June 20, 2008

A piece of software that helped me solve a real-world problem is Pidgin, a multi-protocol instant messaging program. Download it free at www.pidgin.im

I don't use instant messengers to chat with my friends. I use it for work. I work in an office of about 50 people, and half of those people work in a call center. Sometimes I need to ask them a quick question, and I need a short answer with a little information right away. I can't call them, because they are on the phone already, and email often gets buried or overlooked. An instant message that pops up on their screen is the perfect solution. I usually have my answer in a matter of minutes or even seconds.

My company does not have a proprietary instant messaging system installed across our network. A large company like Caterpillar does, but that would just be too costly for my company.

There are of course a bunch of free instant messengers, such as the popular Yahoo Instant Messenger, AOL Instant Messager, Microsoft Instant Messenger, and Google Talk. There are many more. Most of my co-workers already use one or more of these, but it is a pain to install them all, just so that I can message all my coworkers through separate programs popping up all over my screen.

Pidgin solves my problem. It lets me log in to all my instant messenger accounts, and all my contacts appear in one window. Its a very easy to use program (I'd probably even say intuitive). It has lots of great features, such a searchable log that lets me go back and look up important information from past conversation.

A few more tips. For MAC users www.adiumx.com is the same thing. PCs and MACs have no trouble communicating.

Put your co-workers' phone extensions in their Alias (screen name). It's right there on my screen next to my phone and easier to look at than then a wall card that is constantly out of date. Just right click to update someone's extension.

Finally, you can group your contacts in whatever way makes the best sense. I group mine by department, i.e., Accounting, Operations, Customer Service Reps, IT, etc.

It's probably not a good idea to use your personal instant messaging accounts at work. You don't want your friends sending you personal messages during the day. Set up separate accounts. This is a little work on the front end, but you can just save the login usernames and passwords and not have to remember them.