2003, Web conferencing became a mainstream conferencing solution. In a Wainhouse Research survey, over 80% of readers use web conferencing and 13% plan to use it.
Instant Messaging (IM) became a mainstream enterprise communications tool. Enterprise versions of IM are being launched by key vendors.
Industry experts estimate that over 200 million people now use IM, and pundits expect that number to reach 500 million by 2006. It's catching on in the corporate environment as technology planners recognize the potential for enabling faster communication and creating more opportunities for ad hoc discussions between employees and external partners. The application becomes even more powerful when combined with features like document sharing, whiteboarding, and graphics.
Early stages of convergence for audio, video and web collaboration along with scheduling capabilities highly integrated with Microsoft Office.
Videoconferencing (and other media conferencing) services are expected to grow rapidly with the continued focus on fully managed, service oriented solutions to the corporate environment to reduce travel and create more productive collaborative environments.
