IBM has announced new cloud services and a new generation of its Connections social software, pushing further into the cloud and social networking.
The IT giant announced the social business focus at its Lotusphere 2012 event yesterday in the US, with a beta release of its newest version of IBM Connections.
Organisations operating in social media spheres will be able to apply analytics and real-time data monitoring to their initiatives, monitoring how customers, employees and market trends are moving at any point.
“A successful social business can break down barriers to collaboration and put social networking in the context of everyday work, from the device or delivery vehicle of your choice, to improve productivity and speed decision-making,” said IBM’s General Manager, Alistair Rennie.
IBM’s Connections software, known as Lotus Connections in Australia, allows businesses to work with clients and co-organisations in real-time through the software platform, throwing in communications like email alongside productivity resources.
The new social analytics software compiles wikis, blogs, activity streams, email and calendar entries among other bits of cloud-stored information and flags any relevant data.
The company’s LotusLive services are merging under the SmartCloud brand which has been updated to allow simple, ‘business-grade’ file sharing, social networking, co-editing of documents in real-time and analytics.
As part of IBM SmartCloud for Social Business, IBM has previewed a beta of its cloud-based office utility suite, IBM Docs.
IBM Docs, slated for release in 2012, will allow organisations to collaborate on documents in real-time both inside and outside of the workplace firewall.
The company is also working on mobile formats with support for mail, calendaring and contacts in Lotus Notes Traveler for Microsoft Windows Phones in a beta scheduled for the first half of 2012.
