Corporate IT managers who haven’t gotten on board with instant messaging need to start paying attention and evaluating how they will design their own IM systems. Before you dive into the world of IM, there are three basic strategies you will want to consider:
First, deploying one of the various IM blocking and monitoring products to prevent any unauthorized public IM use. Second, using software from Microsoft Corp. or IBM’s Lotus, the major private IM system vendors. Finally, building your own IM system using a variety of open sources.
These three strategies aren’t mutually exclusive, so you might want to mix and match.