When you are in the middle of a project and have a quick question for someone from another department, you could pick up the phone, find their extension number, dial it, say hi (if they are available, if not you have to try back), ask your question, wait if they have to look something up, get your answer, say thanks and bye. That can take a lot of valuable time out of your work day.

But with business instant messaging, you open a chat window, type your question, and receive a response. If they have to look it up, you can continue working without the interruption of a phone conversation to side track your attention.

Instant messages can be answered when you’re on the phone, in the middle of another project, on a conference call, etc. I find it to be the least interruptive form of communication for many quick questions I have throughout the day. In addition, there are many add on tools that increase its usefulness like file sharing, voice chat which can replace conference calls, video chat which can reduce business travel, co-browse that lets you quickly guide folks to the right website, etc.

Many people still hold the misconception that IM is only for teenagers chatting on the web. But with all of the features, and especially the security, instant messaging is rapidly becoming an amazing tool for the workplace. Business instant messaging is definitely here to stay!

Unfortunately, there are lots of ways hackers can use IM to attack computers. Instant messages can carry viruses and worms. And since public instant messengers aren’t encrypted, hackers can use sniffers to find and view IM conversations and logs. They can also use Trojan horse programs to gain access to information on computers. The best way to keep hackers out is to use an enterprise instant messenger.

Enterprise instant messengers allow for secure instant messaging by encrypting all communications and saved message logs. They also prevent the infection of viruses by only allowing a specified list of people to use the messenger.

For those who think IM is only text messaging on the computer, you will be pleasantly surprised by the capabilities of enterprise instant messaging. Knowing your information is secure, you can collaborate with other employees, partners, and clients in lots of ways. Some enterprise instant messengers have a white board which lets both users draw on a page at the same time. They also have the ability for users to view the same screen with the click of a single button; with this feature both users can browse the web together and have a conversation about it because they know what the other person is seeing. Knowing that they have secure instant messaging, users can also send large files to one another.

You wouldn’t want such detailed communication within a business without secure instant messaging. So avoid those instant messengers that aren’t secure and opt for a secure one. You’ll be glad you did!

Complete Administrative Control

The flexibility of the corporate messenger is a very helpful feature for a business, allowing you to adjust it to fit your business rules. Running corporate messenger software through your own server allows you to customize the type of IM capabilities you want employees to have. Some software will even let you change the capabilities for each employee. You can restrict some employees to only instant messaging other employees in your company and allow others to have access to more people. Free IM services just don’t offer this extent of customization.

Time Saver

Most corporate messenger software allows users to send messages even when the other party is unavailable to chat. This increases efficiency because they don’t have to keep checking to see if the other person is available. Also, messaging activity is logged for each user, so you can keep track of how much messaging your employees are doing and make sure they are not wasting time by over-using it.

Tighter Security

Unlike most free instant messengers, corporate messengers encrypt their IM’s. This is especially important if you use instant messaging with clients. To make sure your business has a reliable reputation, you will want to keep client information from leaking out. Also, all messages are recorded and stored on your server when you have a corporate messenger, so if something important is messaged, you don’t have to worry about it getting lost.

With so many problems that free IM clients come with, it’s easy to just want to give up on instant messaging in the workplace. Instead of throwing business IM-ing to the wind, though, find a corporate messenger that offers the above features so that you can safely and productively allow messenging in your company.

Old way: public instant messenger
Many businesses still use free, public instant messengers for day-to-day communications. This makes sense: employees are already familiar with the technology and interface, and it’s hard to beat a free service.

But employees often spend time chatting with friends and family, so companies suffer from productivity losses in this scenario.

What about the security risks? Attackers can easily send files containing viruses, impersonate employees, or just ask for information. This is becoming more and more common as attackers are getting smarter about what companies use what technologies for communication.

New way: enterprise instant messaging
Companies large and small are now reaching for business instant messaging tools that they can control. And costs are plummeting: for example, one award winning enterprise instant messenger is just a few dollars per employee per month (http//:brosix.com). 

 These tools provide considerable instant messenger security by simply limiting who employees can talk to and by scanning files that have been transferred for viruses.

Conclusion
With PCI compliance quickly becoming more and more of an issue, companies are looking at more than how software handles data; but also how employees handle data as well. Instant messenger security is more of an issue than even now that companies rely on this technology for day-to-day communication.

With inexpensive easy-to-implement solutions available, small and large businesses are reaching for enterprise solutions for instant messenger security.

This is fairly typical and happens on a regular basis, especially when two people don’t know each other very well. One word on the instant messenger can hit a nerve on the other end and make someone think that you are being bossy, rude, or inconsiderate. One word: emoticons.

Emoti-whats?!
Emoticons are those little smiley faces you see in chats. While you CAN over-do emoticons, usually it’s better to be safe than sorry.

There are lots of versions. Beer smileys, heart smileys, barf smileys, you name it and there’s a smiley for the occasion. But not all smileys are good for business communication.

I find that I tend to reach for just a few:

• the original smiley
  Works best for just keeping the tone light or to let someone know I’m kidding. 
• the unhappy smiley
  Works best for letting someone know I’m not happy without having to type something that might offend them. 
• and the wink
  Works best as a secondary original smiley. This is a good emoticon for also keeping the tone light or letting someone know you are being sarcastic.

Of course, other emoticons can work, too. Just remember, if the person on the other end of the line does not know you, you should keep the communication simple and light. Even if you need to emphasize a point, you can be clear and follow up with an emoticon to prevent the person from misunderstanding.

1. Chat – of course
At the top of the list is the ability to chat. No big surprise – it is an instant messenger. I use chat to quickly walk people through problems, answer questions, and shout out orders.

2. File sharing
I am always sending docs to people. Whether it’s an Excel spreadsheet, a technical PDF, or just a funny picture; I have to be able to send files fast.

3. Emoticons
Yes, I use the smiley on a regular basis. Chat is notorious for not translating tone. A simple smiley goes a long way to making sure people understand that I am not upset or trying to keep it light.

4. Screen sharing
When chatting doesn’t work, I reach for screen sharing as the next best solution. This allows me to either fix the problem myself or at least show my teammate the solution.

5. Voice conference
This is great if you are already chatting and don’t want to make a phone call. Just click and talk. It doesn’t get much easier and voice conference is indispensable when you just need to hear a voice on the other end or need to run some training for more than one person.

What this translates to in the office is that I get asked a lot of technical questions. Sometimes it’s “Hey Justyn, how did you get that one thing in Excel?” or “Hey Justyn, why doesn’t my printer work” or my personal favorite “Hey Justyn, I think I broke the internet. Can you fix it?” 

Right from my desk…

Instead of getting away from my desk, I use screen sharing software to quickly SHOW people what to do. Fortunately, Brosix – our enterprise instant messenger – has screen sharing built right in. I just chat, click the screen share button, fix the problem, and move on.

Other solutions

If you haven’t converted to Brosix at your business yet – and you will – then you have a few other options at your disposal. The only one I’m willing to discuss is Team Viewer. You can have your work mate log in to the website, download the client, and in a few minutes you are sharing screens.

Of course, this is a whole lot of headache compared to screen sharing right out of your instant messenger.

Sound a bit OCD? Well, you’re talking to the guy who learned to type in Dvorak just to increase his efficiency at typing. ANYTHING I can do to save a few keystrokes or reduce movements adds up to big savings later.

Alt+Tab

This is no new trick, but it’s good to revisit basics sometimes. When you have multiple windows open, you can click your Alt + Tab keys to switch between windows. This works brilliantly for instant messaging at work.

Here’s what I do: I use my left hand to Alt+Tab through my open messenger windows until I get to chat I want to type in. I actually use my thumb on the Alt key and pinky finger on the Tab key.

The result is that I don’t have to take my hands out of the typing position. This means I can VERY quickly type, Alt+Tab, type, etc.

Every little bit helps!