A race has begun among companies creating instant messengers. A race that is intended to result in a new generation of specialized business instant messengers for secure communication both within the company and externally. Paid versions of software designed specifically for business clients have appeared on the market. In Poland, they are currently used mainly by large international corporations (including Reuters, Procter & Gamble, and Coca-Cola Poland Service). This is soon to change. Significant work towards popularizing IM in business has been done by the creators of the Gadu-Gadu and Tlen messengers. Jarosław Rybus, a representative of Gadu-Gadu sp. z o.o., talks about the upcoming development plans: “The business messenger will operate on the market in parallel with the traditional GG messenger, and both will be constantly developed and enriched with new functions. The Gadu-Gadu messenger for business will take into account the specifics of using a messenger in a company. People communicating for business purposes have different requirements, including in terms of security and number management. In the Gadu-Gadu for business version, messages will also be sent via an internal server. The administrator will be able to grant appropriate permissions to each employee. Some will be able to contact people outside the company, others only
within the organization. Additionally, Gadu-Gadu will introduce special company numbers. It will also be possible to conduct teleconferences. The widespread use of instant messengers means that more and more industries are using this form of communication. It is simply a cheap and universal tool that allows for a radical reduction in business operating costs (e.g., telephone bills). Therefore, we will offer the business version to the widest possible circle of business recipients.”
A pioneer in the Instant Messenger services market was the ICQ messenger, produced in November 1996 by the Israeli company Mirabilis (the name ICQ comes from the phrase I Seek You). Initially, Internet users were skeptical about the new service. Over time, instant messengers successfully entered mass use. Today, it is hard to imagine the Internet without ICQ or its successors: Gadu-Gadu, Tlen, WP Kontakt. These widely available programs not only enable conversations with other network users in real-time – their capabilities are successively expanded with newer functionalities and include, among others, sending SMS messages, surfing websites, and voice communication (IP telephony), which can replace telephone conversations. The instant messenger market globally grew in 2005
by 37 percent compared to the previous year, and as analysts predict, annual revenues from advertising and the sale of secure communication systems for enterprises are expected to increase from $315 million currently to $736 million in 2009. More and more companies, in addition to using them for communication with the client, also use them for internal communication – it is no wonder that these programs, simple in their original form, are slowly transforming into extensive business applications.
The article comes from the magazine