IBM rolls out new social analytics tools

IBM announced a series of analytics tools and services designed to better measure returns on the so-called social enterprise.

The software part of the equation is dubbed IBM Connections.
A new release will combine analytics, real-time monitoring and social networks connecting employees and partners.

In a nutshell, IBM is betting its social analytics tools will aggregate unstructured data and find signals to highlight everything from employee sentiment to market trends via unstructured data, SAP applications and Facebook posts. Customers for IBM's new social enterprise software include Kraft, 3M, Prudential and Caterpillar.

Among the key parts of IBM's social analytics push:

• IBM Connections is designed to allow for one-click collaboration as well as highlight critical data from wikis, blogs, streams, email and calendars.
• SmartCloud for Social Business is a SaaS suite for co-editing of documents (IBM Docs), online meetings and enterprise email, calendaring and messaging.
• Social networking tools for content management systems.
• Messaging and collaboration software for mobile devices and Web sites.