Innovative companies know they can use Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn or any number of consumer social networking sites to locate expertise, share information and expand their networks. Or, they can build Web 2.0 communities to harness the power of their internal and external networks in their own professional collaborative environments -- and ultimately grow their business.

Ingram Micro and IBM Software deliver the tools solution providers need to build dynamic social networking sites for their customers and themselves. With IBM Lotus Connections, a type of social software designed for businesses, companies can become more innovative and execute more quickly by using dynamic networks of co-workers, partners and customers.

Social Networking Makes Business Sense
More than 75 percent of CEOs believe collaboration among communities of employees, customers and partners is the key to driving innovations, according to the IBM 2006 Global CEO Study. Market research firm Gartner says that enterprise social software will be the biggest new workplace-technology success story of this decade. The Gartner Predicts 2007 report forecasts that 30 percent of enterprises will openly sponsor internal MySpace-like social sharing sites to help employees find colleagues with similar interests, skills, backgrounds and experience.

Rapid Growth, Continued Success
Companies that use IBM Lotus Connections to build social networking sites are seeing extraordinary success. Bleed Yellow, a site built by an IBM business partner with IBM Lotus Connections and designed to share knowledge about the Lotus Software brand, grew to more than 700 members within just seven days of launch. Today, Bleed Yellow has nearly 2,300 members and receives 1.5 million hits per month. Bleed Yellow uses all five key components of Lotus Connections:

• Profiles to find the people you need
• Communities to work with people who share common interests and expertise
• Blogs to present your own ideas and learn from others
• Dogears to save and share bookmarks
• Activities to organize your work and tap your professional network

These five components of Lotus Connections are designed to work together to create an integrated, collaborative environment that is secure and scalable.

For More Information
To request the white paper, "Achieving Tangible Business Benefits with Social Computing," e-mail ibmsoftwareteam@ingrammicro.com.