IM Grows Up

摘要

Instant messaging has moved out of the dorm and into the office. Once the exclusive domain of unproductive chatter, IM programs have gained enterprise credibility as vendors have added security, business features and corporate-directory integration. In fact, IM systems have become multipurpose collaboration tools complete with chat rooms, conferencing, screen sharing, whiteboards, video and broadcasts. Users can check their colleagues' away messages to find out who's in the office without wandering the halls. They can avoid the phone tag and multiple e-mails it used to take to schedule a meeting. In a tech-support call center, staffers can bounce questions off one another on IM while they're helping callers solve their problems.