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The presence service allows users to input and transmit availability information, with premium services offering additional features. It can facilitate various forms of communication and improve efficiency in business processes. However, privacy concerns exist, and changes may come in organizational policies rather than the technology itself.
Considered an important primary function, the presence service is a platform integrated into communication technologies that allows users to input availability information, store that data, and transmit it over a network. Premium presence services offer users a variety of features to convey availability, current activity, locations, and preferred contact methods. Most commonly identified on instant messaging platforms, the technology allows users to communicate when it’s convenient, already knowing their preferred method of communication and the availability of other parties. The service also extends to the corporate environment, where communications applications can leverage user presence to broadcast critical information about users on the corporate network, which has garnered both criticism and acclaim.
Effective presence services will incorporate a wide range of options and help accomplish a variety of communication-related tasks. Typically, such a service will support many types of devices and use a central system to manage individual and organizational policies, most often on a server. Although it is most recognized on instant messaging services, the presence service can also extend to voice calls or any other form of communication. Presence service can also facilitate conference calling, video conferencing, and unified messaging services.
Servers, however, aren’t always a requirement. Organizations can also implement the presence service as a direct communication link between users. This is useful for small networks that don’t have many users or in cases where users initiate direct connections, such as through a telephone line. In this case the presence service manifests itself in the form of a busy signal or a recording indicating that the other party is not available if he cannot reach the telephone.
The Presences Service can help business process centers and customer service departments run more efficiently. With these capabilities, organizations can eliminate the time wasted associated with activities known as “phone tagging” or “email tagging,” where parties exchange contact attempts without ever making direct contact. Reliable presence services will enable employees to quickly assess when other users are available and react accordingly. To illustrate, if a department manager needs to set up a quick meeting, she can check the network to find out which employees are available and how to reach them. Subsequently, the manager can request only those who are available to participate, without interrupting those who are busy.
While there are many benefits afforded to the presence service, there are some criticisms as well. Privacy is a major concern for users of networks using this technology. For example, if an employee has the day off and the organization’s policy mandates it, the system might provide her home phone number and indicate her status. Scenarios like this make it easier for other employees to initiate contact to discuss work activities, possibly interrupting private occasions.
The proliferation of networking and the reliance on real-time information and communications is why the presence service is considered by my many people to be a pillar, built into the foundation of many communication technologies. As of 2011, experts expected this trend to continue. The changes could come in response to societal concerns such as privacy, but it was felt that this could affect organizational policies rather than the technology itself.
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