Instant messaging (IM) is one of the fastest growing means of communication. It has sprouted like a weed adopting 50 million users in half the time the email needed to gather its first 50 million users. It seems instant messengers like ISL Pronto have also increasingly gained its popularity in the business sphere.

Charm of instant messengers
Tell me, what is not charming about instant messaging? As it facilitates easy communication between two or more people, plus accounting a wide array of funny smileys, who could possibly drop a tear for the real interaction? 😉 The user’s text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet, without the delay that arises, let’s say, in email exchange. Because it’s written, it reduces the chance of misunderstanding, and encourages brainstorming as it’s too fast for the overthinking and overjudging of ideas.

Started as a tool for informal chats among friends, IM is one of those handy, ingenious ideas that has morphed into an indispensible business application. Consumer IM solutions, such as Windows Live Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, and Skype, have quickly conquered personal users throughout the world but expanded to the businesses as well. The exponential growth of its adoption for use as a business communications medium are driven primarily by individual employees using consumer software at work, rather than by formal activities of corporate information technology departments. Today, tens of millions of the consumer IM accounts in use are actually being used in the workplace.

Enterprise instant messaging
Although consumer instant messengers are great for individuals, such applications represent a potential risk to business organizations. Security is of concern because instant messages have become an increasingly popular attack vector for all matter of malware, from viruses, worms, and rootkits to so-called spim (spam over IM).

With the security issues seemingly becoming an epidemic in the business world, there’s only one answer to nip this problem in the bud: Enterprise Instant Messaging (EIM).

According to the Processor, experts agree that EIM products share a core set of management and security features. The major products all have the ability to integrate with corporate directories such as Active Directory or LDAP, using their underlying data and schema to create user accounts or groups and in the definition of usage roles and policies. Another critical IM security feature is the ability to monitor and filter content for malware, inappropriate use, hostile messages, or proprietary information. Similarly, all systems should include the ability to centrally log and audit IM sessions and optionally to archive conversations as part of an overall compliance strategy. Enterprise IM platforms also include gateways to external networks, allowing companies to create so-called IM “federations” that can span both private networks, such as those from business partners, and the popular public IM systems.

ISL Pronto – the enterprise instant messenger

One of the four products in the ISL Online’s All-in-one suite is also an EIM application called ISL Pronto. Its primary function is to serve website visitors searching for on-demand online support or sales. With a click on the Live Chat button embedded on a website, they initiate a text chat session with a company rep, which can be upgraded to a web meeting including audio, video, and desktop sharing. Nevertheless, ISL Pronto also enables real-time and efficient communication between employees or business partners. Here is a look at some functions that make ISL Pronto a powerful EIM tool.

Controlled communications network. A moderator adds individuals he thinks are appropriate, and group them according to their place in the company, e.g. marketing, technical support, or geographical location, e.g. off-site employees from Germany, partners from Japan.

Secure communication. All chats are hosted on a cloud computing technologies based global network of servers. This assures ISL Pronto users a highly stable service with possibly no network downtime, and a noncompromised security.

Synchronised communication. ISL Pronto is designed to automatically detect and label the presence status of every operator, whether the person is available, busy, unavailable, or offline. Active users can invite each other to a private one-to-one chat session or join a many-to-many chat, and communicate in real time without the delay associated with emailing.

Well-connected teams, enhanced work productivity. EIM’s ability to connect people either in disparate locations or in separate rooms with a fast and efficient communication, contributes importantly to alleviating business processes and ultimatively achieving business objectives. If a company was a cell of accumulated knowledge, EIM would have the power to utilize that knowledge effectively.

Lower costs. Last, but in no way least, you can decrease your telephone costs by transfering your international calls to online chats.

In addition to these benefits, ISL Pronto serves advanced functions as well.

Remote desktop support. Whenever a conversation exceeds the need for text chat, users can start a two-way desktop sharing either to show one’s desktop or to view and control the other one.

Audio and video communication. Text chat can easily be upgraded to a multimedia conversation with audio (VoIP) and video exchange between two users. If there are more than two people, they can always start a web meeting using ISL Groop.

File transfer. For easier cooperation, users can transfer files both ways as easily as drag and drop.

Localizations. ISL Pronto is translated into 27 languages.

Chat transcript. All chats are automatically stored, enabling anyone to review a transcript of any chat that takes place on the company site, online 24 hours a day.

Online support and sales. ISL Pronto live chat software creates an on-demand link with your website visitors. They will simply click the ‘Live Chat‘ button to instantly get in contact with your personnel, who can respond to their sales inquiries, and support requests.

So if you want to use enterprise instant messaging as an extra online communication channel for your clients, ISL Pronto is the perfect solution for your business, and the best part is that it’s completely free of charge. That is of course for all ISL Online users.