Businesses have mixed feelings on IM
Monday, July 14, 2008 10:48 AM
Companies are shying away from adopting instant messaging technology despite seeing the benefits it can have in the workplace.
Businesses are shying away from adopting instant messaging technology (IM) despite seeing the benefits it can have in the workplace.
Nearly three-quarters of businesses (74 percent) see IM as a useful collaborative tool, according to research carried out by Vanson Bourne and commissioned by IM vendor ProcessOne.
But a similar proportion (72 percent) said they have banned IM due to security and compliance concerns.
These include the potential for confidential information to be sent out of the company as well as users downloading software without the knowledge of the IT department.
Around nine out of 10 IT directors quizzed said they were concerned about the use of IM with 56 percent saying they were worried about losing sensitive business information via the technology.
But despite concerns, only 12 percent said they keep audit trails of IM messages sent via public apps. This means many are at risk of failing to comply with regulations around the retention of communication data.
Around 38 percent of businesses said they ban public IM outright due to the audit trail issue while eight percent said they don't bother to track IM messages as they believe the process is too complicated.
In order to tackle this issue, 21 percent of respondents said they use internal IM as it is easier to manage.
The research covered 100 senior decision makers in U.K. businesses of 1,000 employees or more.
Tim Ferguson of Silicon.com reported from London.
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