IBM recently published a case study, showcasing how IBM is using instant messaging (IM) across the company as well as with BPs and customers, to improve communication and employee productivity. Internal usage analysis points out that IM surpassed e-mail as the preferred communication method within IBM. Amazing !
Adam Gartenberg wrote about IBM’s own experience with Lotus Sametime, specifically the MONEY point – we saved over $100M in travel and phone expenses because we use instant messaging to communicate. With other IBMers, with business partners, even with customers (Sametime Gateway).
A local Israeli website also picked up the translated version of the story (Hebrew).
The full case study (PDF) is available here: IBM CIO Office case study – use of Lotus Sametime.
I ask about instant messaging (IM) in every customer visit. In my next post I’ll comment about some of Lotus customers in Israel who are using Notes/Domino and Sametime – and can’t imagine a life without it.
IM is an old technology – ICQ were the first, then came MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, Skype, Facebook Chat and others. All excellent services, but all public. Not secured, not behind the firewall, not enterprise ready. Lotus Sametime is 10 years old. It was born in 1996 by a small company in Israel called Ubique, and announced officially in 2000. With more than 100 million corporate users, Lotus Sametime is the leading corporate IM solution in the world. And instant messaging is a business tool, not something my kid plays with.
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