IM spam may not be as big a problem as email spam right now, but it will be, and the right business IM client will help you get ahead of the spammers before it becomes a problem. IM spam will be able to carry viruses just like emails, but trying to block IM spam is hopeless because spammers can easily move to another script and start spamming again as soon as they’re caught and their site is destroyed. The key is for businesses to control their IM networks. This is why it is so important to find a business IM client who can give you the support you need.

Controllable Features

To start with, your business IM client should offer you the ability to control IM use by employees, like with the Features Control offered by Brosix.com. You could completely deny IM use to those who have no reason to use it, while some employees could be restricted to using internal IM only with others in the company. Other employees could be allowed to IM your clients. And a few people, like sales staff and tech support, would need unrestricted access.

Contact List Management

A business IM client should also offer you the ability to allow and block users. This way you can only allow employees to IM through a single, secure server like Brosix.com. Brosix lets a business choose a list of authorized users and keeps all others out, insuring that all file sharing and chatting remain within the company.

Activity Log

You may also want to keep tabs on your employees’ IM-ing activities. A top-notch business IM client will allow you to monitor in detail all IM activities, including file transfers as well as messages. If any employees are trying to sneak in some chatting unrelated to business, you’ll know about it. With Brosix.com, every voice call, chat, and file transfer is traceable so that you know exactly what your employees are up to in the IM network.

Avoid a spamming disaster via your company IM by choosing a secure business IM client such as Brosix.com who offers the right support. Just make sure that your client offers you controllable features, contact list management, and an activity log so that your IM spam blocking is effective enough to keep your employees focused and your company safe.

A corporate instant messenger can be a God send for support teams that find themselves burried with phone calls and voicemails. If employees know to use the corporate instant messenger to contact support, most companies will see a decline in voice mail and call que wait times. This is especially true when employees start getting faster support when they use the corporate instant messenger. 

Once your company is in this mode there are lots of ways to cut support times way down. For example: 

Ask for a screen shot
Have employees send a screen shot of the problem. Many errors can simply be fixed by clicking “OK” but employees are reasonably concerned. Brosix has a built in screen shot tool that makes providing this as easy as a click. The screen shots are already optimized, so you don’t have to worry about those 2MB bitmaps (BMP) files clogging up your servers. 

Keep a list of solutions
Many problems occur and re-occur. Why re-type everything? Keep a database or list of common solutions. When you get the question, just copy and paste the solution right into the chat window. Just remember to have them tell you if the solution did or did not work so you can log your efforts. 

Tell ‘em to wait!
Some problems are simply more urgent than others. If an email server is down and you get a wall of instant messages, don’t be afraid to tell people to wait. Just be professional and provide them with accurate, relevant information.

Use screen sharing
When all else fails, reach for Brosix’s screen sharing software. This will allow you to immediately see the problem and work through a solution. All the while you can coach and teach the employee. 

Conclusion
Getting employees to reach for the corporate instant messenger can be tricky, but well worth the efforts. In larger firms the support call que can quickly become clogged. These tips will help your support staff save some time and keep employees productive.

One of the many great features for Brosix is the amount of support you will receive if you use us for your enterprise messaging needs. We host your network which takes out the guess work of installation and maintenance, which is obviously a good thing. The other great part of using Brosix is that the service is relatively intuitive and takes little time to understand – BUT for companies with people who may not be as tech savvy we offer a lot of tutorials and information that the IT department can pass around.

I previously highlighted the video tutorials which are excellent and can be found at this link: Brosix Video Tutorials. The videos highlight quite a few of our features and how to use them which folks should find helpful when it comes to understanding the features that make Brosix unique.

For more textual oriented folks we offer a comprehensive “Frequently Asked Questions” page at this link: Brosix FAQ.

The other asset that we offer that I think IT departments might find helpful to print off and share are Adobe PDF’s that explain how to get started with Brosix. Those are found directly off of our support page which is located here: Brosix Support.

You will also find a link to our tech support department. The tech support folks are always ready and willing to help!

So, what happens when your IM Client breaks? Can this even happen? Absolutely this can happen! Firewall settings change, servers get upgraded, people forget to login – in short, stuff happens/changes. But then what?

Bad idea #1 – “I got the staff”

Maybe you have dedicated IT staff. What you may not know is that they probably do not have time to figure out what is wrong with somebody else’s software. Can they figure it out? Sure. Can they solve the problem quickly? Probably not.

Bad idea #2 – “I never change anything”

Maybe your system never changes. What you may not know is that it really does. Modern software has automatic updates built in. Just because you don’t manually change anything does not mean that the software doesn’t update itself. Those automatic updates (thanks to Microsoft) WILL change settings.

Support System

This is where your enterprise IM Client choice can be the difference between a quick fix or a grinding halt to office productivity. What kind of support comes with your enterprise IM Client? Can you get on the phone and get support fast or do you have to go through a long process?

Consider smaller IM Client firms

This is where smaller firms shine. They NEED your business and WANT you to be happy. Bigger IM Client firms are looking to cut costs and often the support staff are the first to go. Smaller firms MUST make service a top priority if they’re going to survive. The big firms have a thousand clients just like you.

Remember, feature-rich IM Clients are great. But a broken IM Client is worthless. The faster and more responsive the support, the less down-time you can expect WHEN something breaks. Look at smaller firms for better support as you may often be working directly with a developer or lead programmer who can get you back up and running fast.