Back in January IBM first announced Mail Next and revealed the first prototype images. A lot has changed since then, not least that the HTML mockups have been replaced with working code, as has been shown in webinars, user groups and Design Advisory Panel calls. Now the name has changed too, with the final name announced as IBM Verse.
Not surprisingly there was no focus on technology in today’s meetings, but the message has been loud and clear since immediately after the IBM Connect OGS in Orlando, that the infrastructure currently used – Domino for mail and Connections for profiles etc – remains the same. It doesn’t appear to be a new way to work for IT.
But then IBM Verse is not a product as such. It’s an analytics-based front-end to your Domino mail database and Connections. And that is the key element, because anyone involved in Domino development knows that mail is just a database. But it’s the one database that businesses have typically ignored from analytical processing. It’s a new way to work on top instead of mail rules or inbox. And it’s an option, not an enforcement.
The other significant aspect is that IBM Verse brings not only a new way of working to the desktop browser, but also to mobile. And not just Android, as we’ve seen in the past with Traveler, but also iOS. That will be a new way to work for anyone who uses iOS devices.
And the inclusion in the future of IBM Watson searches from IBM Verse brings additional power. As does the vision to include more messaging sources in the future. What do we use currently when we want to know an answer? Typically, help files or Google (more usually the latter!). This may provide another new way for us to work with the product. But it must not be thought of as a reason to skip training. The lack of training on how to use email and the hubris of users who believe they do not need to be trained on email is at the core of email misuse.
Another big focus of today’s event was the IBM Design team. IBM Verse demonstrates a new way to work on software development, as we saw in January at IBM Connect and as we saw today on another step in the journey. It’s important to emphasise that this is just another early step in the journey, it’s not the final user experience.
An example of that was picked up by Serdar Basegmez. The IBM Connections Developers site (formerly Social Business Toolkit and as far as I know not just Connections) shows that the development background will also be available through APIs, which is also a message that was stated when I asked at IBM Connect.
But at the moment IBM Verse still won’t notify me when I send an email which talks about an attached document that I forgot to add before I send it!
