Harmon.ie for SharePoint 3.0 Offers Microsoft, Lotus Support

The edition enables Notes users to bring SharePoint functionality into their email environment by uniting the platforms.

Social email software provider Harmon.ie announced the availability of the Lotus Notes edition of Harmon.ie for SharePoint 3.0, a platform that aggregates Microsoft SharePoint collaboration and social tools into an email sidebar for easier access. The edition enables Notes users to bring SharePoint functionality into their email environment by uniting the IBM and Microsoft platforms.

Lotus shops such as consumer products company Amway, global power and automation technologies group ABB, and utility American Water are using this strategy to integrate SharePoint and Notes to streamline work efforts.

Also available for Microsoft Outlook, Harmon.ie facilitates business collaboration and enterprise social networking by simplifying SharePoint usage for business users who have difficulty with the multistep navigation. With Harmon.ie, business users can complete common SharePoint tasks through the email window. Harmon.ie for SharePoint 3.0 adds new "social document" features that further streamline collaboration by providing one-click connectivity between people and documents. The platform supports Microsoft Office 365 as well as other Microsoft cloud offerings such as Microsoft SharePoint Online, hosted solutions for SharePoint 2010, Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0.

These features include an activity stream providing both document and people status updates, marking the first time that this information is available in a multithreaded activity stream format; the ability to open documents as well as view detailed user profiles from the activity stream, allowing users to perform these tasks without leaving the email interface; and one-click phone, chat, videoconference and/or email connectivity to colleagues from the activity stream, including support for Microsoft Lync/OCS, Lotus Sametime and Cisco UC.  Also included is a "suggested colleagues" feature that helps users expand their enterprise social graph by recommending additional connections based on their contact history including email, chat and document co-editing.

"Until we found Harmon.ie, we were facing a major IT gap. We were launching a global collaboration program for 124,000 users around the globe with SharePoint, Team Spaces and a global directory, but we had no way to integrate those functions with Notes. We knew that would hamper adoption because our employees are accustomed to collaborating through email," said Chen Zuo, project manager for Zurich-based ABB. "With Harmon.ie bringing SharePoint functionality into email, we achieved significant use of our new tools, creation of 2,400 online team sites, and improved dialogue within and beyond teams in just the first 12 months."