Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

Instant messaging is becoming an increasingly big tool for computer users all over the world. One writer mentions that when a company implements a policy that blocks IM usage, "they feel left out of their circle of friends."

Another thing people are complaining about is that their IM conversations are being logged for the purpose of messages being scanned for malicious worms and other threats.

As a manager, this is something that just doesn't matter to me. The alternative is to just allow whatever is included in the messaging to infiltrate a companies system.

A company must manage their IM usage properly. To simply look the other way and let things continue as they are is out of the question. We will expose ourselves to security threats and increase the costs of the IT department.

Others say that if you implement solutions that block or monitor IM, then your employees will be less productive and the possibility of workers doing it behind your back will increase. It seems that at this time, that is a far less risk than doing nothing. Employees should be able to understand that what the risks are. Why should they be concerned about messages being monitored for the purpose of company protection? If they're doing company business, why should that matter?

I haven't been able to find anything out there yet that will protect IM without monitoring the messages. While that would be the ideal solution, it seems it will be a while before it is created.

What about you? Have you found any product that offers that capability?