Content FeedYes, that's right - IBM Press is publishing a book on Lotus Connections:
IBM Lotus Connections: Planning and Implementing Social Software for Your Enterprise (Paperback)Written by Suzanne Minassian and David Brooks amongst others, this is sure to be worth acquiring. I'm not sure when it will be available via Amazon etc, but I'll post when I hear more.
by Stephen Hardison (Author), David Brooks (Author), David Byrd (Author), Gary Wood (Author), Saurabh Calla (Author), Tim Speed (Author), Michael Martin (Author), Suzanne O. Minassian (Author)
Product Description
Straight from IBM: the practical, complete guide to leveraging the power of social networks with Lotus Connections - The first book to cover the next breakthrough product from IBM Lotus: a product with a built-in audience of 150,000,000 Lotus Notes users worldwide - Practical techniques for building dynamic networks of coworkers, partners and customers that promote innovation and business agility - Authoritative guidance for business and technical planning, deployment, integration, and much more. Social networking is the newest frontier in business collaboration, and IBM's Lotus Connections gives businesses the tools they need to make the most of it - easily, securely, and cost-effectively.
In this book, a team of IBM Lotus Connections experts thoroughly introduces the product, and covers every facet of planning, deploying, and using it successfully. The authors cover both business and technical issues, and present IBM's proven, best-practices methodology for successful implementation. The authors begin by helping managers and technical professionals identify opportunities to use social networking for competitive advantage -- and by explaining how Lotus Connections places full-fledged social networking tools at their fingertips. IBM Lotus Connections carefully describes each component of the product - including profiles, activities, blogs, communities, easy "dogear" bookmarking, personal home pages, and more. The book contains practical coverage of administering Lotus Connections, as well as detailed guidance of integrating and extending Lotus Connections - including a full chapter on plug-ins and widgets, and another on Lotus Connections' REST-based API, which provides full, secure access to Lotus Connections features and data.
About the Author
Stephen Hardison, an IBM Certified I/T Specialist with IBM Software Services for Lotus, designs, implements, operates, and assesses large collaborative Lotus Connections solutions. David Brooks is a key contributor to the IBM Lotus Connections Technical Leadership team. David Byrd, an IBM Senior Certified Executive IT Architect with IBM Software Services for Lotus. Gary Wood, Field Support Engineer with Lotus Field Support Services (FSS), has been responsible for troubleshooting some of the world's largest Notes/Domino environments. Saurabh Calla, Advisory IT Specialist with IBM Software Services, builds applications for Lotus Connections. Tim Speed is an IBM Certified Systems Architect with IBM Software Services for Lotus (ISSL) and is responsible for designing, implementing, and supporting various client engagements. Michael Martin is a certified Senior Managing Consultant in the Messaging & Collaboration Practice for IBM's Software Services for Lotus (ISSL) group focusing on organizational development, change management and social software adoption. Suzanne O Minassian has held a variety of roles within software development, including development, design, user research, and is currently the product manager for Lotus Connections.
Link: IBM Lotus Connections: Planning and Implementing Social Software for Your Enterprise
By: Stuart McIntyre - Connections | 1 Comments | On: 22 June 2009 12:45:00 PM | Tags: connections lotus amazon
As Lotus Connections 2.5 approaches release (it's scheduled for 3Q09), it's fantastic to see IBM making it available to more users to try... Today, the publicly-accessible Lotus Greenhouse community has been upgraded to 2.5:
Head over to the Lotus Greenhouse to try out status updates, 'wall' posts, customisable communities and much much more!
By: Stuart McIntyre - Connections | 0 Comments | On: 15 June 2009 10:49:27 PM | Tags: connections lotus greenhouse
As per Stuart's earlier post I duly tuned in to this webinar the other day and it was indeed an interesting session.
It had the feeling of a very well crafted event, clearly a lot of effort had been involved putting it together as it was generally very slick and flowed well. It is well worth a listen whilst the session replay is still available.
The analyst Oliver Young, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research provided some interesting insights into approaching introducing Social Software in a holistic way, using integrated tools, clearly an important card for Lotus Connections when people are considering which tools to select. He touched on the ever important topic of RoI and which tools they believe will ultimately have benefits in the enterprise and presented an interesting graph on adoption and benefits, see below.
He also mentioned how important these tools are within IBM, neatly handing over to Gina Poole, VP, Social Software Programs, IBM Software Group who talked about many things including how IBM's internal project BlueIQ has enhancing collective intelligence of IBM employees. Great as this was (it always makes a nice change to hear how a vendor is sipping their own champagne) but one of the most interesting aspects of this webcast was that they were able to draw on some case studies from outside IBM.
These were well supplied by Markus Bentele, CIO, Rheinmetall AG who spoke extremely eloquently (especially as I suspect that English is not his native language) about how many people nowadays are very dependent and very good at getting work done by tapping up their personal networks, and Guy Alvarez, Research Director, Practising Law Institute who had some interesting insights into how a not-for profit organisation in the Legal learning field delivered benefits and the importance of having a plan and a good business partner. I particularly liked this graphic used by Markus, illustrating how Social Software can break down barriers.
There were also some really good questions and equally good answers in the Q & A Section, such as "How do you create a great community & keep it vibrant & thriving?", "What is the value of Social Software as it relates to emerging developments in the Cloud?" and "Most of the discussion has been about making tools available but what about using in context?".
Jeff Schick wrapped up this section with his own really interesting question for Oliver,
"What's the biggest impact on YOUR day to day workload from these tools?", he responded that they were "unavoidable!" and that it was "critical way to reach out and put our opinions out there", that "Social Media for Marketing primarily" just now, that "Micro Blogging is used more internally" at this moment but overall these tools are "pervasive to the way they [people] do work".
Jeff concluded the session commenting that "The world is more connected", becoming a "Smarter planet, where collaboration is the key to working smarter, building relationships enabling collaboration from anywhere", "connecting People with People & People with information to drive business results".
Oliver came out with some closing comments, talking about the need for "bundling of collaboration & communications tools together", how to "focus on cultural aspects rather than just the tools" to "improve NOT transform business" by avoiding the "danger of overselling [when] getting executives on board", "set expectations, connect people with the critical content, think Holistically in the long run, watch how things develop, start with a REAL problem, focus on smaller group". Final comments were "measurement is not easy but can baseline & review, find anecdotal evidence for justifying the investment".
My final parting comment was that I don't recall anything more than passing mentions of actual product, with heavy reference to "Social Software", this was a really good business benefits focussed session, I'd recommend a listen for yourself if you are interested whilst it is still available. The slides can be found at slideshare.net - enjoy!
By: Connections Blog (Neil Burston) | 0 Comments | On: 9 June 2009 11:30:02 PM | Tags: connections social webcast
Following on from the launch of 'My DeveloperWorks':
IBM Preps Social Network to Boost Partners' Business
IBM will launch this month a social-networking site for its 100,000 partners worldwide to let them exchange ideas, showcase their expertise and market focus, share best practices and collaborate on deals.
The site, called PartnerWorld Communities, will let partners create home pages and profiles, publish blogs, participate in discussion forums, collaborate with wikis, share Web-site links and subscribe to syndicated feeds.
"We thought it would be appropriate at this time to provide a social-networking capability for our partners, to help them be more effective and productive," said Rich Hume, general manager of IBM's Global Business Partners program, in an interview.
IBM decided to create PartnerWorld Communities, which is based on IBM's Lotus Connections product, after a survey of partners revealed a high interest in such a site, the company said Tuesday.
The site will be a complement to IBM's global PartnerWorld program.
IBM is also releasing a new online training forum called the Business Partner Development Series featuring more than 60 free, virtual classes, webcasts and listings of in-person events, like seminars.
IBM announced PartnerWorld Communities and the Business Partner Development Series during a webcast Tuesday morning that took place in lieu of the company's annual partner conference.
IBM didn't hold the conference, usually a two-and-a-half day event, after deciding with partners that the expense wasn't appropriate in this economic climate, Hume said.
Nonetheless, IBM will spend about US$2.5 billion in the coming year in investments and initiatives related to its partners, which in turn generate about 30 percent of the company's revenue.
By: Stuart McIntyre - Connections | 0 Comments | On: 9 June 2009 06:10:56 PM | Tags: connections lotus partnerworld
Neil and I are thrilled to be part of the best Lotus community event in the UK, reprising the Connectr session we delivered at UKLUG 2007 and 2008 and at Lotusphere 2009.Connectr #8 - Making the most of your connections
Speakers:
Stuart McIntyre Neil Burston
Track: Admin and Infrastructure
How Social is your work/life? How do you interact and collaoborate with your customers, colleagues and partners, friends and family? Come and discuss some of the options and issues, share how real people have been using tools such as Lotus Connections, LotusLive, Lotus Mashups and other technologies to make their work and life more productive, fun and above all, Social. Now in their 3rd year, the Connectr sessions have built a reputation for being engaging, interactive and highly stimulating, not so much a presentation more a collaborative interaction! We promise the favourites of Buzzword Bingo, "What's the Connection?" and no doubt one or two other surprises, so join us share, learn and enjoy the benefits of being Social. We may even explain what being a "Collaborationista" means.
Additional Information
We will talk about our experiences of implementing various technologies to help people benefit from working in more Social ways and will include a good deal of interaction with the speakers and audience.
The UKLUG event is bigger than ever this year, has shifted to the beautiful city of Edinburgh and will take place on 8/9 October. If you're thinking of attending, get over to the UKLUG site and register ASAP - there are very few places left. Oh, and the price for this fabulous conference? It's free! What are you waiting for?!?
By: Stuart McIntyre - Connections | 2 Comments | On: 2 June 2009 02:52:48 PM | Tags: connections connectr uklug
An interesting IBM webcast scheduled for next week:
Invest in Smarter Collaboration – Early Benefits of Enterprise Social SoftwareThe webcast is open to all.
Featuring Practising Law Institute, Rheinmetall AG and an Independent Research Firm
Event Date: 06/02/2009 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Join industry leaders and experts on this interactive panel as they discuss the business value of enterprise social software and share their best practices in implementation within their organizations . Oliver Young, Senior Analyst from Forrester Research, will kick-off the discussion with highlights of his research on early business adoption of enterprise social software, followed by a frank discussion from this dynamic team, representing multiple industries world-wide, on why social software matters within their business and how they implemented it to reduce costs, create more effective ways for people to work, and create new opportunities.
Moderator:
Jeffrey Schick, VP, Social Software , IBM Software Group
Panelists:
Oliver Young, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research
Guy Alvarez, Research Director, Practising Law Institute
Markus Bentele, CIO, Rheinmetall AG
Gina Poole, VP, Social Software Programs, IBM Software Group
By: Stuart McIntyre - Connections | 0 Comments | On: 27 May 2009 05:33:47 AM | Tags: connections social webcast
You may remember that we reported that the new Lotus Connections 2.0.1 client for Blackberry (as previewed at Lotusphere) was due for release on May 8th. You may also have spotted that there has been precious little heard of it since then, and certainly no download links or reviews posted.
Well I had the fortune to catch up with Valerie from RIM on a webconference earlier this week, and asked what the status was:
We released the BlackBerry Client for Lotus Connections v.2.0.1 a week ago, to selected customers on an invitation-only basis. Note that this is "gold code," not a beta release. Please let me know if you are aware of interested customers, or feel free to direct them to me. Additionally, customers may sign up to be notified about updates by completing the web form here.So yes, the new Connections client is available for the Blackberry, but only if you are one of their 'selected' customers. If you're not one of this group, then register your interest via the link.
Personally, I expected the application to be available to all when the IBM press release promised "The next generation BlackBerry Client for Lotus Connections, developed by RIM and available May 8" but hopefully the delay shouldn't be too significant...
By: Stuart McIntyre - Connections | 3 Comments | On: 20 May 2009 10:21:26 AM | Tags: connections 2.0.1 blackberry
You may remember that we reported that the new Lotus Connections 2.0.1 client for Blackberry (as previewed at Lotusphere) was due for release on May 8th. You may also have spotted that there has been precious little heard of it since then, and certainly no download links or reviews posted.
Well I had the fortune to catch up with Valerie from RIM on a webconference earlier this week, and asked what the status was:
We released the BlackBerry Client for Lotus Connections v.2.0.1 a week ago, to selected customers on an invitation-only basis. Note that this is "gold code," not a beta release. Please let me know if you are aware of interested customers, or feel free to direct them to me. Additionally, customers may sign up to be notified about updates by completing the web form here.So yes, the new Connections client is available for the Blackberry, but only if you are one of their 'selected' customers. If you're not one of this group, then register your interest via the link.
Personally, I expected the application to be available to all when the IBM press release promised "The next generation BlackBerry Client for Lotus Connections, developed by RIM and available May 8" but hopefully the delay shouldn't be too significant...
By: Stuart McIntyre - Connections | 1 Comments | On: 20 May 2009 10:21:26 AM | Tags: connections 2.0.1 blackberry
Hopefully by now all readers of this blog will be aware of the 'Twitter-like' status messages available in the forthcoming Lotus Connections 2.5 release. These updates are similar to those used in Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, Identica etc, and hence there are obvious benefits to the integration of Connections with these outside cloud-based services.
Luis Benitez details just one of the many approaches that the Connections community is taking to this opportunity:
Luis has already started this work and is after some feedback. Go read his post and see what you think...Twitter drives innovation...
If you are actively using social networks, you've probably heard of ping.fm. Ping.fm allows users to update their status in the following services from any of the following clients:
So from a single place you can update all of your statuses. And you can do this from different places. You are NOT forced to go to ping.fm's website to update your status. Ping.fm can receive status updates from various sources and then send them to your sites.
Pretty cool, huh? Well, I saw a tweet suggesting that updating your Lotus Connections status from ping.fm would be valuable too. Wouldn't it be cool if we could update Lotus Connections status from SMS, Skype, AOL, and other !?! I agreed and took the challenge upon myself.
By: Stuart McIntyre - Connections | 0 Comments | On: 15 May 2009 01:07:29 PM | Tags: connections lotus 2.5 twitter
IBM Lotus Social Software Adoption SeminarUnfortunately this seminar is only scheduled for one location at present - Chicago on 2nd June 2009. However, if you would like it run in your geography or even as on-site course for your organisation, it's worth contacting your local IBM Education office and making a request.
Course code LE403
Skill level Intermediate
Duration 1.0 days
Delivery type Classroom (Hands-on labs)
Course type Public only
Public price USD $500.00 plus tax
Audience
This is an intermediate course for business sponsors, IT management and project managers responsible for the adoption of social software in the organization.
Prerequisites
Helpful, but not required are:
* Some knowledge of Web 2.0 concepts
* Some knowledge of Lotus Connections
Skills taught
You will acquire an overview level of understanding of the major issues to be considered when planning the adoption of social software within an organization and be provided tactical tools to facilitate the discussions around these issues.
Course outline
* Business Adoption Best Practices
* Identifying Business (Collaboration) Imperatives
* Community Development using Social Software enablers
* Using Social Network Analysis to drive viral adoption
* Monitoring adoption (Measurement drives behavior)
* Social networking and organizational culture
This seminar will cover dealing with the business challenges that are often confronted by companies when introducing social software capability to their organizations. We will share the IBM Software Services for Lotus (ISSL) team's best practice examples of adoption efforts, including: using social network analysis (SNA) for supporting a "viral" change management plan; link to business strategies and goals; supporting community development through software enablers; and understanding some of the cultural aspects of social networking
By: Stuart McIntyre - Connections | 0 Comments | On: 8 May 2009 06:56:09 AM | Tags: connections lotus social education