Instant messaging: X-Isle Sports

Isle of Wight-based water sports specialist X-Isle sports uses Skype and its instant messaging chat facility to communicate with staff, suppliers and its kite surfing operation in Mombasa, Kenya.

‘We started in 2002 with just two people and have now grown to 14, with a lot of our business – about 80 per cent – coming through the internet,’ says director Rob Pigot. ‘So technology is very important to us.’

As important as its public-facing web presence is, the company also needs to have fast and efficient internal communications. ‘We have a lot of safety and regulatory guidelines, such as our daily risk assessment and weather information that we are constantly updating. All of our logs, reports and student records are also held electronically,’ says Pigot.

Cheap IP-based calls are part of that electronic process, with IM a key communications tool, especially for staff in Kenya.

Pigot also finds the history, or archiving, function a useful record of his many meetings.

‘I’d say people would be mad not to use IM, as it is so much what today’s 25- to 35-year-old expects,’ he says.