Social Collaboration

Engage with customers, partners, and employees to drive greater productivity, efficiency, and innovation  

The compelling returns from IBM Connections in support of social business. Five Stories. Read the white pager.

The compelling returns from IBM Connections in support of social business. Five Stories. Read the white pager.

Driving results with business networks

The people network

On a smarter planet, inter-connectivity goes beyond connecting computers and smart devices. The advance of Web 2.0 and social networking technologies has now shifted the focus to people networks: It's as much about and relationships as it is about the technologies.

People are using social networking in staggering numbers. The world currently spends 110 billion minutes on social networks and blog sites per month. This equates to 22 percent of all time spent online.1

Pioneering organisations see opportunity in this shift. They are integrating social collaboration capabilities into their strategies, operations, and processes. Whether it’s with customers, partners, or employees, these organisations use collaboration tools to improve efficiency, solve problems, create opportunities, boost productivity, and drive innovation that makes them more competitive and successful.

Real results

- Berlitz (US) Corporation is using portal, social networking software for business, and real-time collaboration solutions to break down traditional communication boundaries and to accelerate the development of higher quality products. 2

- Construction firm VCC (US) empowers project managers with a social collaboration solution from IBM that contributes to a 40 percent year-over-year increase in new business. 3

- Celestica is an electronics manufacturer finding efficiencies through a collaborative development solution. In one case, Celestica has identified a US $40 million savings opportunity. 4

Become a people business

According to IBM, 95 percent of what are termed standout organisations will focus more on getting closer to the customer5 over the next five years and 57 percent are more likely to allow their people to use social and collaborative tools6.

It’s not a coincidence. Leading organisations are using social collaboration to delight customers, to drive innovation, and to bring out the best in their business networks and employees.

IBM has the tools and expertise to help you maximise the value of social collaboration in business environments, including profiles, blogs, wikis, bookmarking, tagging, activities, communities, shared files, team spaces with content management tools, enterprise instant messaging, online meetings, audio and video chat, email and calendaring, delivered on premises or in the cloud.

Sources:

1. Nielsen News, "Social Networks/Blogs Now Account for One in Every Four and a Half Minutes Online." (US) June 15, 2010.

2. Berlitz taps intelligence of global workforce for best product quality (US), February 22, 2011

3. Leading construction company penetrates new markets (US), January 17, 2011

4. Capitalising on Complexity, Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study (US), IBM, May 2010

5. Working beyond Borders, Insights from the Global Chief Human Resource Officers Study (US), IBM, September 2010

Related capabilities

Social business application development

Design, develop, and deploy social collaboration applications with servers, mash-up toolkits, software development toolkits, and APIs.

Web experience

Provide people with web access to critical information and applications that are personalised to their needs.

Related solutions

Featured products

IBM Connections

Social software for business, letting you access everyone in your professional network

IBM Connections Content Edition

A bundle that includes IBM Connections with industry-leading IBM FileNet Content Manager

IBM Lotus Notes and Domino

Bringing together messaging, social collaboration, and business applications into a unified dashboard

IBM Sametime

Unified, real-time communication and collaboration services, including enterprise instant messaging, online meetings, telephony, and video conferencing

All products - Social Collaboration

Mobile collaboration

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Office productivity suites and web editors

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Real-time collaboration

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Social business applications

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Security solutions for collaboration

Security-rich, collaboration environment seamlessly integrating with your Lotus Notes and Domino and mixed messaging infrastructure

Actiance Vantage for IBM Connections

Granular security features, reporting logging, and archiving controls for content posted within IBM Connections environments

Actiance Vantage for IBM Sametime

Security and compliance features, management and control, and reporting for Sametime real-time social collaboration

Offers

How do your collaboration practices compare with organisations achieving best-in-class performance?

Take the collaboration assessment and receive a complimentary report (US)

Learn why IBM is a leader among enterprise social platform vendors according to the Forrester Wave: Enterprise Social Platforms report

Download the report

Read “The compelling returns from IBM Connections in support of social business: Five stories”

Download the white paper

Find out why Lotus Symphony 3 is a PC Magazine Editor’s Choice for office productivity suite

Download Lotus Symphony at no charge (US)

Related links

Stay connected with others in the social collaboration community through social media

Participating in social collaboration communities can help enhance your personal and professional development and establish your expertise.

Get connected with your colleagues and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere to stay up to date on the latest IBM news and information that’s important to you.

Communities

Contact IBM

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Offers

IBM Connected Customer Forum 2013. Marketing and technology are merding. Are you ready for the change? Register here.

Case studies

Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising

Roxanne Reynolds-Lair. CIO. FIDM, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.

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