IBM launches Verse hoping to end email dependency

IBM Verse hopes to change email habits.

The death of email has been predicted many times, but the oft-hated means of communication continues to dominate and frustrate the corporate way of life.

Now IBM reckons it has found a way to tame it. An email tool on steroids, Verse combines much of what Big Blue is known for - analytics, cloud computing and security - with a social engine, calendar, file sharing, telephony and instant messaging.

Call it an email replacement, but IBM's Michael Garbett, vice-president of social business and collaboration solutions, Asia Pacific, insists it's a new way of working.

A screen shot of Verse in action. Photo: Supplied

'We have integrated analytics to help the solution learn about you and your priorities - the system learns over time who you should be paying attention to and what topics should be important to you. You're not just managing a mountain of email - the system is managing it for you and as a result you can bring down the time you spend to a more manageable level,' Mr Garbett told Fairfax Media.

It may sound like Google Priority Inbox, but Mr Garbett says it's much more integrated than that. IBM even has plans to eventually deploy its cognitive computer genius Watson to really help Verse learn what it should know.

It's not the first time IBM has provided a corporate email tool, with Lotus Notes (now IBM Notes) going back two decades and falling out of favour with corporates of late, but it is the first time it has brought together other IBM software tools already deployed throughout the business world.

'Verse is basically the next iteration of those capabilities in the cloud - not just another set of integrated collaboration tools,' Mr Garbett said.

It will integrate with Apple products following the announcement of a partnership between the two tech giants, and be available also on Android and Window devices.

It also promises to find what you are looking for anywhere in the enterprise, be it in email archives, a chat session, wiki entry, blog or document. And it should be able to re-route your phone calls if you're in a meeting, or out - if you set up rules first.

Companies have been seeking to replace email for years. Google failed with Wave, while social enterprise tools such as Microsoft's Yammer and Salesforce Chatter have found some loyalty among users.

But the pile of emails continues to grow every day.

Workplace expert Greg Bamber of Monash University business school said it would be a challenge to change work habits.

'It's not simply a matter for the platform, it's also the way people use it. They have a rather annoying habit of copying other people on it, clogging their inbox and forcing them to deal with it,' Professor Bamber said.

Professor Bamber would reserve judgment until the tool was available for use - from March next year - but said it 'sounds to me like IBM making an attempt to reinvent their own [Notes] platform'.

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