Update: PeopleSoft adds AIM support

PeopleSoft is adding support for AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) Tuesday, a few months after integrating with instant messaging products from Lotus, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

“It’s hooked in as part of our AppConnect product line,” said Chris Heller, director of tools strategy at PeopleSoft in Pleasanton, Calif.

AIM, as well as the other instant messaging products, works with the Resource Finder within PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal, which will be able to reap AIM features such as presence detection, Heller said.

PeopleSoft applications will work with both the consumer and corporate versions of AIM.

“For the applications suite vendors, having different means of collaboration is becoming more important. They need to have those channels available,” said Brian Wood, a research director with Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner. 

Instant messaging, for instance, will likely be used with CRM call center apps, Heller said, adding that the technology can provide access to real-time information. 

“Any business processes that are time-critical will benefit from instant messaging,” Wood said.

PeopleSoft integrated AIM at the application architecture level to make it simpler to work with a company’s business process flow, Heller said.

“The leading edge companies that use IM are looking at ways to make it more effective, and hooking into back-end systems is one way to do that,” said Michael Osterman, president of Osterman Research in Blank Diamond, Wash.

The AIM integration shipped about two weeks ago, and last Friday PeopleSoft made available an upgrade kit so existing users can add the capabilities to the applications they already have, Heller explained.