Do you use instant messaging at work?

[buscommauthor]

Would you like to be featured in a leading college textbook on business communication, now in its 10th edition?

I'm seeking a brief description (50 to 100 words) of how you are using instant messaging at work for business purposes. Please be specific. For example: Do you order from vendors? Do you get instructions from a supervisor? Do you give directions to employees?

If I opt to use your material, I will e-mail you a permission form seeking your approval to use it. When responding, please include your name, address, company name, name of the town in which the company is located, and the college from which you graduated.

Let hundreds of thousands of students throughout the world learn about you. A complimentary copy of the book will be sent to you upon publication. If a foreign edition or translation is published, as is sometimes the case, a copy of that will be sent to you as well.

[Jeff]

At my "day job" we use instant messaging regularly. We are an international company with over 28,000 employees in offices scattered over six continents. IM helps smooth out collaboration by allowing fluid communication. In an instant, I can check to see if my colleague is online and at their computer, eliminating phone tag and email lag.

Our corporate IM system is IBM Lotus Sametime, which allows us to quickly share our desktop for collaboration, support and training.

I regularly get direction from my boss via IM and use it to collaborate with colleagues. IM plays an integral role in our knowledge management system, facilitating people-to-people connections and informal knowledge sharing.

[Corp Soft]

Using IM at work helps to improve business communications and increase efficiency. You don't have to go around the office to solve simple issues, when you can just send a couple of messages. File transfer is also very convinient through IM, not worse than through email.
So, at work we aren't only selling our main software product - OnLAN Messenger, but also using it to chat with colleagues

[Chris Bale]

Thank you, Jeff.
IBM Lotus Sametime is great.

[kelseyc]

For my full-time job, I use AIM to chat with co-workers. Since we are all women, it saves a lot more time to just ask a question through IM. We can also have small talk about our weekends, etc. while still working on projects. It saves a lot of time and makes us look better, since we aren't standing around making chit-chat.

For my part-time job, I am using Brosix- I am a blogger for them and have been experimenting with it. It's a private instant messaging program that lets companies create their own networks. If you want to learn more about it, you can visit the blog I write at: blog.brosix.com