The Difference Between Consumer-Grade and Corporate Instant Messaging Solutions

Consumer-grade and corporate instant messaging solutions are one in the same, right? Wrong. While both consumer applications and corporate messaging applications aim to connect users to so they can share timely information, corporate instant messaging technology uses improved features to make it a reliable, enterprise-friendly solution.

Consumer-Grade Messaging v. Corporate Instant Messaging Solutions

According to a 2014 Enterprise Internal Messaging Trends study conducted by Infinite Convergence, 70 percent of IT decision makers at large companies expressed concerns about their employees using consumer-grade and third-party messaging for internal communication and file sharing.

A side-by-side comparison of consumer-grade applications versus corporate instant messaging solutions reveals why you need to choose the latter when considering instant messaging for your enterprise.

• Security: A 2016 study by the Ponemon Institute estimates that data breaches can cost organizations more than $6 million. Allowing employees to share private company information via consumer-grade messaging apps exposes your organization to unnecessary data risks. Instant messaging solutions designed for corporate use deploy, at minimum, a 256-bit encryption key. They also use elliptical key exchange, which scrambles messages in transmission until they land in the receiver’s inbox.
• Control: If you allow employees to use regular messaging apps for internal communications, you have no access to account controls. But that’s not the case with corporate instant messaging software. Most enterprise instant messaging solutions give account managers and IT administrators complete account control. Need to call up employee message history? Check. Is there sensitive information you need to wipe from the server? Done. Corporate instant messaging solutions give you a level of control you can’t get with consumer-grade applications.
• Storage: Until you get a notification on your mobile device that storage is almost full, it’s unlikely that you will delete old messages. But this can be a problem if employees are using consumer-grade messaging applications for company communications. Old messages will remain on a device until employees erase them, which puts information at risk for unauthorized, third-party viewing. Corporate instant messaging solutions use cloud-based storage to house messages, deleting them after a pre-determined period of time (it’s industry best practices to automatically delete messages after 90 days).

Corporate Instant Messaging Solutions From NetSfere

NetSfere’s corporate instant messaging solutions are feature-rich, scalable platforms that build on the user-friendly features of consumer-grade messaging solutions. Designed to accommodate the needs of fast-paced enterprise organizations, Netfere’s messaging solutions can help your organizations achieve measurable improvements in productivity and communications.

Industries that can benefit from corporate instant messaging solutions include:

• Finance & Banking
• Healthcare
• Legal & Advisory
• Insurance & Risk Management
• Travel & Hospitality
• Supply Chain & Retail

Ready to learn more? Contact us today.