provide users with a Business Instant Messaging service for no additional charge (the service will continue to be offered to our customers at £7.50 per mailbox per month). You can upgrade to use IM (plus other valuable features) if you currently use the inclusive basic email service provided with Business Broadband.
Existing customers can also take advantage of this product enhancement and again, no additional charge will be incurred for this service. Customers must activate their Business Email (Plus Organise and Share) product AND download the Office Communicator Software in order to start using their IM service.
This IM service is currently only available between BT Business users and interworking with other IM suppliers is being investigated. This is the first of a number of new services for BT Business Email and is the only UK Microsoft Hosted email partner to provide such a service.
For new customers you can order Business Email now. Existing customers, download Office Communicator from your secure account area to start straight away (requires login).
Tags: business email, IM, instant messaging, instant messenger, office communicator
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