Our need for communication tools has been increasing at a phenomenal rate. Face to face is almost never possible. And how many times can you play phone tag, even when you have cell phones? It's just not fun. Today, people need a myriad of ways to communicate - and those communication tools that allow for multitasking are high on the list. They do not increase the work load, like tracking someone down on the phone may - in fact, they may even be a part of the solution for increased productivity.

Right now, IMs are being increasingly used in the corporate world - companies are larger and more geographically diverse than ever. And customers are no longer down the street - they can be anywhere. Small businesses too profit from the prevalence of communication tools - IMs and VoIP clients are becomming de facto business tools. Both internally and externally. When you are working on 10 things at once, it is distracting to walk over and talk to your coworker - but talking on an IM is seamless - no disruption on either end. I know not everyone would agree with this, but it is becoming the case.

As posted on Messaging Pipeline by Jeff Raikes of Microsoft, "80 to 100 percent of corporate e-mail users will have an enterprise-class IM client on their computers by 2009."

Fast, effective communication with employees, partners, customers and other critical contacts — wherever and whenever business requirements dictate — is becoming mandatory. While e-mail helps, it is not always the best choice to resolve an immediate question or for group collaboration. Most of us can recall times when we composed an urgent e-mail only to receive an "out of office" response, or when we wanted to attend a meeting but could not travel for it. The desire to increase productivity, ease collaboration, and reduce costs is forcing many organizations of all sizes to look at newer communication tools. The challenge is to introduce new tools without increasing the complexity of our interactions while also maintaining a secure communications environment.

While the article does continue as a sales push for the Microsoft cross-platform Live Communications Server, it does pique my interest in the push for secure but fully integrated communication tools. As Stowe has envisioned, there is a significant need for collaborative tools that give freedom of choice for communicating. An organized, all-in-one system that is user friendly and mobile. I think IM is one part of the picture, but I wouldn't count on it as being the solution to all productivity needs in the corporate world.