Kids love it, but in the hands of adult employees, popular instant messaging (IM) downloads can
And that's no idle threat. Abetted by financial institutions, IM will steal center stage from e-mail by 2005 as the
That's why 60,000-member First Community Credit Union (FCCU) uses an encrypted, proprietary pop-up
At about $20 per user upfront, IM allows 200 FCCU employees across eight branches to communicate by typing and
The installation has legitimized IM at FCCU, thus transforming it from the realm of virus- and hacker-prone kids'
IM security is no small matter. Subject to SEC Rule 17a-3 and NASD Rule 3010, the same regulations governing e-
In addition, presence detection allows other employees to see which users are online, occupied or even out to lunch.
"Our FSRs can be booking a loan with a member at the desk," Garza explained, "and can pop-up the loan officer at a
Phone communication just doesn't cut it - it's more disruptive, Garza added. "If staff has to interrupt a member to
And e-mail communication doesn't have real-time capability, he said, whereas "the pop-up appears immediately on
Garza said e/pop is expandable, which could allow FCCU to consolidate other applications, such as remote computer
Though the primary purpose of e/pop is to allow unobtrusive, real-time collaboration between employees, IM isn't
Employees also pop-up "What are you doing for lunch?" Garza said.