erized shipping company based in Oakland, California, put the hammer down on instant messaging when employees began installing consumer-grade client software on their desktop. "We started to see that it was eating up bandwidth; we started seeing file trans- fers via instant messaging," says Van Nguyen, APL's IT security director. After determining that instant messaging was more of a convenience tool than an essential business application, Nguyen and senior managers pulled the plug. "We have implemented a corporate-wide security policy to disallow instant messaging clients-period," he says. Although banning client software is an easy way of dealing with instant messaging's problems, this move may also be shortsighted. Many enterprises that have adopted instant messaging are beginning to appreciate the technol- ogy's potential to actually boost productivity. Adopting a formal instant mes- saging strategy also lowers the likelihood that employees will sneak in less secure consumer-grade products. When the employees at Avnet Computer Marketing want to send an impor- tant message to colleagues or customers, they don't necessarily reach for a phone or e-mail. More often than not, the information is typed into an instant messaging application. "You can just bounce a couple of lines across to some- body and get an answer," says Dave Stuttard, vice president of application solutions for the Tempe, Arizona-based computer products distributor. At Avnet Computer Marketing, about 500 employees use instant messag- ing for a variety of tasks. In one pilot project, for example, customers can use instant messaging to contact technical people at the company. The software also reduces the need to place costly international phone calls. It's too early to tell just how much money instant messaging is saving, Stuttard says, but he's sure that the technology is having a positive effect on the bottom line. Stuttard says that, when all is said and done, the company hopes to reduce its number of voice mails and e-mails, while providing f