* Use of instant messaging cuts down use of more expensive technology
Instant messaging is a useful technology because it can detect user presence, communicate in apparent real time and rapidly connect remote users. But instant messaging can also be justified in enterprise companies because it has the ability to displace, or at least partially replace, other communication technologies that have higher operating costs.
We have just concluded an in-depth study of instant messaging that, among other things, sheds some light on the technology’s ability to reduce the total cost of communications.
The study examined the impact of instant messaging use on e-mail, travel, telephone use and fax use. It found that in 81% of organizations, use of the telephone for the typical user was reduced by an average of 14% directly as a result of instant messaging use. The study also found that in 43% of organizations, fax use for the typical user was reduced by an average of 11%.
Interestingly, we also found that in 6% of organizations telephone use increased as a direct result of instant messaging use, and that fax use increased in 1% of organizations because of instant messaging.
In 13% and 56% of organizations, respectively, instant messaging had no impact on telephone or fax use for the typical user.
What this means is that instant messaging, with a very low variable cost component, has the potential for displacing a significant percentage of telephone and fax use within the enterprise, technologies that have a relatively high variable cost component associated with their use. While it’s unlikely that either technology will be totally displaced by instant messaging during the next several years, instant messaging may be able to significantly reduce the cost of these technologies in the enterprise, particularly where instant messaging can reduce travel and e-mail use in addition to telephone and fax use.
