Enterprise 2.0 the IBM Way

 

Situation: You're in Need of a (Big, Blue) Overall Social Networking Framework...

One of the things that we're quickly learning here at gantthead is that it's nice to have a bunch of Web 2.0 applicaitons and gadgets around, but the real power is in pulling it all together in a cohesive way.  You'll see a lot more on that from us in the coming month.  A few hours ago, I received an email from an IBM employee, Shayne Phillips (PMP) calling my attention to what IBM is doing in the space.  Of course, it's a comprehensive Web 2.0 framework, built on the Lotus platform.

Regardless of the buzzword being applied, Lotus has ALWAYS been VERY collaboration-focused.  Lotus Connections is a really cool approach in that it grew up as IBM's internal system before it was released to the public.  The video below will give you a quick view of the interface,which is surprisingly clean and simple.

A side note ------ I've got to applaud one thing that both IBM AND Microsoft are doing currently - allowing people to plan and execute their work in a more natural way.  Neither is all of the way there yet, but both are making great strides.  On the IBM side you have (often reusable) activities intergrated with the rest of the connections environment.  The Microsoft equivalent is Tasks in Outlook, that now have far deeper integration with Sharepoint and MS Office tools like Project.  Moves like these will eventually take a lot of the administration out of work and make tracking just a natural output of doing the work itself.