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Thursday, November 01, 2007

KEEPING UP WITH TECHNOLOGY Read Fast: This Article Expires in 5 Minutes

Technology is moving so fast it’s difficult, if not impossible, to keep up – change is the only constant. Communications technology is one such area and its advancement is having a profound impact (good and bad) on all businesses including cinemas. Several communication technologies, including IM and Texting, along w/portable storage devices (such as flash sticks) clearly represent this good vs. evil clash.

THE IM DILEMMA

IM (instant messaging) has become ubiquitous in every day work and play environments. Used to communicate with other employees, vendors, and certainly friends & family IM should be viewed as a good and valuable technology but one that is also a potential security risk. As many cinema owners/operators have discovered, IM is very hard to control in the workplace as its convenience and speed make controlling it nearly impossible. Compounding the problem is the fact that telecommunications companies knowing that many businesses are trying to control and/or block IM, frequently (and randomly) change the requisite messaging protocol, as they constantly endeavor to keep user traffic high – effectively increasing monthly billings.

On the other hand, IM has its benefits. For one, it does improve employee productivity. People can work at a faster pace as IM takes less time than emailing while using up much less band width. Additionally, as compared to voice communication, IM saves vast amounts of time in eliminating both unnecessary conversation and phone tagging.

To alleviate control problems while maintaining IM’s benefits, businesses that allow IM should implement control software as, if unmanaged, IM can put any company at risk for potential internal security breaches and/or theft of intellectual property, not to mention, law suits. To illustrate, in the U.S., Britain, and most other developed countries, IM is governed by the same civil laws as emails so, for example, if an employee were to IM a sexually explicit or aggressive message to another employee the company could be held liable for harassment just as if those sentiments were expressed by email or verbally. So the potential for legal ramifications is a very real one. Affordable enterprise-class IM software products to address these control issues is available and inexpensive. For instance, both Lotus and Microsoft offer very refined products to meet this need and every cinema with more than two locations should be using it.

TEXTING: THE GENIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE

That’s all well and good for IM but there is currently no way to control Texting between cell phones. Cinemas face a dual problem with Texting: internally (employees) and externally (customers). Unlike IM, Texting has not been addressed by any type of regulation and there are no legal mandates surrounding it. For example, if a company provides a mobile phone to an employee and pays the bill there is the risk that if that phone is used in any illicit way the company may be held liable. Additionally, cell phone(s) and PDA(s) present other (perhaps more relevant) security issues. “Cell slurping” – the term used to describe the action of plugging a cell or PDA into a computer and downloading files (not unlike the use of flash stick or memory card) - presents very specific security risks regarding both viruses and corporate data theft.

ACTION STEPS TO HELP

There is no doubt that IM is fast becoming a critical and useful form of communication within companies – large and small. The key is in having employees use the technology (they probably will anyway) with its obvious advantages over voice or email by implementing good usage policy and practices. Here are several that every cinema should adopt:

* Take the existing email usage policy (if you don’t have one you should) and extend it to include IM and Texting.

* Make it clearly understood to all employees that company supplied technology tools, particularly communication devices, can only be used for business communications.

* Employees should be informed that their IM sessions may be archived on the company network.

* Take an informal survey within the company to see if a lot of IM is occurring, if so, determine the company’s needs for this practice to continue. If there is a corporate benefit then enhance company policy and standards and purchase the required enterprise software to control it.

Trying to keep up with technological advancements is virtually impossible. Additionally, technologies used by individuals and organizations are blending at a faster and faster pace, giving rise to unforeseen benefits, as well as, drawbacks. Take a look at your cinema operations and determine what technologies are being used (those formally sanctioned and those being used informally) weigh the benefits and drawbacks of each and decide what is best suited for the cinema and its employees, and which is not.

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