Dear Bob ... Your advice on the importance of creating a good IM strategy is sound. As a private company of about 50 people, we probably face very different issues to those faced by large multi-national corporations. Any suggestions or pointers on what an IM strategy should entail? - Got the message instantly Dear Got it ... I'm far from an expert on the details. Symantec has a pretty good paper on the sub Dear Bob …Your advice on the importance of creating a good IM strategy is sound. As a private company of about 50 people, we probably face very different issues to those faced by large multi-national corporations. Any suggestions or pointers on what an IM strategy should entail?– Got the message instantly Dear Got it …I’m far from an expert on the details. Symantec has a pretty good paper on the subject: https://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/reference/secure.instant.messaging.pdf.My personal opinion: The single most important issue is making sure desktop-level antivirus is installed. IM includes file transfer. You can disable it, but why bother – employees can get files as attachments to e-mail anyway; IM file transfers are probably more efficient. The second issue is the extent to which external parties can participate. This is thorny. If you’re wide open it creates security holes beyond employees chatting with the wrong people, since IM clients, like any other software, aren’t perfectly hardened. If, on the other hand, you restrict IM to intracompany communication you’re missing an opportunity to improve collaboration with business partners.My semi-literate suggestion is to make sure you have an appropriate approach to extranets, and to restrict IM use to internal use and use with business partners through extranet connections.Another difficult question is whether to disable the logging feature. Logging is handy in that employees can review the information later; it’s also a bit dangerous because it creates another opening for discovery processes should someone take legal action against your business. A last item … and it’s critical: Employee education. Not on how to use the software – it’s ridiculously easy to use. But on how to hit the off switch. Just as it’s important for employees to know how to forward their telephones to voice mail so they can focus on getting actual work done, it’s important to remind them that having the channel and having it open all the time are two different questions.This isn’t a comprehensive list, of course, but it should at least provide a start.– Bob ——– Technology Industry