Instant messaging.
Computing (6 April 2006, pp. 41-44) reports on the business use of instant messaging. As many as 70% of Intel's 80,000 employees using IM, and as a result Intel expects to save US$25m over the next three years due to productivity savings. The immediacy of it, combined with a written record, and comparison to the over-use and spam problems associated with email, make IM a useful system.
The Woodland Trust in the UK, also a big user of IM, cite the presence feature as being especially useful. Neil Laver, head of real-time collaboration at Microsoft, takes the idea of presence further: "Presence is the fundamental—and IM is an application sitting on top of that".
In the mobile world some believe that IM will replace SMS. An article in ZDNet quotes Paolo Simoes of Portuguese carrier TMN as saying: "IMS-enabled IM/SIP messaging on convergent devices will be the predominant mobile messaging technology of the future, replacing all others." The view is echoed by others. The Register, however, raises concerns over interoperability with desktop IM clients, even in light of the news that 15 mobile operators have agreed to work on an interoperable, charged, IM system. The rollout of the service is expected this year.
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