Business and IT Glossary  > Instant Messaging (IM)

Instant Messaging (IM)

Instant messaging (IM) has become an integral part of unified communications and collaboration (UCC). IM is online text chat that is now a popular way to communicate on mobile devices.

Presence and IM are at the center of the UCC platform, providing a single-click interface to multiple communication modes. The persistent group chat feature of most IM applications has emerged in vertical industries like financial services and defense, and the group chat feature allows enterprise users to set up channels or networks based on project or business-unit delineations.

As messaging becomes more vital in day-to-day work, team collaboration has become a de facto part of a broader collaboration and communications offering.