First popularized by adolescents sharing gossip and homework tips, instant messaging is going mainstream: In the U.S. 13.4 million people are IM-ing (yes, it has become a verb) at work, each averaging six hours a month, according to New York-based research firm Jupiter Media Metrix. That compares with 54 million who spend four hours a month sending instant messages from home.
Instant messaging - an online chat system that permits conversations by any preselected group (“buddies” in AOL parlance) who are logged on simultaneously - raises some concerns among corporate systems managers. One is that the downloading of the necessary software, such as AOL Time Warner’s Instant Messenger or competitors from Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo!, will introduce viruses or other security problems. And connecting with friends and family is not an ideal use of company time.
But except for a recently disclosed, quickly patched flaw in AOL Instant Messenger, there have been no security breaches so far. And businesses are putting the technology to productive use.
For example, instant messaging is increasingly common in collaborative software, which bankers use in hammering out loan agreements, as well as in business-to-business e-commerce networks and on financial institution trading floors. Framingham, Massachusetts-based research company International Data Corp. estimates that by 2004, 50 percent of a projected 1.4 billion IM accounts worldwide will be used for business, up from 25 percent of 247 million accounts in 2001.
For financial institutions that have been sending account statements and other documentation via e-mail, particularly to online brokerage customers, instant messaging would seem to be a logical next step. Indeed, many brokers and financial advisers have looked into IM for delivering urgent alerts or recommendations.
But they have discovered complications. The Securities and Exchange Commission sets strict recordkeeping guidelines that require most client correspondence to be archived and audited. Instant messages are fleeting, and the software isn’t made for archiving, so it doesn’t work for compliance reviews.
The SEC has not indicated when or if it will set IM archiving rules, but securities firms aren’t taking any chances. Many have put IM plans on hold while they search for ways to archive and control this technology. “Wall Street firms recognize that instant messaging is about to explode. The lack of a compliance solution has absolutely been holding them back,” says Steve King, president and CEO of Zantaz, a Pleasanton, California-based specialist in e-mail archiving for institutions that include Bank of America Corp., Datek Online Holdings Corp. and E*Trade Group. Zantaz has integrated its service with IM-based technology from suppliers such as IMlogic in Kirkland, Washington, and FaceTime Communications of Foster City, California, proving, says King, that record-retrieval concerns can readily be addressed. Banc of America Securities and Thomas Weisel Partners recently purchased FaceTime’s IM Auditor system.
Before installing FaceTime in December, Thomas Weisel prohibited IM downloads on its network; now brokers have the option of IM-ing. Says the San Francisco-based firm’s compliance manager, Pamela Housley, “We have a technology that fits our needs, and we’re not concerned about being in noncompliance.”
Some observers question how urgently investment firms must act. Virginia Gobats, an e-strategy expert with Andover, Massachusetts-based consulting company NewRiver, says, “A lot of our clients are still struggling to get a slow e-mail dialogue going.”
Yet some of those millions of IMers apparently are ready, and firms like Thomas Weisel want to be flexible. Says Housley, “Just as some people prefer phone contacts and others prefer regular e-mail, some will want IM.”
