The Connections Blog

You are probably aware that Lotus Connections social software is a great means of managing user profiles within your organisation, making it easier to find the staff with the right skills, talents and experience for a given project or task.

In a new announcement yesterday, IBM has now taken this to a new level by combining the features of Lotus Connections with its Cognos business intelligence software, world-class IBM consulting services and leading human capital software from Saab and SuccessFactors:

IBM today announced the first holistic offering in the talent management marketplace, combining world-class human capital software, consulting services and information technology integration to enable enterprises to implement globally integrated workforce and talent management.

The new offering, IBM Workforce and Talent Solutions, will help companies become smarter and more integrated in all aspects of managing the human capital lifecycle to create measurable improvements in people and business productivity. Driving efficiency and effectiveness in people -- one of the largest assets and costs in a business -- is increasingly important to achieving competitive advantage and to manage the effects of the downturn in the global economy.

The press release goes on to say that organisations that manage their employee talent effectively demonstrate significantly better financial results than their peers.  From my own experience, I have no doubt that this is the case!

This is what the new offering covers:

IBM Workforce and Talent Solutions offering takes a strategic view of an enterprises' human capital technology and processes. Through our Human Capital Healthcheck tool, IBM human capital experts assess where an organization is on its journey to globally integrated workforce and talent management and defines a strategy, technology and process roadmap for the future. The solution builds on what is already in place in the enterprise and implements the integrated solutions required to create an end-to-end capability to access key employee data and manage workforces as a globally integrated talent pool.

Key components of IBM Workforce and Talent Solutions includes, workforce analytics, e-recruitment, performance management, learning, succession planning, compensation and rewards, workforce deployment and scheduling, employee portal, collaboration and social networking, together with targeted consulting services, such as change management, process re-design, technology integration, program management and business performance measurement.

Lastly, it details where Lotus Connections fits into the overall solution:

IBM Lotus Connections' five components -- profiles, communities, blogs, dogear and activities -- provides a personal profile/role based approach to managing talent as well the social network necessary for collaboration and connections between individuals and the knowledge employees need to be more productive.

...

Key to IBM Workforce and Talent Solutions, these applications will integrate with IBM's social networking, portal, and business intelligence capabilities.

"The latest advances in collaborative human capital software such as Lotus Connections, WebSphere Portal, and Cognos 8 Workforce Performance can help deliver a talent management system that companies could only imagine a few short years ago," said Larry Bowden, vice president, portals and mashups, IBM Software Group. "The exciting part for our customers is the deep partnership with IBM Global Business Services human capital team and the experience they bring to transforming our clients business performance."

I look forward to finding out more about the solution at Lotusphere in January.  In the meantime, there are more details on IBM's Human Capital management offerings here.

By: Connections Blog (Stuart McIntyre) | 2 Comments | On: 3 December 2008 06:13:18 | Tags:  connections  lotus  talent  announcement 

Comments