We previously wrote on how businesses are adopting instant messaging to complement or even sometimes replace their existing email services as preferred communication means by companies. Yes, it’s great—you get instant feedback from your corresponded; it’s as if you’re talking on the phone rather than writing and sending letters back and forth.
Instant messaging is great, and is beneficial for those who want quick communications. But of course, there are also disadvantages to using IM for business needs and for inter-office communications.
Privacy – Unless you set your IM client to say you’re invisible or busy, most IM clients would display you as online, and might be a hindrance to your productivity if someone keeps on calling and calling
Logging – Not all IM clients have built-in logging features. So if your client’s one of them (usually the older ones), you won’t be able to keep conversations for the record, unless you manually copy and paste, or hit the “Save as” button.
Productivity – IM may prove to be a nuisance to workers who are trying to concentrate. Of course it’s difficult to concentrate if some IM window keeps popping up every now and then containing messages from people you’d rather not talk to right now.