December 18, 2007
IBM Launches Social Networking Tool
Who are the key experts, how are they connected, and whom do a user's contacts know that they do not.
Social networking in the corporation? Why not? IBM has announced its IBM Atlas for Lotus Connections, a corporate social networking visualization and analysis tool designed to help organizations maximize their investment in social software by answering questions such as who the key experts are on a given topic, how they are connected, and whom a user's contacts know that they do not.
Developed by IBM Research, Atlas has several Web 2.0-based components:
- The Net component of Atlas provides a visual indication of the important hubs among topic experts and informal groups that have developed while working on similar projects. Users can then identify communication gaps or bottle-necks between groups and manage skills across the organization.
- My Net offers similar capabilities for a user's personal network. For example, a salesperson can better manage and understand their social networks making sure they have connections across the right topic areas.
- Reach, the social software dashboard feature in Atlas, helps users navigate the up-to-six-degrees-of-separation that divide them from a colleague. The dashboard shows users the shortest path to reach an expert and ranks the expert based on the level of interaction across the network. For example, Jim needs more information on compliance regulations in the financial services industry to close an important deal. His social dashboard shows him that Barb is an expert in compliance and is active in various communities. Jim can also see that his teammate Matthew reports to Denise, who co-authors a blog on compliance regulations with Barb. By using his social network Jim can connect with Barb faster to get the information he needs to close the deal.
- The Find component of Atlas builds upon core Lotus Connections expertise capabilities by taking searches beyond the corporate directory to include results based on social data such as reporting structures, blogs and communities. Users can customize their search criteria to refine the search based on location, corporate structure or degrees of separation. Results are sorted based on the collaborative ranking assigned to a topic expert.
"When you apply social software to business processes, it's critical to see and understand the relationships between groups, people and information," said IBM's Jeff Schick. "Atlas helps workers navigate their social networks and use these relationships to rally around ideas and projects instead of using organization charts. This speeds decision making and improves efficiency."
Atlas is designed to work with IBM Lotus Connections integrated enterprise social software platform. Version 1.02 of Lotus Connections features:
- Expanded support for operating systems such as SUSE Linux, browsers such as Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and directories such as Microsoft Active Directory, enabling businesses to deploy and integrate social software across their IT environment.
- Plug-ins for IBM Lotus Notes, IBM Lotus Sametime, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Explorer and IBM WebSphere Portal, enabling people to interact with their professional networks using their everyday productivity tools.
- An API based on the REST and Atom standards allow other applications to utilize the profiles, community, bookmarking, blogging and activity services of Lotus Connections.
