IBM (News - Alert) recently unveiled a set of collaboration and social networking services designed to help organizations get the most performance out of their employees.

 

The new offering, billed as “Enterprise Adaptability” services, include a unique way of measuring the return on investment of a company’s forays into social networking, as well as ways of automatically identifying key talent, and other social network analysis.

 

According to IBM, Enterprise Adaptability is an important part of the company’s overall consulting and software portfolio, in that it empowers clients with tools to help them identify experts within their organizations, or with their partners and customers.

 

It’s no secret that adaptability to change has long been a hallmark of a successful person, company, what have you. In a recent Global Human Capital Study of 400 executives in 40 countries conducted by IBM, the majority agreed that developing an organization that is adaptable to change is essential. And yet, only 14 percent of those organizations saw themselves in that light, believing that they were unable to “predict future skills, effectively locate experts and effectively collaborate within and outside the enterprise.”

 

According to Michael Rhodin, General Manager, IBM Lotus Software, "Social software, collaboration, and content management are revolutionizing the ways in which organizations interact with customers, partners and employees. With globalization, operations and expertise become increasingly dispersed. Organizations need to realize the value and potential of collaboration tools.”

 

IBM hails Enterprise Adaptability as a methodology by which companies can learn how to weave next-generation Web 2.0 technologies into the very fabric of their business operations. The end result, according to IBM is to enable “employees, partners and customers to communicate, establish new business relationships and make real-time decisions within the context of their everyday work.”

 

An IBM press release announcing the new Enterprise Adaptability initiative, informs that the service encompasses three phases:

 

 

According to Tim Ringo, Vice President and Global Leader, Human Capital Management, IBM Global Business Services, “Creating competitive advantage in a global economy requires the ability to recognize refine and promote good ideas in an organization and turn them into products and services quickly. It means developing the right skills in the right place, applying new tools and technologies that provide access to global expertise and knowledge, while innovating and collaborating across national and organizational borders.”