IBM is providing a glimpse of its plans for the IBM Connections enterprise social networking platform at this year’s Lotusphere conference in Orlando, Florida.  A key focus of this year’s conference, called Connect 2012, will feature many social business related success stories.   The company’s  announcements target a growing number of social applications or social extensions to existing products   IBM Connections version 4, or “Connections Next”, allows applications to integrate with the social media stream as it builds off of the Open Social 2.0 standard. With Notes Social Edition, Notes can act as the social media client as well as the email client, allowing organizations to utilize both Notes and Connections.   In addition Connections Next lets users view their calendar and email without leaving the social environment and it allows Notes to work in conjunction with Microsoft Exchange.

IBM offers internal and external social media analytics leveraging Cognos technology.   In the upcoming version of IBM Connections, it will feature analytics which provide insights on social network performance including user engagement.    IBM hasn’t forgotten about the importance of mobile access as it makes available the Connections Mobile Client.   In the second half of 2012, the company will deliver IBM Docs as part of Connections and IBM’s cloud social software with options for premise or cloud-based deployments.

Related Link:

http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/232400410/ibm-aims-to-be-first-with-opensocial-embedded-apps