Rich presence awareness with IBM Sametime software

Rich presence information is the cornerstone of any unified communications solution, since it provides the context and intelligence that makes communications and collaboration effective and efficient. People spend less time trying to find others in their professional networks who can answer questions, or speed business processes.

IBM Lotus® Sametime® software can integrate multiple elements to provide users with a comprehensive view to someone's availability:

• Online presence status. Prevent unnecessary interruptions by letting others know if you are online, available, in a meeting, away, or prefer not to be disturbed.

• Custom status messages. Use a free text field to communicate exactly what you are doing now.

• Telephony status. Eliminate unnecessary phone calls and voicemails by knowing that someone is on the phone before you call. This can save time and telephony expense.

• Automated geographic location awareness. Signal by your location whether now is an appropriate time to reach you. When you are in a new location, such as a different time zone than where you usually work, Sametime software recognizes when you are in a new location and can automatically publish it to other users and applications.

• Alerts. Be notified when people become available.

• Availability status icons. Determine others' availability at a glance, see if they are using a mobile client, and optionally or with the proper integration, see if a contact is on the telephone.

  
  Sametime software's built-in integration with a range of email and productivity applications provides people with rich presence awareness from the applications they use every day.
  This makes it easy to reach out to colleagues without having to switch context away from the task at hand. Sametime integrates with IBM and Microsoft software:
  

  • IBM WebSphere® Portal
  • IBM Lotus Notes®
  • IBM Lotus® Quickr™
  • IBM Connections
  • Microsoft® Office
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft SharePoint

  
  Through the Sametime SDK and APIs, Sametime rich presence can also be embedded in virtually any desktop or web-based application. (See the Platform page for details.)

IBM Sametime software is available in multiple versions to support the needs of your enterprise from the small office to the multinational conglomerate. See the edition comparison on the IBM Sametime Features and benefits page for details.