Monday, June 16, 2008

IM good for productivity, bad for IT

Is instant messaging an IT irritation, a distraction or an excellent productivity tool? It depends on who you ask. For IT departments, IM is often seen–and rightly so–as a huge security hassle. Users may want it, but it means extra work for the techies who have to clean up the messes it can leave behind. In short, their ideal answer to employees who wish to use it would often be “No.”

They’d get little argument from most managers, who see IM as a distraction–something their employees do when they should be doing their work. But a new study discounts at least the latter view, finding that IM actually improves workers’ productivity.

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