Savings on international calls is just one reason to use text messaging. Another advantage is tactical. You don’t always want to talk to colleagues and customers. Conversations can veer out of control and cover subjects you might not be ready to discuss or have time to deal with. Text messaging lets you direct the conversation by keeping essential communications short and to the point. It's really the mobile answer to e-mail.

It also gives you a record of what was stated and promised.

And last but not least, you can send short messages when you can’t talk — in a restaurant, theater or company meeting. And text messages get through even when dialing is difficult, say, if the voice circuits are too jammed to get through.

You may wonder if you can save money on the technology if you don't make expensive international calls since phone rates are less expensive in the U.S and international calls are less common. Moreover, there are Blackberry text pagers and Wi-Fi roaming Palms, which allow users to send messages online using a tiny keyboard. which is simpler to use than a mobile phone’s keypad.

But even if the financial incentive is not as strong,  most mobile phones now have text messaging capabilities and they cost considerably less than the other technology.

There's another feature that makes this technology even more interesting. Text-messaging services are interconnected with a variety of instant messaging services such as AOL and Yahoo. And just as an instant messenger is always running on many desktop computers, it is constantly on with text-enabled handsets, creating an avenue for a constant exchange of textual information.

Any way you slice it, introducing text messaging in the workplace as a business tool requires some planning since many consumers are just becoming aware of this technology. Before deciding, you need to compare service plans, make the right choices for handsets and check for compatibility with your current instant messaging service.