Introduction to IBM Connections 3.0.1
IBM Connections is social software for business. IBM Connections includes several social applications, including Profiles, Communities, Blogs, Files, Wikis, Forums. IBM Connections integrates with many software products, including IBM Lotus Notes.
Increasingly, consumers are sharing information online using technologies such as blogs, wikis, and activity streams. IBM Connections builds upon these familiar technologies but is social software designed for business. IBM Connections empowers you to be more innovative and helps you execute more quickly by using dynamic networks of colleagues. It helps create an environment that facilitates collaboration and innovation. Teams, even those dispersed across the globe, can work together and collaborate.
IBM Connections applications
IBM Connections consists of a set of independent, yet integrated social applications. These applications are integrated using a common set of services, such as search and tagging. The applications included with IBM Connections are Profiles, Communities, Blogs, Files, Wikis, Activities and Forums.
Profiles
The Profiles application provides a corporate directory of users. User profiles include photos, contact information, skill expertise, and tags. You can find the required expertise using search, tagging, or network connections.
The Profiles application also provides a micro-blogging platform. These status updates allow you to post short messages and comment on messages that others post. These posts are helpful for asking questions or keeping a pulse on the activities of the team or company.
Communities
The Communities application supports the creation of a common area for groups or teams with a similar interest or responsibility to collaborate. So, a community can have its own blog, wiki, activities, forum, and media gallery. Communities can be publicly open for other people to join, or membership can be restricted by the community owner.
Blogs
The Blogs module provides a full-featured blogging platform for sharing ideas across teams or companies.
A special type of blog called an ideation blog has the same feature as the regular blog but includes a voting facility.
Files
The Files application is a file-sharing tool meant to reduce the amount of information locked in email or file systems. You can share files with others or keep private versions. Files can be tagged, versioned, and searched. Commenting is supported, along with the ability to see who has downloaded the file.
Wikis
The Wiki application provides an online method for co-writing pages. Wikis are commonly used to create online documentation that is easy to update and search compared with documents stored in email or on a file system.
Individuals, groups, or communities can create and update their own wiki content. Page revision history is stored, so versions can be compared or reverted to. Also, pages support commenting, tagging, and rating.
Forums
The Forums application allows you to create threaded discussions to discuss ideas or ask questions.
Integration with other collaboration tools
IBM Connections was designed to be more than just a set of web applications for sharing information: It is a platform for collaboration. As such, IBM Connections can be integrated with many common software tools, making information and knowledge sharing more readily available. The following integration points allow you to work in already-familiar tools, thus increasing the user adoption rate and value of social software.
Lotus Notes
IBM provides several sidebar plug-ins for IBM Lotus Notes that work with IBM Connections information. These plug-ins are freely available from the IBM Collaboration Solutions Catalog
IBM Connections 3.0.1 Status Updates Plug-in for Lotus Notes. The Status Updates plug-in allows you to post and follow status updates in the Lotus Notes sidebar. You can view the status update streams from people in your network or that you are following. In addition, you can use this plug-in to comment on status updates or on someone's board.
IBM Connections 3.0.1 Files Plug-in for Lotus Notes. The Files plug-in allows you to access and share files directly from the Lotus Notes client. You can drag email attachments to the sidebar to publish files to the IBM Connections server. Also, you can search files and send file links using this plug-in.
Conclusion
IBM Connections is social software for business, providing many ways to introduce new social tools to your environment or enhance existing software with more powerful collaborative capabilities. IBM Connections provides a platform for collaboration that is easily extended to meet your business requirements and integrate into existing business processes.