History of Connections

A journey back in time to were it all started. Maria and I presented the history of Connections. How relevant it was, the good the bad, and our vision on the future

presented at Engage 2020 with Maria Nordin

1. A brief history of Connections The why’s, the when’s, the who’s #engageug
2. #engageug Wannes Rams • Senior Consultant and Cloud Architect Europe at ISW • Lives in Belgium and Sweden • 20 years in the Collaboration space • Board Member of LetsConnect, the Connections and DX User Group • Chairman of Penumbra • HCL Master • Plays Table tennis
3. #engageug Maria Nordin • Senior Consultant and Cloud Architect Europe at ISW • Lives in Sweden and Belgium • 20 years in the Collaboration space • Board Member of LetsConnect, the Connections and DX User Group • Member of Penumbra • Knows how to … something • HCL Master
4. First there was nothing #engageug
5. Then came the why 2007 According to the industry analyst firm Forrester, social software tools will become so much a part of the fabric of an enterprise's collaborative environment that it will be like air -- enterprises won't be able to imagine life without it. Further, according to Forrester, the demand for social software tools is growing with usage rates of social software services almost doubling between 2005 and 2006. #engageug
6. IBM identified “Common business use objectives” Some of the most common business uses for social software include helping organizations: • Work more effectively across countries and time zones • Bring together expertise from multiple sites/countries • Reduce travel costs • Bring innovations to market more quickly • Deliver projects in less time • Resolve problems more quickly • Retain more of the experience of people leaving the company/retirees • Enable those working in new roles to get up to speed faster • Build communities of practice to foster and share key areas of knowledge • Improve staff retention • Work more closely with customers and suppliers #engageug
7. #engageug “And you thought social networking was all about text- messaging among bored teenagers.” ”..unlock the latent expertise in an organisation.” ”… meet like-minded colleagues within the company and exchange ideas with them.” “social software tools that will bring the kind of blogging, idea sharing and war-story swapping typically associated with MySpace and Facebook..”
8. Connections 1 is born #engageug Release date June 29, 2007 Project “Ventura” Social networking to the workfloor First vendor to combine a toolset ORLANDO, FL - 22 Jan 2007: At Lotusphere today, IBM announced Lotus Connections, the industry's first platform for business-grade social computing. Lotus Connections facilitates the gathering and exchange of information through professional networks, provides a dashboard-like view of current projects and connects users to like-minded communities. In addition, Lotus Connections removes the need for multiple social software applications, providing businesses with a single destination for building professional communities.
9. #engageug Jeff Schick presents Lotus Connections at Lotusphere 2007
10. #engageug Connections 1
11. Connections 1.02 November 2007 Plugins, yes they are this old J Windows Explorer, Powerpoint, Word and Excel #engageug
12. Connections 2 June 2008 • #engageug • Widget based extensions iWidget standard • Extensions to Business cards • Snippets • API
13. Connections 2.5 August 2008 #engageug • Connections as we know it • Wikis, Files, Microblogging, Social Search / analytics
14. Connections 2.5 - Social Profiles • #engageug • So much more than “employee whitepages”. View colleague’s skills, background, current status, published files and contacts. • Post updates and comments on their wall. • Tap into the knowledge capital within your organisation. • Expand your personal network – develop and maintain personal relationship outside departments, geography etc. • Find people by clicking on the cross-organisation tag cloud.
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16. #engageug Connections 2.5 First way of Customizing
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18. #engageug Launch LotusLive LotusLive Engage as Add-on to LotusLive Notes
19. #engageug Version 3 November 2010 • The Admin version • Wizards for database creation, profile population • Clustering
20. #engageug Version 3 • Files Plug-in for Lotus Notes • Status Update Plug-in
21. #engageug Version 3 – news for the user • Forums – New! Forums is our newest application being introduced in Lotus Connections 3.0, providing a place to brainstorm and collect feedback on topics that are relevant to you and your colleagues. The Forums application can also be used to start discussions about a specific topic or debate solutions to shared problems. By participating in a Forum, you can exchange ideas, ask questions, and leverage the expertise of other people in your organization.
22. #engageug Version 3.0.1 April 2011 • Dropping the Lotus Brand • Media Library • Ideation • Mobile Improvements • Integration in Portal & Sharepoint
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25. #engageug A dedicated UserGroup for Connections is born First Social Connections conference is held July 2011 London First and only dedicated User group for Connections
26. #engageug Version 4 September 2012 • Activity Stream, Embedded Experience, Intergrated Mail & Calendaring • Expand Openness in IBM Connections. Bring collaboration to the user’s context.
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30. Version 4.5 Marc 2013 • Introducing the ”beast” CCM • Apps for Communities • 2 factor Authentication 30 #engageug https://www.kudosapps.com/kudos-tools-ccm-migrator
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33. #engageug Version 5 A BIG RELEASE June 2014 • External users! Invite and collaborate with anyone in the world • Take your files with you with the desktop file plug-in • Community landing page
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36. #engageug Version 5.5 December 2015
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38. #engageug The Future is… PINK
39. #engageug The Future is… PINK
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41. #engageug Version 6 April 2017
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46. #engageug Version 6.5 HCL Connections September 2019 Sidebar: An always-on slide-out dashboard, which gives your users access to Connections from anywhere in your IT environment. A lifeline to your network. Employees spend 2.5 hours every day searching for the information and expertise needed to do their jobs. Put a different way, if you hired 5 employees, only 4 would be doing actual work. Connections Sidebar will help change this. Activities Plus: Connections now includes Activities Plus by Kudos to give lightweight activity and task management software to every employee. Any user can now easily and automatically organize tasks, teamwork, projects, and timelines directly from within their Connections environment ... and it’s included for free when you install the Connections 6.5 Component Pack.
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