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Group Chat Evolving Into E-Mail 2.0: Page 8 of 8

  • Companies that haven't practiced good directory hygiene -- pruning terminated employees from their directories, for example -- or that don't have various organizational units reflected in their directory structure, will find it rough going to implement effective group chat and IM networks.
  • Fourth, group chat is best implemented on a departmental or project-team pilot, rolled out slowly, and used for a particular purpose. So picking the right pilot project and chat champion is often crucial for chat's ultimate success.
  • Finally, there are several different chat approaches that have been taken by the software community: hosted or dedicated servers, threaded discussions or open chat rooms, and support for multiple project teams, file sharing repositories, and news aggregators. IT departments need to understand these approaches before picking the right chat application. See the "Questions To Ask" sidebar to help choose the right path.
  • All told, chat continues to be on the rise, and companies such as Parlano, Jive, Jabber, and Reuters have seen growth spurts in their installed base during the past year, largely because once chat enters a company, it grows quickly and takes hold. Parlano's Fera said, "Our application is the first one that they turn on, and the last one that they turn off at night."