There is no one-size-fits-all approach, because all businesses are not set up to run the same way.

Enterprise information access technologies are entering a new phase of deployment and use.

The markets for web conferencing and team-based collaboration, while still in an early phase of adoption, are converging and transitioning. Vendors are providing more integrated collaboration functionality spanning a variety of content, communication and collaboration technologies. Overall adoption will continue to increase as these technologies become more integrated with business processes.

There is no longer any excuse for not adopting corporate IM. But businesses should establish policies for connecting with external parties, to ensure public IM services are used for real business purposes.

Companies should look for solutions to support multiple regulations and multiple business units. Sustainable compliance, that is, a level of effort that is sufficient but not excessive, will only be achieved by consolidating compliance efforts through a programmatic rather than project oriented approach.

This announcement shows that IBM is very serious about IM interoperability, and is trying to strengthen its enterprise IM presence.