SharePoint is a 'document coffin', says IBM
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IBM kicks off Lotusphere 2012 with strong words against competitor, and a host of new feature announcements
By Sim Ahmed | Orlando | Wednesday, 18 January, 2012 | 12 Comments
IBM had nothing but strong words to say about its competitor Microsoft, at the opening session of this year's Lotusphere conference in Orlando, Florida.
Jeff Schick, vice president of social software at IBM, told the audience of over 1000 developers, clients, and media, that the enterprise content management system (ECM) was good for little beyond storing documents.
"Content at rest is expensive, content in motion is valuable," says Schick. "Unfortunately, a lot of CMS today are just expensive vaults. SharePoint is today's document coffin."
IBM has received criticism in the past from its partners and developer community for not addressing the threat of competing enterprise software such as SharePoint and Google's Apps for Businesses.
His comments came just before IBM announced several changes to its enterprise software offering, which Shick says will differentiate them from the competing products.
IBM banking on social
The theme of this year's Lotusphere is business made social, and IBM has taken the opportunity to announce several social networking orientated changes to its line of enterprise software.
IBM demoed new additions to its Connections community portal product, including the new Activity Stream feature which resembles status feeds on most popular social networks.
The Activity Stream can pull in information from multiple apps and feeds, including third party applications by using the OpenSocial framework.
Community managers can gain a better understanding of their users with built in metrics and sentiment tracking.
According to IBM, the latest version of Connections Next now allows for integration with Exchange servers, as well as Domino.
IBM Docs
Also on show was IBM's much anticipated cloud-based document collaboration and editing software called IBM Docs.
The software, formerly known as LotusLive Symphony, lets users edit and manage documents with real-time collaboration, and has much the same features found in competing products such as Google Docs and Office 365.
It can be deployed within an enterprise firewall, but IBM says the software also allows collaboration with external users such as suppliers and partners.
One of the companies currently using IBM Docs is GAD, a German IT and services provider to over 430 incorporated banks. The company is incorporating IBM Docs, among other IBM cloud services, into its retail banking software called Bank21, which connects and shares information between many of its clients.
IBM Docs is currently in closed beta, but Schick says it will be available later this year as a part of IBM's new SmartCloud for Business product.
IBM's Sametime also received new features this year. The telephony and communications software will see deeper integration in Lotus systems, including the ability to start video conferencing from within emails and instant messages - using integration with Polycom's RealPresence technology.
What's in a name?
IBM has confirmed its intention to consolidate over a dozen different cloud-based services under the IBM SmartCloud brand, including LotusLive which will be renamed to IBM SmartCloud for Business.
IBM says the changes are to bring consistency to its cloud services, but some Lotusphere attendees speculated on Twitter it may be due to a decline in the Lotus brand.
TJKEITT:
This is an important change for IBM; LotusLive brand was not getting it done vs. Google and Microsoft #ls12
— TJ Keitt (@tjkeitt) January 16, 2012
JIM LUNDY:
I wonder if this is the last year for the Lotus brand. IBM brand is stronger. #Ls12
— Jim Lundy (@JimLundy) January 15, 2012
The annual Lotusphere conference, which is in its 19th year, showcases IBM and its partners' enterprise solutions using the Lotus suite of products. Sim Ahmed travelled to the event as a guest of IBM New Zealand.
Comments
IBM vs. Microsoft document management
Some marketplace contenders (Box, Yammer) are having success right now marketing their product as "better than SharePoint". But, as another commenter pointed out, any of these systems will evolve into a 'document graveyard' without the right people and planning in place ahead of time.
Likewise, different software packages with different technologies ALL have both advantages and disadvantages. Recently saw an article about Electrolux using both SharePoint and IBM Connections in conjunction to power their intranet. If just one of these products could have met their requirements, it doesn't make sense they'd use both.
Posted by Fpweb.net at 11:12:25 on January 24, 2012
Likewise, different software packages with different technologies ALL have both advantages and disadvantages. Recently saw an article about Electrolux using both SharePoint and IBM Connections in conjunction to power their intranet. If just one of these products could have met their requirements, it doesn't make sense they'd use both.
Posted by Fpweb.net at 11:12:25 on January 24, 2012
New features
I'll be the first to admit the new features don't sound all that NEW to me, but I'm still looking forward to them regardless. I agree with article, it's a real good step towards what the community have been wanting for sometime.
Posted by Roger at 7:04:17 on January 23, 2012
Posted by Roger at 7:04:17 on January 23, 2012
Interesting times
I'm an IBM and Microsoft partner, and for years I had been seeing my customers dump Notes for email and apps to go to Exchange and Sharepoint. Now I see the tide turning because we can't convert those Domino apps to Sharepoint easily (if at all) and IBM is giving away some of Connections with Notes now (straight from the MS playbook?) So if you still pay for Domino for apps and you are just using Sharepoint for Docs, why have two different systems in place? I'm just happy we have skills in both platforms as this shakes out!
Posted by A BP at 13:21:26 on January 22, 2012
Posted by A BP at 13:21:26 on January 22, 2012
Here's a hammer, now go find some nails to whack.
I have heard so many organisations say 'we are going to implement '
When I ask them what problem they're trying to solve, it's blank stares all around.
I guess there's a sucker born every minute.
Posted by Russell at 13:56:50 on January 21, 2012
When I ask them what problem they're trying to solve, it's blank stares all around.
I guess there's a sucker born every minute.
Posted by Russell at 13:56:50 on January 21, 2012
Here's a hammer, now go find some nails to whack.
Yep, agreed. I frequently hear: "we're implementing Sharepoint." I ask why, i.e. what business problem is this trying to solve? *crickets*.
Never heard a user yet say "Oooh, Sharepoint, I love using that!".
On the other hand, I have heard: "Oooh, Sharepoint, wow, that's very expensive... Great! It'll make my CV look better having managed such a high budget project..." And they wipe their hands of it just in time for to look for another job, leave the poor mugs still working there to live with the "solution"...
Posted by Dave Lane at 14:56:06 on January 21, 2012
Never heard a user yet say "Oooh, Sharepoint, I love using that!".
On the other hand, I have heard: "Oooh, Sharepoint, wow, that's very expensive... Great! It'll make my CV look better having managed such a high budget project..." And they wipe their hands of it just in time for to look for another job, leave the poor mugs still working there to live with the "solution"...
Posted by Dave Lane at 14:56:06 on January 21, 2012
Here's a hammer, now go find some nails to whack.
Stupid comment system ;)
Should have read "We are going to implement XYZ technology"
As an aside, the captcha for this submission was, delightfully, "techo sentiments" :D
Posted by Anonymous at 13:58:47 on January 21, 2012
Should have read "We are going to implement XYZ technology"
As an aside, the captcha for this submission was, delightfully, "techo sentiments" :D
Posted by Anonymous at 13:58:47 on January 21, 2012
Who cares about the technology?
Let the tech heads have their pissing contests. Any implementation, I don't care if it's IBM, Microsoft or whatever, will end up as a document coffin if you don't get the people and process aspects right.
Posted by Anonymous at 13:54:08 on January 21, 2012
Posted by Anonymous at 13:54:08 on January 21, 2012
More IBM brand
Good move by IBM to drop the Lotus brand from it's collaboration products going forward. Just the mention of Lotus kills a lot of opps. Next stop Tivoli...
Pete
Posted by Pete at 16:59:21 on January 19, 2012
Pete
Posted by Pete at 16:59:21 on January 19, 2012
IBM Lotusphere
As a strong Microsoft advocate here at lotusphere, I find it very difficult to accept these so called new rollouts, especially when the microsoft realm has had these features and functionality for years. Its about time that IBM invest in catching up.
Posted by Anonymous at 4:04:07 on January 19, 2012
Posted by Anonymous at 4:04:07 on January 19, 2012
IBM Lotusphere
As a strong IBM advocate, II find it very difficult to accept that Microsoft's so called new features are new, especially when the IBM/Lotus realm has had these features and functionality for many years. Its about time that Microsoft invest in catching up.
Posted by Brett H at 14:20:49 on January 19, 2012
Posted by Brett H at 14:20:49 on January 19, 2012
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