| Presensoft’s IM Policy Manager |
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What factors contribute to a
successful IM policy?
(How to implement a successful
IM policy?) |
There are three phases to a successful IM policy: |
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TIPS FOR IM POLICY DEVELOPMENT
Choose your optimal IM usage. The benefits of the proper use of IM to employee productivity
are significant. Time can be saved in phone calls and emails,
both of which take longer than an average IM session, and instant
answers can be obtained by employees who need to keep projects
on time and under budget.
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| The disadvantages of IM can include misuse
of IM for personal use on company time and leaking of company-
or client-sensitive data. As a company, you will need to weight
the risks and benefits and determine whether you will choose: |
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Total denial of public
IM usage |
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Selective restriction of public IM
usage |
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Enterprise-wide use of public IM |
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Your IM management solution should give you the power
to choose any of these options.
Look
to your email policy. A good basis for your IM policy
can come from you existing email policy. Email procedures and
operational guidelines typically cover: |
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recording and archiving
of messages |
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user verification |
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reliability of service |
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interoperability with diverse e-mail
systems |
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creation and maintenance of global
address lists |
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securing messages |
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You IM policy solution should address the same, or similar,
issues.
Be Prepared for Policy
Evolution. Remember that your base IM policy may change
over the years. The solution you choose to implement your IM
policy needs to be flexible and customizable, or it will lose value to the organization
over the long term.
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TIPS FOR IM POLICY DISTRIBUTION
Keep IT simple. One important
goal of technology is to limit the dependence on human resources.
You should not need a full-time IT team to keep the solution
up-to-date and well-managed. |
| You should look for a solution that provides
an elegant IT solution that minimizes the work hours spent on
all phases of distribution. Look for features such as: |
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Clearly state the benefits of your
policy. If you clearly state the benefits of IM during
distribution, you will gain wider acceptance of IM policies
within your organization. You policy should add value to the
end user with features such as IM
archiving. If employees perceive monitoring and management
of instant messaging as “big brother” technology,
with no value added to their personal performance, the technology
may be circumvented or underused.
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TIPS FOR IM POLICY ENFORCEMENT
Notify your employees of the change. Setting clear expectations and ground rules for IM policy is
the first step to enforcement. If your employees are confused
about the policy, or if the reasons for the program are not
explained clearly, your employees will be less likely to embrace
your company's IM solution.
Issue
warnings when violations occur. Users may mistakenly
violate policy or may willfully neglect it. Either way, one
of the best ways to enforce your IM policy is through automated warnings to the violator and the manager in charge. This keeps all violations
documented and ensures that your employees are clearly aware
of your expectations for IM use. Typically, 90+% of all bad
behavior within a corporation can be eliminated with established
rules and regulations that can clearly be monitored.
Keep records and follow up. Your
IM policy should keep clear, automatic records of any policy
violations. If multiple warnings have been issued and an employee
is deemed incapable of following the IM policy, your IM solution
should be flexible enough to allow you to turn off IM permission on an individual
basis. Remember, any policy will be ineffective if it cannot
be enforced.
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In under an hour, your IT group or a Presensoft staff can
have the software Presensoft up and running in your organization,
controlling a system of 10, 100 or 10,000+ users' IM sessions.
No network changes or any complicated IT changes necessary.
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| To get started with Presensoft now, |
Request
a Free Trial of Presensoft IM Policy Manager
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