Study shows growing adoption of instant messaging in businesses
A new study revealed an “explosive growth” in the use of instant messaging in businesses. Comparing the use of instant messaging (IM) in companies to consumer use, the Radicati Group found that business use of IM is growing at a much faster pace.
Key statistics from the study showed that, for that year, the number of global instant messaging accounts totaled more than 3.2 billion and was expected to grow at an annual average rate of 4 percent over the next four years. By the end of 2019, instant messaging accounts could reach over 3.8 billion.
This is much higher — almost double — the predicted instant messaging growth in 2013, which was 1.7 billion. These figures do not include mobile messaging or mobile chat, which are also popular among younger users and consumers using technologies such as social networking applications.
The study revealed that, in the workplace, traditional IM is being used in much the same way that employees and business users use email for communication.
“IM use in the workplace can be tightly monitored and controlled by IT, and users are expected to use it much in the same way they use email,” the study stated.
Instant messaging in the modern workplace allows co-workers to chat and communicate quickly, privately, and in real time. It is used to communicate with clients and colleagues, and compared to phone calls it is said to be less intrusive. Instant messaging is one of the best new tools available for businesses.
In the consumer space, mobile messaging is the application of choice for reaching family and friends. However, the study also forecast strong adoption of mobile messaging by business users due to its simplicity and efficiency.
The study compiled and analyzed key data and statistics on business and consumer use of instant messaging and mobile messaging, including:
- Instant Messaging — worldwide users and accounts, breakouts by enterprise and public IM accounts, IM traffic growth forecast, average number of IMs sent/received per user per day, and average time spent on IM per day.
- Public IM — business vs. consumer users and accounts, breakouts by region and business size, and four-year forecasts.
- Enterprise IM — users and accounts, breakouts by region and business size, and four-year forecasts.
- Mobile Messaging — users and accounts, four-year forecasts, and breakouts by region.
- Mobile Text Messaging — business and consumer messages sent/received per user per day.
Instant messaging vs. social networks
Instant messaging grows each year. In an ever more connected world, millions of people are seeing the advantage of instant messaging. As of mid-2014, it was forecast that globally 50 billion instant messages would be sent each day. By the end of 2014, more than 18 trillion instant messages had been sent through various platforms.
If we look at the data of active users by social platform, it shows that social networks are indeed competing with traditional instant messengers and chat applications.
As of January 2015, Facebook announced that its monthly active user accounts had reached 1.36 billion, while Facebook Messenger registered 600 million monthly active users — the same as WhatsApp (600 million) and WeChat (468 million).
Author: Kelsey Jones