Posts Tagged 'lotus sametime'



Now’s the time to deploy IM

Now’s the time to deploy IM? really? you must think I’m joking – what about the crisis, the economy, the layoffs, the roi, the recession, the stock market? why should anyone make the decision to invest in IT? Well, simply put – because we must !
Businesses are still working, offering solutions, products and services – outcomes that will benefits the economy, save jobs (and creating new ones), healing the market, bouncing the stocks up. We’re facing harsh times, but we can’t close shop and go home. Furthermore, businesses are looking for ways to be more productive, getting more work done faster, while keeping a watchful eye on expenses. And they’re looking for easy to deploy and manage solutions, that can show real benefit in 2-4 weeks, not 6-12 months.

Some facts about IBM Lotus Sametime, the leading corporate instant messaging solution:

There are many reasons to freeze any IT related expense, and just wait. But there’s also the demand to grow your business, be more productive, more collaborative, save money – IM has transformed the way IBM works. Want to reap some of those benefits as well?

Related articles:
CIO.com – how to make unified communications and collaboration work for you
networkworld.com – UC can help you through hard times
Sametime blog – the official US Army chat room software
IBM CIO Office – Lotus Sametime saves money
Sametime blog – global Hyatt signs for Lotus Sametime UC
IBM Lotus Sametime at ibm.com
Jon Mell – instant messaging ROI

Instant Messaging = Instant Savings

IBM recently published a case study, showcasing how IBM is using instant messaging (IM) across the company as well as with BPs and customers, to improve communication and employee productivity. Internal usage analysis points out that IM surpassed e-mail as the preferred communication method within IBM. Amazing !

Adam Gartenberg wrote about IBM’s own experience with Lotus Sametime, specifically the MONEY point – we saved over $100M in travel and phone expenses because we use instant messaging to communicate. With other IBMers, with business partners, even with customers (Sametime Gateway).
A local Israeli website also picked up the translated version of the story (Hebrew).
The full case study (PDF) is available here: IBM CIO Office case study – use of Lotus Sametime.

I ask about instant messaging (IM) in every customer visit. In my next post I’ll comment about some of Lotus customers in Israel who are using Notes/Domino and Sametime – and can’t imagine a life without it.

IM is an old technology – ICQ were the first, then came MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, Skype, Facebook Chat and others. All excellent services, but all public. Not secured, not behind the firewall, not enterprise ready. Lotus Sametime is 10 years old. It was born in 1996 by a small company in Israel called Ubique, and announced officially in 2000. With more than 100 million corporate users, Lotus Sametime is the leading corporate IM solution in the world. And instant messaging is a business tool, not something my kid plays with.

You can start saving today.

“You’re so Fired !”

Now, truthfully, wouldn’t you like to do what they’re doing? at least once?!
I totally see myself in a helmet, bashing old IT hardware – looks FUN !!

Seen at Adam’s.

And, while we’re at Lotus Sametime – Happy 10th Birthday !!!
Yes, IBM Lotus Sametime, the award-winning corporate instant messaging solution, with over 18 million users, is 10 years old. And what a better present than (another) award, this one from Frost & Sullivan, 2008 North American Enterprise Product of the Year.

IBM Lotus came out swinging with its Sametime unified communications and collaboration product suite,” said Melanie Turek, Frost & Sullivan. “One of the key things that makes Sametime standout from competitors is that it supports multi-vendor environments, which are the norm for most mid- and large-size organizations today.

Happy Birthday !

I’m a YellowBleeder, are you?

Now there’s another method to reach me, other than email/IM/Connections/Blog/facebook/ST-Demo/LinkedIn/phone/mobile – YellowBleeders group. Nathan Freeman of Lotus911 (and Alan Lepofsky and Adam Gartenberg) just wrote on how you can make your Lotus Sametime client or Notes 8 embed client ‘talk’ with the social software buffs already signed-in to BleedYellow.com.

You’re welcome to ping me !

IM-ing and virtual worlds

What the future holds for virtual worlds? will Second Life continue to reign the scene in 2008 or will other environments be introduced? maybe There.com? or Active Worlds? what business applications will flourish? and what do we want VW to do for us?
Many questions, not as many answers. Roo Reynolds and Ian Hughes have tried to answer these and other questions about virtual worlds in a recent podcast to Voices in Business blog.

One of Bob Sutor’s challenges for virtual worlds in 2008 is to allow instant messaging (IM) between virtual worlds.

Work to allow instant messaging between virtual worlds. I am “Nigel Paravane” in Second Life and I’m happy to provide that information on sutor.com or Facebook, for example, so that messages can be routed to me when I am in or out of that world.

I couldn’t agree more. As virtual worlds take center stage in 2008, the integration to real world will be crucial for survival. The opportunity is in that connections. One of the presentations at Unified Communication session at Lotusphere was given by Konrad Lagarde, Lotus Sametime development manager. Konrad showed some beta features currently being tested, that ‘may or may not be included in the future’.

Lagarde then showed his avatar running to a meeting in a virtual world. Once there, he uses a passcode to take control of the conferencing features in the room before putting up a slide show on a screen. The virtual room also was equipped with softphone voice communications and a whiteboard.

Already Lotus Sametime provides multiple services, other than the basic text chatting: integration with VoIP, integration with video conferencing systems, ability to add plugins (Eclipse based), chat outside the firewall (Sametime Gateway) and much more. Connection to Second Life is underway, and it won’t be long before you’ll be invited to a Sametime meeting, at a virtual place, with avatars representing the participants.

Links:
Bob Sutor: Seven challenges and priorities for virtual worlds in 2008
Networkworld: Lotus toying with Sametime features

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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.