Start-up Pushes Instant Collaboration

Computerworld - Instant messaging isn't just for kids anymore. With the release of new tools from start-ups like Ikimbo Inc., IT can enhance instant messaging's collaborative capabilities with the ability to share everything from Microsoft Office documents to back-end Oracle Corp. databases.

Chamberlain Williams Tison & Associates is using Herndon, Va.-based Ikimbo's Omniprise software to share resumes and job descriptions along with instant messages.

"We have a number of clients using Ikimbo," says Price Williams, a partner at the McLean, Va.-based high-technology recruiting firm. Williams adds that by linking his external customer base to his recruiting staff via Omniprise, he gets a competitive edge from the immediate combination of real-time messaging and document sharing.

"In our work, five minutes can be the difference between placing a candidate or not," he says. "And the difference between getting the hire or not is $20,000."

Deloitte & Touche LLP is in the midst of deploying 300 to 400 internal seats with Omniprise for document sharing, says James Roof, corporate development adviser at the New York-based consultancy. More important to Ikimbo, Deloitte & Touche agreed to help the company sell 67,000 seats in the next year.

Secure Collaboration

What makes Omniprise stand out from its many competitors, says Roof, is its strong security, which includes Secure Sockets Layer at the server level and protection at the administrative, group and end-user levels. The software, which can run in either an on-site user-licensed version or an Ikimbo-hosted version, also works with back-office software such as Oracle databases and Siebel Systems Inc. customer relationship management applications.

"It has a place in almost any company," claims Brian Stygar, chief technology officer at Ventera Corp., an IT consultancy also in McLean.

Omniprise is a "particularly valuable tool for professional services staff like ours," says Stygar. Using the software, he explains, they "can share information with their customers quickly and efficiently."

Ikimbo only began shipping Omniprise Version 1.0 in February, but it has found some enthusiastic supporters, especially in the venture-capital community, which this spring poured more than $10 million into the company during what can be charitably called lean times for start-ups.

Ikimbo CEO Edwin Miller says that's because the business case for secure, auditable, instant messaging for corporations is compelling.

"It fits in everything from professional services to supply chain operations," he says.

What makes Ikimbo special, claims Miller, is that its software can detect what device a user has at hand, whether it's a PC, a Research In Motion Ltd. BlackBerry pager or a PalmPilot, and format the message or even an attached document to fit the screen.