What was IBM Connect 2012?
Tags :Lotusphere IBM Connect ls12 ibmsocialbiz
I have now had the question "What was IBM Connect?" asked of me four times this week. Each time I give the same answer and then thought, I really don't know what went on behind those closed doors. I went online to hunt down some answers outside of IBM sites. Unfortunately if you search for "IBM Connect" you are left with few choices to glean any real information.
Network World had a quick two page article:
Alongside Lotusphere, IBM launched its Connect conference this year to instill a line-of-business voice into the traditionally IT-focused Lotusphere conference, specifically with the aim of pushing its next-generation social business products and services.
The article states this is the inaugural year for the event. I am unsure of the actual attendance since it was blended in and registration for just the Connect conference was held in a different location that registration for Lotusphere (even though Lotusphere attendees could go to Connect).
IBM Connect 2012 was aimed at the business executive with a bunch of case studies, hoping the C-level would bring along IT for Lotusphere and vice versa. This would give IBM both sides of the puzzle in pushing the social business theme to both at once. Previous IBM employee and now research analyst Alan Lepofsky was quoted giving a good summary:
"IBM Connect is going to be more about higher-level - more managers or CXO-level people who are learning about why they should be doing this...I think Connections is what they're doing a lot more work on now. I don't think you're going to see a huge increase in adoption of Lotus Notes. I think people are moving towards more agile, web-based, lighter-weight collaboration tools"
IBM (formerly Lotus) Connections was launched in 2007 and is about to hit version 4 as shown at Lotusphere. It has been a fast growing software for IBM and they will be driving this home for years to come as it evolves into sentiment and analytics.
I would look for the dual conference approach to be back for 2013 with more growth for Connect.
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On Friday, January 27th, 2012 by Chris Miller
