IBM Connections vs.

O365

Jan Valdman
Whitesoft

Watch online https://youtu.be/M8CdfKCMvzE

Remarks
The opinions in this deck are my own and do not necessarily reflect or equal to any opinions of Whitesoft or IBM.
All information about O365 and Sharepoint is based on my own end-user experience.
All conclusions are based on my personal experience using common, regular environments and accounts, both product
are considered to be in the “out-of-box” configuration.
I am not an expert on O365.
Cloud offerings change very quickly so the information might be outdated when you read it. Screenshots taken on April
16, 2015.
This deck does not compare the products completely but only from a social collaboration perspective.

The information is provided “as-is”. I can not guarantee that the information in this deck is precise, complete, correct
and otherwise valid. I believe that you find this comparison true and useful however I can not accept responsibility for
any of your future decisions. If you do not like this policy, do not read further .

Copyright information
About me
• Business development manager in Whitesoft
• Working with ICS since 2001 (WebSphere
Portal), IBM Connections since 2.5 in 2010
• IBM Champion for ICS 2014+2015
• SOCCNX Team member for VI,VII,8 and 9
• Board member of SUTOL.cz (Czech LUG)
• Getsocial.CZ conferences 2012+2013
About Whitesoft
• Czech-Belgian IT company, 35+ people, founded
2000
• IBM BP for ICS in the Czech Republic and Belgium
• Also reseller of Microsoft, Google
• Generic IT services for GB customers = 50+
customers for ICS
• We are pretty good in IBM Connections :-)
• We know how to explain customers why IBM
Connections is the best :-)
Why this topic?
• Organizations started to buy O365 plans
instead of legacy MS Office licenses
• People consider O365, Google Apps and IBM
Connections as direct competitors
• I did an evaluation for a client few months ago
so I can share some findings
Agenda
About the products
An overview of O365 from a perspective of a long term Connections user

O356 is NOT social

How does it (not) support your social business journey

Conclusion
Why IBM, why NOT Microsoft
Office 365 is NOT social
Features & Functions Comparison?
We compare a basket of fruits…
What is IBM Connections?
• Enterprise Social Software/Network
• Brings content, conversation and people
together
• Collaboration platform
• People-centric approach Content

people

Conversation Groups
IBM Connections – what it can do
What is Microsoft Office 365?
• Plans?
• Subscription based Office licensing?
• Web editors?
• Exchange in the cloud?
• SharePoint online?
•
•
Collaboration platform?
ESN platform?
?
O365 just after login (E3 plan)
O365 User Experience
The navigation…
• O365 is a puzzle
• Everything (mostly) regarding files is build
from SharePoint libraries and web parts
• Navigation is a nightmare
Everything is SharePoint
Delve – analytics based of
OfficeGraph

Oh yes!!!
My understanding of O365
Yammer
• Feeds (and not much more)
• Twitter-like conversations
• Groups
Yammer compared to IBM Connections
Yammer is not a standard part of O365
Yammer integration is weak
Yammer onboarding is pretty good
The first Yammer experience
Ops! Another profile?
And another Inbox?
You have to switch Yammer ON for
ALL users
Before and after Yammer activation
The difference: Yammer feed for
OneDrive files
File comments as seen from feeds…
Agenda
About the products
An overview of O365 from a perspective of a long term Connections user

O356 is NOT social

How does it (not) support your social business journey

Conclusion
Why IBM, why NOT Microsoft
What does SOCIAL mean?
“Social” is…

… to be in touch with colleagues, to

communicate, to collaborate, to share ideas
in order to get my work done faster and
better
Does O365 support this?

#1 GET UPDATED
Newsfeed (without Yammer)
Newsfeed preferences
Updates with Yammer
Summary
• SharePoint newsfeed is not good
• Only explicit updates (+files)
• Yammer is not integrated
• IBM Connections do much better
Does O365 support this?

#2 PEOPLE AND PROFILES

Disconnected profiles
Like peekaboo? Upload a photo!

???
Tags? Network contacts?
My Profile – page 1 of 3
My Profile (the boring stuff)
Finally something social.
Tags are not used for search…
People - are they in Outlook?
My profile
My Yammer profile
Summary
• Complex, confusing
• Two detached profiles: O365 + Yammer
• You can enter some social information
nowadays but it is hard to utilize it
Does o365 support this?

#3 COLLABORATE ON FILES
Social Files? No, just a filesystem!
File details

click

click
Even more file details

???
File sharing – web interface

???
External links (Dropbox style)
Sharing details
File properties?
File properties?
No ‘All files’ view

???
Shared with me?

???
Descriptions? Comments??? No!
Comments are only inside documents
(Or you have to use Yammer)
Comments are hidden while editing
… and Y is not accessible from W/E/P
Summary
• Complex, comfusing
• No file descriptions !!!
• No comments! No tags!!!
• Very bad navigation
• Horrible user experience
Does O365 support this?

#4 SHARE EXPERIENCE
Wikis? Yes, but…

???
Editing a wiki
Blogs
Communities? No, Sites instead…
Site content
Customization – not for business users
Summary
• Not really social sharing tools
• Everything is tweaked SharePoint
• Many issues regarding Sites
• Updates?
• Members?
• Activity streams? Tags? Likes?
• Complex
• Not easy to use
Agenda
About the products
An overview of O365 from a perspective of a long term Connections user

O356 is NOT social

How does it (not) support your social business journey

Conclusion
Why IBM, why NOT Microsoft
Microsoft’s approach is completely
different
O365 is not social
• O365 is still focused on DMS/ECM functions
(OneDrive, Newsfeed, People, Sites)
• Weird tagging
• No liking
• Hard to stay updated (newsfeed issues),
Yammer or not
O365 won’t improve sharing &
collaboration
• O365 is very complex
• Not built for social, Yammer does not help
much, adds more complexity instead
• O365 is difficult to use, weird UI, navigation
issues
• There are some powerful features, but require
setup by well-trained IT guys
Summary: different worlds
• The paradigm in O365 is different
• IT administrators who setup it
• Content producers who know how to use Sites
• Content consumers who hopefully can find
information
• In IBM Connections all users are equal
• Only community owners are somehow more
powerull
• O365 is catching up on Connections
O365: Just a bigger graveyard
for documents?
Want to use SP for document management?
Use stapler instead! (an expert advice)
Want to use O365 for social collaboration?
Use IBM Connections instead! (my advice)
Thank you! Questions?
Jan Valdman
jan.valdman@whitesoft.eu
+420 603 590 152

Watch online https://youtu.be/M8CdfKCMvzE

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