There is no pushing instant messaging back into the bottle it sprung out from a few years ago. The best course of action for IT staffs is to formulate a plan--from stipulating what enterprise IM application will be supported to creating a user security policy document to stop the potential threats that can come through IM use. The time is now; IM adoption is exploding. Industry research group Radicati Group reports that IM is now in 85 percent of enterprises and messaging use will only grow. As of 2004, 11.4 billion messages were being sent daily and that number is expected to spike to more than 45.8 billion in 2008. Find out the seven steps you need to take to make sure IM is deployed appropriately.

For more on developing a good IM strategy:
- read this CSO online article