Gartner Says Free Instant Messaging will be Found in 70 Percent of Enterprises within Two Years

Gartner Analysts Discuss Instant Messaging Trends during Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2001

Business Editors

Instant messaging (IM) services are being implemented rapidly by employees, but enterprises will be facing severe security risks.

Free IM services will be found in 70 percent of enterprises by 2003, and it will be implemented by end-users without IT organization sanction or support, according to Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB).

Gartner analysts provided their detailed analysis on instant messaging during Gartner's flagship conference, Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2001, which is taking place October 8 - 12 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

"The rapid proliferation of IM use has resulted in individuals employing a vital communication medium without forethought," said David Smith, vice president and research director for Gartner. "E-mail followed a similar implementation pattern. It took more than 10 years before enterprises recognized and effectively addressed problems of security, reliability and business policy. Enterprises must pay proper attention to IM usage now, lest they repeat the painful lessons taught by e-mail."

Enterprises should understand the formal and informal business processes that have developed around IM within their environment. IM is used routinely by millions of workers to expedite or facilitate all sorts of business transactions. Properly managed and integrated into business workflows, IM has the potential to dramatically increase a company's ability to operate as a real-time enterprise. Businesses that make effective use of IM will have a competitive edge over those that don't.

Microsoft and AOL Time Warner have been gearing up for a market share battle, but Gartner analysts said that there will be no clear winner in the near future. Microsoft and AOL Time Warner compete in only a small subset of each other's businesses, but the highest growth area for both is where they compete. AOL Time Warner is consumer focused, while Microsoft's broader vision, along with its ability to generate an ecosystem, gives it great potential moving forward. Content is an area in which the two differ dramatically. AOL Time Warner is all about content - both its own and in its relationships with others. Microsoft will rely almost exclusively on the content of others, and its relatively open strategy will work to its advantage.

"Because the future of the pay-as-you-go Internet is at stake, consumers and vendors should expect continued clashes between AOL and Microsoft. The struggle will unfold on several battlefields and individual deals may be cut, but they would not have settled their differences. That could take many years," said Smith.


[ Home | Contact | MobiChat | Experts database | Let's do it ]

Comments to the content of this page can be posted on the MobiChat discussion group

logo.gif (1569 bytes)