IBM used Lotusphere 2010 to announce the next release of its flagship Lotus product, Connections. Due in the second half of 2010, this exciting new version will have significant enhancements focused on social analytics and reporting.  There will also be powerful new profile capabilities around connectivity to tools such as LinkedIn. There were a significant number of sessions dedicated to Connections, with particular focus on enterprise integration and customisation. As usual, we used the event to bring our technical certifications up to the latest level, both in the new Collaboration products and the more traditional Lotus Notes/Domino product set.

Collaboration was a strong theme in other areas at the event, with many sessions covering new people-focussed, industry specific application modules muted for many of the Lotus products.  Healthcare, Oil, Insurance and Education are examples of Portal quick builders that will help reduce the time to build and deploy collaboration services on IBM Lotus software.

Lotusphere is always a big social event for the Lotus community, with gatherings every evening sponsored by either IBM or Business Partners. Portal Partnership co-sponsored the big UK partner evening which went off with a bang. Needless to say the sponsored bar was run dry!   

'Lotus Knows' was the much talked about marketing message of Lotusphere 2010 with IBM responding to feedback from the Lotus community that the software is innovative, but market presence awareness is low.  The whole event was branded as “Lotus Knows” with such slogans as “Lotus knows how to have a meeting in the Cloud” splashed on banners, TV screens and materials.  Welcomed with great applause in the general session, the collateral of this campaign and its references to software brands will be arriving in the UK around the middle of 2010 with IBM’s sponsorship of Wimbledon likely to be the launch event. Expect to see the “Lotus Knows” branding appear at sporting events and travel locations in particular i.e. airports and railway stations.

Watch this space! 

As a leading IBM Lotus Business Partner, Portal Partnership has embraced Lotus Connections and the whole Social Collaboration opportunity. We have been working with customers to help then define their Social Collaboration approach and implementing tools such as Lotus Connections.

Please contact us to arrange for a free consultation to learn more about Lotus Connections and to move your Social Collaboration agenda forwards.