Posts Tagged 'instant messaging'



Last minute update – SWG Community Day

I’ve been thinking a lot this past few days, trying to figure out what to talk about tomorrow afternoon, at SWG Community Day (ibm.com/il/news/events/community).

Lotus customers have been very fortunate this past year, in which we held a user group every Q (in March, June and now this), and although we have some very exciting announcements to present, I know many of you have probably read them already, if not participated in some web casts that were available to BPs and customers.

I knew my presentation tomorrow should have 2 main topics: Lotus Strategy and Lotus Products. I just wasn’t sure how to frame them, how to open, what to focus on. Over the weekend I said you’re gonna hear how the (r)evolutions of Social Computing is changing the business landscape. That has changed. not entirely thou, allow me to explain: the presentation will still discuss about the same 2 main topics, just wrapped differently.

The (final) title (for now) is Lotus Strategy. You’ll still hear how the business landscape is changing our world, what factors are affecting our strategy, and what is Lotus Strategy. There will also be plenty of slides on the recent products we’ve announced this Q, and the UC2 demo of course. I’ve been reading some bloggers asking ‘where Notes/Domino is going?’. Aside from the excellent financial results Lotus is showing Q/Q and Y/Y, we have a very clear vision and a well planned roadmap for future releases. The recent announcements and acquisition relates directly to it.

I do hope seeing you tomorrow, 15:00 at Cinema City.

For those wanting to test Sametime Meeting Room, I’ve created a meeting at the Sametime Demo server, which is available to everyone, after a short registration process.
Just point your browser here and you could follow the presentation as we go along. Unfortunately, no audio/video.. just the slides. The password for the meeting is ‘lotus’.

33% are IM-ing in secret… WHY?!

Read an interesting article recently, that was published late July in The Wall Street Journal, entitled Instant Messaging Invades the Office. The author, Carola Mamberto provides her insights on how instant messaging is entering the corporate world, backing it up with real life examples. She mentions in the article that roughly one of every 3 people (33%) of US employees are using instant messaging at work (which is good, provided it’s a secured enterprise solution), although many without the employer’s knowledge (2006 survey). On top of that, many employers are reluctant to endorse IM, fearing security breaches.

Hello?! reluctant? IBM has been using Lotus Sametime for almost a decade now, with 335,000 users worldwide, 4,000,000 unique chats per day while saving some costs. Not to mention the increase in employees’ productivity! IBM Lotus Sametime, now in version 7.5.1 has over 16 million corporate users, with 27 of Fortune 50 companies as customers. I think the Fortune 50 companies have very strict security restrictions, and Lotus Sametime gave the answer.

Even Gartner has concluded that instant messaging will be “de-facto tool for voice, video and text chat” in 5 years. What are businesses waiting for? to be the last company in the industry to adopt instant messaging solution?

Instant messaging is much more than the buddy list – it’s a platform for unified communications and collaboration (UC2), enabling for text, voice and video.
IBM Lotus Sametime gives you just that.

Gartner: Instant Messaging Will Be De Facto Tool for Voice, Video and Text Chat by 2011

Gartner published a press release with some interesting information about Instant Messaging (IM), saying “Instant Messaging Will Be De Facto Tool for Voice, Video and Text Chat by The End of 2011” (David Mario Smith, Gartner). I first saw it at Adam Gartenberg’s blog, and later at Chris Pepin’s, and I’m sure other advocated of Lotus and Collaboration software will pick it up later. The main points of Gartner are:

  • For many knowledge workers, instant messaging (IM) is as critical as having access to a telephone or to e-mail
  • Gartner predicts that by the end of 2011, IM will be the de facto tool for voice, video and text chat with 95 percent of workers in leading global organisations using it as their primary interface for real-time communications by 2013
  • Gartner advocates the use of enterprise grade IM from vendors including IBM and Microsoft to ensure that IM traffic is secure behind the firewall.
  • “The business benefits that IM can bring are considerable,” added David Smith. “The ability to connect people in disparate locations by text, voice and video in one application is incredibly powerful and is equally well suited to an informal ‘water cooler’ atmosphere as well as more formal group communications.”
  • Although IM is displacing existing communications channels, such as email, in many instances, Mr Smith is clear that there is no danger of it actually replacing email in the enterprise outright. “Rather than replacing email, IM will augment and complement the use of email,” he said.
  • What makes IM work has always been presence technology, and business users are beginning to see the benefit of using presence across multiple applications,” said David Smith.

As my colleagues (and several analysts) mentioned, IBM is already taking the lead in corporate IM, leading by example. Lotus Sametime 7.5.1 offers a real-time, multilingual, open, collaboration platform, that allows for 3rd party extensions and plug-ins.
You can read more about IBM’s internal deployment of Sametime in Chris Pepin’s presentation, which was delivered at LotuSphere 2007.

Gartner’s article pushed me to perform a little search on IM and I found another interesting article, from Network Computing, about Mobile IM – which is really the next logic step of instant messaging.. especially with the quick adaption of mobile devices and the ability to connect from multiple devices, using Wi-Fi, 3G or WiMax networks. NC quoted a study performed by Forrester Research, that asked 4,548 students between the ages of 12 and 21 about their No. 1 must-have mobile phone feature, IM was the top choice, nearly twice as popular as mobile e-mail. And as we all know, teens are the employees of tomorrow.
The article also mentions IBM, saying “We were impressed by the degree of effort IBM has put into its Lotus Sametime Mobile client. Not only does the Sametime client communicate directly with a Sametime server using wireless IP services, it also operates on a wide range of devices, including Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Nokia Symbian E Series.”
Very interesting reading, but free some time, it’s quite long (you can download a PDF version, it’s easier).

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Mobile & Media Consultant. I help startup companies launch products to the consumer market. Reach out: dvir.reznik [at] gmail.com
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This is my personal blog. The postings here do not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my past employers or of my clients. It is solely my opinion.