IBM announced strong momentum for its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based social business offerings.
According to a 2013 IBM study of more than 800 business decision makers worldwide, organizations that use the cloud reported two and a half times higher profits than their peers.
IBM says organizations that adopt cloud-based solutions are 79 percent more likely to drive increased collaboration across their organization, and twice as likely to leverage analytics to unlock greater insight about their business.
Enterprises such as Codorniu, Princess Cruise Lines, SIKA, SafeGuard, Shanks and Verisure have taken their business into the cloud.
Meanwhile, IBM announced the rebranding of its mail, chat, meetings, office productivity and content capabilities, making them part of IBM’s Connections brand in 2014.
As part of this effort, IBM plans to expand the Connections portfolio to include high-fidelity, high-definition video based on its Sametime 9 technology.
In addition, IBM is announcing its next generation web mail experience. This new mail offering, planned for availability in both the cloud and on-premises, will use analytics to deliver powerful task-level focus and inbox management capabilities that let employees easily track the content and messages needed to do their job.
IBM also plans to introduce Domino Applications in the cloud through a ready-made Platform as a Service offering built on IBM SoftLayer. As a result, customers will be able to build on the investments they have made in custom applications and enhance them with new mobile options. Partners will also have a faster path for bringing their new Domino applications to cloud and getting them to market more quickly.
IBM is teaming with business partner Parallels to integrate with its innovative cloud automation platform, making it easier for partners that distribute IBM products to assemble and sell unique cloud offerings.
For example, a telecom company can use IBM’s new plug-in to easily combine and provision its cloud offerings from IBM and other Parallels-ready vendors, such as SugarCRM. This streamlines business process of delivering cloud services through a reseller channel.
