The majority of UK companies have banned the use of public instant messaging (IM) on their computer networks, according to a new study.

However, 74 per cent of firms believe IM could provide valuable benefits to their organisations, the research from ProcessOne suggests.

It revealed 72 per cent of businesses have banned the use of IM software from their computer networks, such as that provided by Yahoo! and MSN.

Mickael Remond, chief executive officer of ProcessOne, commented that many organaisations are "torn" between the attraction of IM software for collaboration opportunities and the perceived security risk it presents.

He added: "Businesses need to ask themselves whether taking such a knee-jerk reaction as completely banning the use of IM is really the best option for the company."

Yesterday, it was reported the news editor of Web-User magazine Ben Camm-Jones said businesses should ensure they have a clear policy for employees use of the internet on company computer networks.

More than half of small businesses (53%) believe that the most important benefit of outsourcing is guaranteed response times for IT support, London based Connect conducted the research in 2007.