HispanicBusiness

"Going to one place to find materials and being able to track the progress and status of projects has been a major benefit," said Dr. Ann Gates, Chair of the Computer Science Department at UTEP. "Before IBM SmartCloud for Social Business, email was the default way of communicating. Now I don't have to manage a lot of emails, I can go back and look at the status of projects and what people are working on quickly and easily. We're using the portfolio to boost brainstorming sessions across campus, sharing information immediately, saving time and resources for the university."

At Colleagues In Care (CIC), a non-profit dedicated to improving healthcare delivery in Haiti, medical workers and volunteers from around the globe are using the IBM SmartCloud for Social Business to access critical data and information for the current healthcare needs of the Haitian citizens. The new IBM SmartCloud Docs feature is allowing the network of healthcare volunteers to collaboratively edit materials resulting in a first-of-a-kind certification program and professional development curricula for emergency medical obstetrics professionals.

"The Emergency Medical Obstetrics Certification Program will address how a physician, a nurse, or an auxiliary could stabilize and keep a patient from dying, at locations where drugs and resources are unavailable," said Marie L. Kenerson, Chief Collaboration and Learning Officer, Colleagues In Care. "In record time using IBM SmartCloud Docs, the international team is able to upload medical protocols and educational course content, co-edit the documents, and even co-create appropriate original materials making up the EMO curriculum."

IBM SmartCloud for Social Business now meets both Switzerland and European Union Safe Harbor privacy principle standards regarding the collection, handling and access to personal information, furthering the opportunities for European organizations to embrace social business in the cloud.

New Services Make the Cloud Enterprise Ready

-- Access documents anytime, anywhere -- the new IBM SmartCloud Docs

cloud-based office productivity suite allows users to simultaneously

collaborate on word processing, spreadsheet and presentation documents

in the cloud to improve productivity. IBM Docs authors can store

documents in IBM SmartCloud, co-edit documents in real time easing the

management of multiple revisions from multiple authors in team-based

documents.

-- Sharing insight and data in real time -- the new IBM Connections

capabilities in the cloud allow users to embrace business-grade social

networking between employees, partners and suppliers to find and share

the right insight when needed. New community based blogs, wikis,

idea-generation blogs and file viewers will spur creativity and drive

innovation across teams.

-- Meet and chat on the fly -- the new e-meeting service allows teams to

meet on the fly, using instant messaging chats, screen sharing to share

information and presentations, and includes a new chat room feature to

communicate with colleagues, partners and clients in real time.

-- Unlimited access -- chat with guests regardless of their instant

messaging platform, share files and invite guests to participate in

e-meetings at no additional charge.

-- Improved mobile device management -- new software to help business

partners organize and secure cloud-based IBM email on mobile devices

allowing organizations to extend their current business capabilities to

mobile devices, while capitalizing on the new opportunities that mobile

devices uniquely provide.

Pricing and Availability

IBM SmartCloud Docs is available now for no additional charge in IBM SmartCloud Engage Advanced service. IBM SmartCloud Docs is also available for purchase as a service add on for IBM Connections and IBM SmartCloud Engage Standard for $3 per user, per month.

To participate in a live webcast on December 13, 2012, on how to enhance the workforce with socially enabled office productivity applications in the Cloud, register at http://tek.io/TIuCDy. To hear firsthand from clients using social applications in the cloud, register for IBM's premier social business conference in January 2013 at www.ibm.com/connect.