I'm a customer ... I use Jabber and Webex all day long, like I work for Cisco. Oh, wait I do. Wondering why this is so difficult - is it a policy thing over a functional thing? Since Jabber doesn't preserve sessions, maybe this is related? Instead of a business case, how about three useful use cases:
Use Case #1 - Written Voice Mail (that's not buried under 500 emails from today)
Would like to leave Jabber running with an offline message so I can still receive messages even though I'm technically not present, instead of email. Jabber is privileged channel, so someone sending you a message typically knows you, usually within my company -- maybe I want to leave a semi-urgent "DO this first thing" message. Or ... "Urgent question from customer - please see email...." This is a bit more like VM. For me, I just need it when the computer is on - I don't need it to persist while I'm in transit etc. 21st century work schedule.
Use Case #2 - Faking Offline sort of like "Do Not Disturb" with a White Lie
Or maybe I'm working and can't be disturbed, but I need to be able to send messages (this is actually my typical use case). I want to look gone, I want Jabber to say I'm gone, but I want to be able to send messages. Every day I could use this.
Use Case #3 - Temporary Preserve Chat (since there is no history)
My other one - the reason I leave Jabber on without shut down when I fly, etc. Jabber doesn't save history for legal reasons. At least by leaving it on in "offline" state I can maintain a record until I have time to write down a note from a chat.
