IBM Connections is everything you need to unite professionals around the globe.
July 23, 2014

IBM Connections is everything you need to unite professionals around the globe.

Olga Toprover | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

V5.0

Modules Used

  • Blog, Wiki

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Connections

I was working on a project implementing IBM Connections in the insurance industry. The system was used by tens of thousands users located around the globe. Various types of groups of users were using the tool to write wiki places and blogs using a few languages. Some of the blogs were global and open for everyone within the company, the others were devoted to specific problems and were available only to limited groups of resources.
  • IBM Connections really keep users connected and makes them united.
  • It is easy to use blogs in IBM Connections
  • The statuses available in IBM Connections are very handy. It is really convenient to know what is going on with your collegues at this very moment.
  • Basic security is provided within IBM Connections tools.
  • I wish IBM would improve how IBM Connections works with pictures and media. This is the area to improve the product. Simply speaking IBM Connections is a corporate Facebook, so some media functionality similar to Facebook would be helpful. One of the groups I was working with was a training department, where video materials were used, but there was no convenient way to keep and to use them with IBM Connections or Quickr.
  • I think IBM has to discover an exciting way of keeping the corporate Facebook mood. I would suggest something like internal recommendations, which might also be connected to external ( LInkedIn) connections, then people would be motivated to use it. It is going to be there if they leave the company.
  • IBM Connections definitely had a great impact on the business improving a degree of awareness of what is happening in the organization.
  • IBM Connections also allowed the comapny to decrease expenses as some of the users were transferred from Sharepoint to IBM Connections.
I have evaluated IBM Connections against MS Sharepoint and IBM Lotus Notes. I would say IBM Connections is beneficial in comparrison to Lotus Notes applications because IBM Connections by default works with browsers vs LN Client and it is easy to use. However with developing really complex applications I would use Lotus Notes.
IBM Connections and IBM Quickr are very convenient tools compared with Sharepoint especially considering the easy setup, security and workflow functionality IBM Connections provides.
I am giving 7 for revewal the contract because from an expense point of view, IBM Connections was a leader. I am not providing the higher rating because many of the users were dealing with media and images and they found out that it wasn't the best experience to deal with attachments all the time. They would prefer to have their images to be displayed right away. It was our biggest concern with regards to using IBM Connections.
IBM Connections is well suited for a big organization where collaboration between people is required or beneficial for business and the work is mostly related to text documents. I would also recommend IBM Connections in organizations where resources are grouped by areas of business or by events.
During the selection process I would ask what the primary type of information the users work with: text documents or images/media. I would also ask how many users are planned to participate in the system. The bigger the organization is the more sense it is to use IBM Connections.