Instant Messaging: Balancing Usefulness and Sound Business Controls

Via Ed Brill, there is a story published in Risk and Insurance, a trade journal for the insurance industry, entitled "Instant Upside, Instant Downside". This article gives good insight at a high level about business control and corporate governance issues associated with Instant Messaging. A couple of quotes worth highlighting:

"...instant messages, like e-mail, are a primary source of evidence–the electronic equivalent of DNA evidence–and many employers remain ill-prepared to manage e-mail and instant- messaging risks, according to ePolicy Institute's 2004 Workplace E-Mail and Instant Messaging Surveyof 840 U.S. companies, co-sponsored by the American Management Association."

"By its nature, instant messaging is creating a new wave of business, legal and regulatory challenges for employers, most who are still struggling with e-mail...Instant messaging brings a whole new expanded set of legal, regulatory and productivity issues and risks."

Both of these documents are well worth reading for high level overview. How does what is contained in these documents map to your organization?