Blue Water Shipping's journey to become a Social Business with Lotus Notes and IBM Connections

1. IBM Software Travel and Transportation
Collaboration Solutions
Blue Water Shipping
removes the barriers to
effective collaboration
Embarking on a journey towards improved information
sharing with IBM Connections and IBM Lotus Notes
Established in Esbjerg, Denmark in 1972, Blue Water Shipping offers
freight solutions by road, rail, sea and air through a network of offices,
Overview
agents and partners across the world. The company also provides a
The need wide range of value-added services including customised IT solutions.
Blue Water Shipping, an international Employing approximately 1,000 people, Blue Water Shipping currently
transportation company, wanted to
find an alternative to email for sharing
has offices in 29 countries.
information between employees, to help
encourage new, more effective ways of Challenges of sharing information
working.
The geographical scope covered by Blue Water Shipping means that
The solution many of its projects involve numerous team members and stakeholders
The company selected IBM® in various countries. Until recently, employees relied on email to share
Connections software, a social
networking platform that enables
vital documents, leading to confusion over version control and a lack of
boundary-free collaboration, integrated transparency about which users had viewed which files.
with the company’s existing IBM Lotus
Notes® and Domino® environment. Kim D. la Cour, IT Manager at Blue Water Shipping, explains: “The
The benefit nature of our business means that our employees often need to share
Helps boost employee productivity and information across large distances, rather than discussing things face-
encourages innovation. Reduces email to-face. For example, a typical project might be to move an oil rig from
backlog, saving time and contributing to
better version control. Capitalises on the the coast of Singapore to the Caspian Sea. Usually, this would involve
growing importance of social networking. hundreds of emails circulating files between the people involved, and
complex spreadsheets to keep track of data. There was always the risk
of multiple versions emerging and confusion over who had seen a
document. We wanted to be proactive about finding a better way to
collaborate.”
Considering the options
The Blue Water Shipping IT team recognised that it could capitalise
on the growing popularity and importance of social networking to
embed new ways of working into its communication processes. The
company looked at surveys of the various collaboration solutions on
the market, and concluded that IBM Connections was the best option
for enterprise-grade social networking software, due to its exceptional
range of functionality and its compatibility with the company’s existing
IBM environment.

2. IBM Software Travel and Transportation
Collaboration Solutions
“It is important to us to keep up with current trends,” comments
Kim la Cour. “A new generation is entering the company, so it made
Solution components
sense for us to look at what would appeal to them. After looking at
Software the options, we decided that IBM Connections was the best fit for our
• IBM® Connections needs, and would also integrate seamlessly with our IBM Lotus Notes
• IBM Lotus Domino®
• IBM Lotus Notes®
and Domino environment.”
• OnTime Social – a Group Calendar for
IBM Connections Blue Water Shipping engaged IBM Premier Business Partner
IBM Business Partner IntraVision ApS to help deploy IBM Connections, an open social
• IntraVision ApS platform designed to help people engage with networks of expertise
within the company. As a first stage, the solution is being tested by
the IT team, which uses the solution for its helpdesk, creating wikis to
share important information.
“We have worked with IntraVision before and have a good relationship
with them, so they were the natural choice to help us with this project,”
says Kim la Cour. “We are still in the early stages, but ultimately, we
want all our employees to be able to set up their own communities to
share information. In testing, we have already seen most of our IT team
using IBM Connections instead of sending group emails, which was a
key aim for us.”
Encouraging company-wide adoption
Blue Water Shipping is confident that the strong links with social
networking will mean that many younger employees pick up the IBM
Connections solution with enthusiasm. At the same time, the company
recognises that a challenge may lie in getting the older generation to
adopt the new solution.
“As with all big changes to the way people work, we are expecting to
encounter some challenges during the transition period,” comments
Kim la Cour. “Luckily, IBM and IntraVision are helping us put
together a strategy to effectively support all our employees in getting
the best out of the software. With them behind us, we believe that in
the long term, the benefits will be worth it!”
Seeing the difference
Once the implementation of IBM Connections is complete, Blue Water
Shipping expects to see a significant difference in the way employees
share information across the company. The largest immediate effect
will be to dramatically reduce the volume of emails employees need to
manage every day. The solution should also help with version control
of documents.

3. IBM Software Travel and Transportation
Collaboration Solutions
“Using IBM Connections, our employees will be able to share a file
with their colleagues instantly, without resorting to group emails that
“We feel that IBM can cross in cyber space and result in multiple versions of the same
Connections could document,” says Kim la Cour. “This will save huge amounts of time
introduce a brand new and boost productivity. It will also help us formalise our approval
processes by making it easier to ensure that everyone who needs to see
way of thinking for Blue a document has done so before it moves to the next stage.”
Water Shipping – it is
our first step towards By making it easier for employees to collaborate, Blue Water Shipping
hopes that IBM Connections will foster innovation and lay the
removing the barriers to groundwork for future developments. La Cour concludes: “We feel
collaboration.” that IBM Connections could introduce a brand new way of thinking for
Blue Water Shipping – it is our first step towards removing the barriers
— Kim D. la Cour, IT Manager, Blue Water to collaboration.
Shipping
“In the future, for example, we intend to enable employees to access
files via their iPhone or iPad devices, which should be more secure and
effective than storing them on portable hard drives. Even though we
anticipate some growing pains, IBM Connections has the potential to
transform our business.”
About IntraVision ApS
IntraVision ApS offers social business and collaboration consulting and
solutions. It is an IBM Premier Business Partner committed to helping
companies improve the way their employees collaborate. The company
works with all IBM products in this area, with a focus on IBM Lotus
Notes and Domino, IBM Lotus Traveler, IBM Connections and IBM
Sametime®. The company has also developed the OnTime Scheduling
Suite, which has more than 450,000 users worldwide.
To learn more about products, services and solutions from IntraVision,
please visit www.intravision.dk
For more information
To learn more about IBM Collaboration Solutions, contact your
IBM sales representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit us at:
ibm.com/software/lotus/products/connections

4. © Copyright IBM Corporation 2013
IBM Danmark ApS
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Produced in Denmark
January 2013
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