IBM Connections gets an upgrade 

IBM has just introduced the latest version of the IBM Connections platform, featuring an open and fully integrated suite of social and real-time collaboration, analytics and content management tools, all securely delivered on any screen or device.

The target with the new IBM Connections 5 is to help organisations drive deeper collaboration and engagement with customers, employees, partners and other third-parties. This requirement is seen by the company as quickly rising to the top of many board room agendas. A recent IBM survey of 4,200 C-suite leaders found that 90 percent of respondents expect to increase collaboration through both social and digital channels.  

The challenge for many is sharing the right information from the right experts to address quickly emerging business or client opportunities, and to do so in a secure way.

Version 5 is now available on the IBM Cloud marketplace, making it faster and easier for clients to deploy an end-to-end collaboration platform.  It is designed to help organisations personalise and share relevant content between internal and external users via simple file sharing and integrated social collaboration tools.  

The platform can be quickly deployed on premises, through the cloud or in a hybrid environment, allowing diverse global project teams to connect and collaborate in real-time on urgent activities.  Enterprise file sync and document sharing features help ensure that all team members and experts have access to the most current and up-to-date files regardless of how, when and where they are accessed.  

With these new hybrid capabilities, companies can embed collaboration, analytics and content capabilities within existing business processes accessible on almost any device or business application — mobile, Web and desktop — making it easier than ever to engage anytime, anywhere.  

“There are few things as potentially detrimental to a company as disconnected employees. When a workforce is out of synch or out of touch, the whole organisation suffers from lost productivity, efficiency and innovation,” said  Jeff Schick, Vice President of Social Software, IBM.  “With the open nature of today's business environment, organisations are looking to build new systems of people-centric engagement.  The ability to bring key internal and external stakeholders into the conversation can facilitate a more collaborative, responsive and authentic way to work and deepen engagement."  

In January, IBM announced its intent to bring together its cloud and on premises mail, social collaboration, chat, meetings, office productivity and content capabilities – including new high-definition video streaming planned for the latter part of 2014 – under the single IBM Connections brand.  The combination of these capabilities, as well as its open architecture and APIs, has enabled leading independent software vendors (ISVs) to develop hundreds of new social apps built on the IBM Connections platform.  

Seventy-five percent of Fortune 100 companies today are said to use IBM’s enterprise social software to transform how they connect, collaborate and get work done.  In April, IBM was named the worldwide market share leader in enterprise social software for the fifth consecutive year by IDC.