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Email and

Collaboration Deliver Business Value

September 2006

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Email and Collaboration Deliver Business Value | September 2006©2006 Summit Strategies, Inc.

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Email and Collaboration Deliver Business Value

Sections Executive Overview ........................................................................................ 1

Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1

Section 1 Messaging and Integrated Information Sharing Are Mission Critical ...................................... 2

Section 2 Security and Performance Drive Product Selections ..................... 5

Section 3 Notes/Domino 7.0 Improves Performance and Remote User Experience ................................ 6

Section 4 Email and Collaboration Success Depends on IT/Business Alignment ................................ 8

Section 5 Lotus Notes/Domino 7.0 Targets High Priority Business Requirements ............................ 10

Figures Figure 1 Email is Rated Mission Critical ..................................................... 3

Figure 2 Top Ten Business Areas That Benefi t from Email and Collaboration Technologies ..................... 4

Figure 3 Top Ten Factors Infl uencing Choice of Email and Collaboration Products ............................... 5

Figure 4 Lotus Software Ranked Most Secure .......................................... 6

Figure 5 Top Ten Lotus Notes/Domino Business Value Metrics ................. 7

Figure 6 Top Ten Emerging Email and Collaboration Requirements .......... 9

Table ofContents

Email and Collaboration Deliver Business Value | September 2006©2006 Summit Strategies, Inc.

NOTE: This report is based upon information believed to be accurate and reliable. Neither Summit Strategies, Inc. nor its agents make any warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy of the information or the opinions expressed. We shall have no liability for any errors of fact or judgment or for any damages resulting from reliance upon this information.

Trademarked names appear throughout this report. Rather than list the names and entities that own the trademarks or insert a trademark symbol with each mention of the trademarked name, Summit Strategies uses the names only for editorial purposes and to the benefi t of the trademark owner with no intention of infringing upon that trademark. ©2006.

Figure 7 Top Five Tactics to Maximize the Business Value of Email and Collaboration ......................... 10

Figure 8 Keys to Ensuring Success of Email and Collaboration Upgrades and Rollouts ........................11

Email and Collaboration Deliver Business Value | Page 1 ©2006 Summit Strategies, Inc.

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Email and Collaboration Deliver Business Value

Executive Overview

More and more IT organizations identify email and collaboration as mission-critical business resources. They value the company-wide productivity benefi ts provided and use these technologies as platforms on which to build value-add workfl ow applications and collaborative business services. In selecting email and collaboration tools, customers demand high levels of security, availability and performance that can cost effectively scale to support tens of thousands of local and remote workers.

The IBM® Lotus Notes®/Domino® family of email and collaboration tools tar-gets the full range of current and emerging corporate requirements. Based on Summit Strategies survey and in-depth interview data, this report identifi es why Lotus Notes/Domino customers select Lotus software over the competi-tion and outlines critical steps customers need to take to assure successful deployments and upgrades.

Introduction

Businesses compete on their ability to gather, analyze, and take action on all types of information. Structured information, such as fi nancial and accounting data, has long been recognized as critical to business success. However, for many organizations, unstructured information such as documents, messages and graphics are just as essential. The business value of these types of information is only unlocked when the information can be shared across the organization, inte-grated into workfl ows and stored or retrieved as needed. Electronic messaging, content management systems and emerging online collaboration tools such as blogs and wikis are crucial to help create, share and protect unstructured informa-tion. Escalating regulatory demands to improve the stewardship of unstructured content, including electronic messages, further increase the pressure on IT to better manage, protect and track unstructured content across the enterprise.

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Email and Collaboration Deliver Business Value | Page 2©2006 Summit Strategies, Inc.

The IBM Lotus Notes/Domino combination offers customers a tightly integrated set of capabilities. These include messaging, collaborative Web conferencing, application authoring, workfl ow and distribution capabilities based on a plat-form that receives high marks for security, reliability and scalability. In a recent survey of Lotus Notes/Domino customers, Summit Strategies found that:

� Email is rated as a mission-critical business resource by the vast majority of IT decision makers;

� Support for secure mobile worker access to messaging and collaboration facilities will be a top priority in the coming years;

� Security ranks as the number one factor infl uencing the choice of messag-ing and collaboration technologies;

� Integrated access to corporate-wide information via document management, portals and workfl ow technologies increases the ability of the customer’s business users to make decisions and effectively react to changing busi-ness conditions; and

� Strong business/IT alignment and collaboration is a vital enabler of suc-cessful messaging and collaboration strategies.

This paper describes the results of the survey as well as a set of in-depth one-on-one interviews with customers who had recently competitively evaluated alternative vendor offerings, and opted for Lotus Notes/Domino. As we discuss in depth, customers selected the Lotus Note/Domino solutions because they believe it is:

� Much more secure than alternative products such as Microsoft Exchange;

� Highly reliable and scalable, even when supporting tens of thousands of end users;

� Able to support tight integration of email with document management, workfl ow and portal implementations; and

� Supported by ongoing IBM Lotus software development programs that pro-tect the customer’s existing investment in Lotus Notes-based applications while improving the email client interface, enhancing support for mobile workers, and reducing the total cost of ownership.

Section 1 Messaging and Integrated Information Sharing Are Mission Critical

We collected the Lotus Notes/Domino customer data discussed in this paper via an on-line survey during July 2006. Of the 100 participating North American IT decision makers, 50% represented enterprises with 5,000 or more employees. Twenty percent represented organizations with 1,000-4,999 employees. The


remaining 30% represented midsize organizations with 100-999 employees. They came from a wide range of industries with the largest groups represent-ing manufacturing (34%), communications/electronics (16%), fi nancial services (11%) and retail (11%).

All participants had direct responsibility for driving IT and/or business decisions about their organization’s messaging and collaboration technology strate-gies. All participant organizations used the Lotus Notes/Domino environment for messaging and many also used it for some or all of their collaboration, Web conferencing, workfl ow, document management and/or portal require-ments. Some also used third-party tools for these latter activities. About 20% of the survey participants had previous operational experience with Microsoft’s Exchange platform.

Across the board, email was considered mission critical by 71% of survey respondents while collaboration technologies were rated mission critical by 34% of the participants (see Figure 1). For the purposes of this study, col-laboration technologies included Web conferencing, team rooms, discussion databases, calendars, blogs, wikis, and presence awareness-based applica-tions such as instant messaging (IM).

Figure 1 Email is Rated Mission Critical

Source: Summit Strategies, Inc., www.summitstrat.com

Email

Collaboration

How would you rate the overall business valueprovided to your firm by each of the following technologies?

Note: Rows may not equal 100% due to rounding.

Mission critical - can't live without itImportant but it's OK if it's down once in a while

OtherModerate valueLow value

The vast majority of survey participants consider email to be mission critical or important, but respondents were more likely describe collaboration technologies as important but not mission critical.

N=100

34%

71%

47%

16%

16%

12%

2%

1%

1%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%


When asked to pinpoint which business groups or processes benefi t most from the use of these technologies, the majority of organizations indicated that elec-tronic mail is a core element of their overall corporate environment (see Figure 2) and is viewed as a mission-critical productivity tool and operational require-ment for all business areas. One customer said, “Messaging is one of our most valued enterprise systems. If it goes down it impacts everyone.”

Figure 2 Top Ten Business Areas That Benefi t from Email and Collaboration Technologies

Survey participants also frequently identifi ed call center/customer service and human resource organizations as benefi ting from the tight messag-ing/content management/workfl ow integration that Lotus Notes/Domino provides. Human resource organizations frequently use the integrated IBM WebSphere Portal technology to provide self-service employee access to a wide range of human resource documents, benefi ts statements and benefi t registration services.


General internal and external email

Document management

Customer service/call center workflow

Instant messaging

Human resources

Product development

Field sales force systems

Compliance programs

IT help desk/trouble ticket systems

Legal document management

Select the three business areas/work processes that gain the mostbusiness value from their use of email and collaboration technologies.

The company-wide employee productivity benefits provided by widespread use of internal and external email are consistently identified as the greatest source of business value.

N=100

13%

19%

19%

21%

21%

25%

29%

31%

33%

54%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%Note: Multiple selections permittedfrom a list of 14 options provided.


One customer used the WebSphere Portal Extend V5.1 software to design and implement a role-based intranet portal to provide integrated internal access to SAP, Oracle and IBM Lotus Domino data. The solution creates “virtual por-tals” that support 110,000 users worldwide with home page response time of three to fi ve seconds. Other organizations point to customer service organiza-tions using the integrated platform to log comments, forward queries and track responses in an automated environment. Organizations charged with improv-ing their ability to audit email in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley, or other regulatory edicts, also fi nd this integrated environment to be very useful.

Section 2 Security and Performance Drive Product Selections

Regardless of the business benefi ts sought, most (58%) Lotus Notes/Domino customers report that security is their top email and collaboration solution selection criteria (see Figure 3).

Figure 3 Top Ten Factors Infl uencing Choice of Email and Collaboration Products


Security

System performance

Total cost of ownership

System availability

Integration of email withcollaboration and workflow

application development tools

Minimizing end user disruption

Mobile support

Protecting existingapplications investments

Scalability

Vendor commitment toongoing upgrades

Select the three factors that have the most influence overyour choice of email and collaboration products and vendors.

Notes/Domino customers consistently identify security as the number one factor influencing their decision to implement the Lotus suite.

N=100

Note: Multiple selections permittedfrom a list of 11 options provided.

14%

17%

20%

22%

25%

29%

31%

36%

41%

58%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%


The majority of Lotus Notes/Domino customers feel that Lotus Notes/Domino has better security administration tools, better identity management and is overall more secure than other solutions they have evaluated including the Microsoft Exchange suite (see Figure 4). Some customers have conducted detailed assessments of successful virus and hacker attacks and report that Lotus Notes/Domino is much less frequently targeted than Microsoft products.

Figure 4 Lotus Software Ranked Most Secure


Better security administration tools

Much more secure

Less likely to be ahacker or virus target

More powerful identity management

About the same level ofsecurity as other products

Do not have enoughinformation to form an opinion

How would you compare the security of the IBM Lotus environmentto other available email and collaboration options? (Select all that apply.)

The majority of Notes/Domino customers say that the Lotus environment is much more secure than other alternatives they have evaluated.

N=100

Note: Multiple selections permitted.

5%

26%

35%

48%

56%

58%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Section 3 Notes/Domino 7.0 Improves Performance and Remote User Experience

When it comes to judging the business value of email and collaboration, respondents placed system availability, TCO and end user productivity at the top of the list (see Figure 5). While these are clearly priorities for all customers, a number of survey respondents who also had experience with the recently released Lotus Notes/Domino version 7.0 indicated that many of the recent


system upgrades enable Lotus Notes/Domino to better satisfy these and other requirements than ever before.

In terms of overall system scalability and performance, some of the largest customers reported that Lotus Notes/Domino 7.0 showed more resilience and better uptime than Microsoft Exchange when supporting tens of thousands of

Figure 5 Top Ten Lotus Notes/Domino Business Value Metrics


Email system availability and uptime

Total IT cost ofownership and operation

End user productivity

Cost per employee of supplyingemail and collaboration

End user satisfactionsurveys and feedback

Number of IT help desk calls

Number of security intrusions

Ease of employee accountactivation/termination

Cost of applicationdevelopment and maintenance

Business process workflow efficiency

What three metrics are most widely used to evaluate and track the business value provided by your firm's email and collaboration technology investments?

System availability and total cost of ownership are the primary ways Notes/Domino customers measure the business value of their email and collaboration technology investments.

N=100


19%

19%

20%

23%

23%

24%

25%

37%

44%

47%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%


users. Separately, some customers commented that they expect to signifi cantly consolidate their Lotus Domino server environments and reduce costs while maintaining performance and scalability. One customer anticipates reducing their Lotus Domino hardware requirements by 20% while supporting a signifi cant amount of overall traffi c growth.

When it comes to user productivity, customers increasingly emphasize the need to support remote users at services levels close or equal to those provided to offi ce-based users. With more and more workers regularly or permanently working out of the offi ce, a growing number of IT departments anticipate the need to support vir-tual teamrooms, remote secure data access, and robust external email services.

One global fi rm that relies on virtual teams spanning North America, Asia and Europe explains that it uses Lotus Notes/Domino to support teamrooms and to make a wide range of content databases broadly accessible to users and customers around the world. It believes that this ability to share information internally and externally on a worldwide basis, is critical to their success.

Many other customers state they are planning to provide more robust remote end-user services in the coming years and believe that Lotus Notes/Domino’s ability to provide end users with consistent Web-based access to the data—regardless of where the user is located—will be critical to their future business success. These types of business requirements are fueling customer demand for native support for Web services, J2EE and .NET, encryption, and remote/mobile client access (see Figure 6).

As one customer explained, “We don’t want to store the data in more than one place. We want to store and maintain it centrally, then, allow access based on roles and privileges. Lotus Notes/Domino 7.0 will help us provide users with a highly available and stable system where people can manage their data effec-tively, particularly if they are remote.”

Several early adopter customers of Lotus Notes/Domino 7.0 also say that this latest iteration of the products signifi cantly improves the Web interface and email client GUI, and expect both improvements to increase end-user productivity. Customers cited these and other major improvements provided by version 7.0 as key factors that have encouraged them to make long term commitments to upgrade the Lotus Notes/Domino suite across their organizations.

Section 4 Email and Collaboration Success Depends on IT/Business Alignment

Despite their overall belief in the signifi cant business value provided by email and collaboration technologies, most Lotus Notes/Domino customers agree that it takes a good dose of line-of-business support to ensure that organiza-tions get the biggest benefi t possible from their investments. Creating clear lines of communication between business and IT and educating business groups about the capabilities provided by state-of-the-art email and collabo-ration tools top the list of tactics customers should employ to maximize the business value of these technologies (See Figure 7).


One customer described the process as enabling business groups to defi ne its business requirements in terms of key policies such as security, audit and usability. Business groups also have strong input into budget, timelines and risk assessments. IT is then tasked to drive the implementation in a way that aligns with business priorities and policies on an ongoing basis.

Even for organizations that are upgrading existing systems, business and IT alignment is key. Three-quarters of the survey participants indicated that creat-ing a well-defi ned, centralized process tied to business-driven requirements is one of the best ways to ensure the success of these projects (see Figure 8).


Native support for Web services,J2EE and .NET applications

Encryption and hacker protection

Remote and mobile client support

Highly secure identity management

Easy, integrated administrationand management

Document management and workflow

Tight integration across email,collaboration and workflow tools

Easy to use, integrated collaborationand workflow application development

Extensive anti-spam capabilities

Easy to use/intuitive rich email clients

What are the top 5 email and collaboration capabilities and featuresthat will be most important to your organization over the next 3 years?

Notes/Domino customers are firmly committed to increasing their use of Web services, J2EE and .NET application support over the next three years.

N=100


29%

29%

31%

33%

34%

35%

40%

44%

44%

60%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Figure 6 Top Ten Emerging Email and Collaboration Requirements


One IT manager at an organization with more than 10,000 Lotus Notes/Domino users explained, “We have business champions who sit at the local business level and know about IT and how we are structured. These liaisons give us the requirements. We make sure they are up to speed on understanding new prod-ucts and how to take advantage of them. It’s about how we become a partner with the business.”

Section 5 Lotus Notes/Domino 7.0 Targets High Priority Business Requirements

The IBM Lotus Notes/Domino software suite has long enabled customers to share, manage and organize messaging and unstructured content. The data provided via the survey and interviews discussed above indicates that Lotus

Figure 7 Top Five Tactics to Maximize the Business Value of Email and Collaboration


Create a business liaison groupto communicate business needs

Educate business groups aboutcapabilities available using these tools

Encourage business groups todevelop internal collaboration

experts and application developers

Define specificbusiness-oriented SLAs

Directly tie costs tobusiness performance

What are your top 3 recommendations forthings other firms should do to maximize the business

value derived from their email and collaboration investments?

Customers recommend the creation of strong business/IT communi-cations and coordination processes to help maximize the business value resulting from the use of email and collaboration technologies.

37%

42% 49% 52%

60%0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%


Notes/Domino version 7 is designed to address the current and emerging pri-orities of many existing and new email and collaboration customers.

In particular, with the introduction of version 7.0, IBM improves the level of integration between messaging and collaboration tools, enhances system scal-ability and security, and enriches the email client experience for both local and remote workers. It also sets the stage for richer, standards-based Web-based access and remote user support which will continue to be extended in future releases.

Figure 8 Keys to Ensuring Success of Email and Collaboration Upgrades and Rollouts


Rely on a well-defined, centralizedequirements definition, application

developnment and user acceptancetesting process controlled by IT

Rely on standards-based solutionsto guarantee ease

of integration and implementationacross best-of-breed tools

Tightly integrate collaborationand workflow with

end-user's email environment

Invest in an extensive end-usereducation and training program

Develop a solidbusiness case and ROI

Rely on an integrated suite fromone vendor to assure ease

of integration and implementation

What do you believe are key enablers of successful email,collaboration and workflow application roll-outs and/or major upgrades?

Notes/Domino users agree that a centralized process to drive requirements, development and acceptance testing is a key strategy for maximizing the success of email and collaboration upgrades and rollouts.

N=100


56%

61%

61%

71%

72%

75%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%


Specifically, Lotus Notes/Domino version 7.0 features the following enhancements:

� Improved scalability that reduces CPU utilization by up to 25% based on performance metrics developed by the IBM development lab;

� Ability to support up to 80% more Lotus Notes mail users or up to 50% more Lotus Domino Web Access users per CPU, compared to Lotus Domino 6.5;

� Simplifi ed administrative and security tools including policy-based man-agement capabilities and an option to lock-down desktop settings;

� Stronger encryption keys;

� Native support for Web Services based on both J2EE and Microsoft .NET;

� Improved email client capabilities including more effi cient inbox manage-ment and message sorting tools, mail thread management tools, autosave, and tighter integration with instant messaging and Web conferencing;

� Increased presence awareness in calendars, team rooms and discussion databases; and

� More sophisticated workfl ow development tools and tighter integration with Lotus Domino Document Manager and DB2.

For customers who haven’t looked at IBM Lotus Notes/Domino in a few years, version 7.0 represents a major upgrade that deserves consideration when a secure, reliable and tightly integrated email and collaboration envi-ronment is desired.

Mary Johnston [email protected]

This white paper was sponsored by IBM.

Summit Strategies is a market strategy and consulting fi rm focused on helping IT vendors quickly identify and capitalize ondisruptive industry infl ection points. Since 1984, our breakthrough thinking and one-to-one consulting engagements have

provided vendors with objective, hard-hitting insight critical for creating successful market, channel and product strategies in changing markets. Our current focus is on the adoption of dynamic (a.k.a. utility or on demand) computing among enterprise, mid-market and small business customers. For more information, please visit our Website at www.summitstrat.com or contact us at 617-523-1294.

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