Lotus Sametime’s Support for Real-time Collaboration

   It is an irrefutable fact that organizations need to collaborate internally and also with external parties to sustain business.  Moreover, the communication ought to be real-time and cost-effective. Thus, software which facilitates real-time, cost-effective collaboration is widely used in the industry. IBM Sametime is such software which offers unified communication, providing integrated voice, data and video.

   Provision of unified experience in collaboration is one of the key features of Sametime, which can also be integrated with a number of IBM products such as Webspear portal, Lotus Notes and IBM connections as well as with applications such as Microsoft office, Microsoft outlook and Microsoft share point. Its support for client-server operating systems, directories, emails, desktop and mobile access, productivity applications, portals and social networking has made organizations utilize their investments more effectively.  In addition to that, this is software that facilitates higher quality audio and video conferencing, conforming to policies, utilizing protocols such as SIP and SRTP to ensure interoperability and security.  Since Sametime manifests vital properties of real-time collaboration, rich policy based control, centralized management, flexibility, scalability and robust security features, it can bring about competitive advantage to any business.

   Another feature of Sametime is reliable, scalable, secure instant messaging. Instant messaging is very useful to interact with colleagues in order to sort out work related queries.  Instant messaging does not only provide means of communication but also enable a view of configurable recent and frequent contact lists, searching of users, rich text formatting and using of emoticons and sharing of business card details. Sharing of files, built-in integration with emails, searching of chat history and using of widgets have even added more value to instant messaging of Sametime. Rich presence awareness is an extension to instant messaging, which notifies of the availability of a person. It is also able to post custom status messages and alerts. The geographic location of people can be updated in the system too.

   Online meetings can also be conducted through SameTime. People can be invited easily to meetings by merely dragging and dropping them and the invitees can accept or reject by a click of the mouse, with this software. This evades the hassle of summoning people through emails and calls. Furthermore, since the locations of individuals are immaterial the travelling cost can be completely waved off.  Adjunct features such as managing meeting rooms, screen sharing, document sharing and audio and video capabilities further the importance of having Sametime in organizations.

   Intercommunication via mobile devices is also a feature catered by Sametime, which enables employees to involve in meetings and messaging while being on the move. Users will have to install the mobile client in order for this facility to be available. Almost all features available in desktop client are present in the mobile client. Information such as online status, geographic location, availability and custom status messages can be shared with the client.

   To sum up, the sophisticated features provided by IBM Sametime is crucial for a company or a business because incurring high expenses and wasting too many hours on collaborating can no longer be afforded if to be in business competing with rivals.  

References:

1. IBM Sametime features and capabilities.  http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/sametime/features.html 
2. Mobility support with IBM Sametime software.  http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/sametime/features.html 
3. Enterprise instant messaging with IBM Sametime software. http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/sametime/instant-messaging.html
4. Community collaboration with IBM Sametime software. http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/sametime/community.html
5. Rich presence awareness with IBM Sametime software. http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/sametime/presence.html
6. Online meetings with IBM Sametime software. http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/sametime/web-conferencing.html
7. Telephony with IBM Sametime software. http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/sametime/telephony.html