IBM launches software to simplify business partnerships

IBM software collaboration supply chain
IBM makes working together simple. (Credit: IBM)

IBM has launched on-premise and cloud-based software designed to enhance collaboration between enterprises and third-party partners and suppliers. The software will improve the management of shared business processes, performance analytics, compliance, and data sharing between organizations and the companies with whom they conduct business, according to an IBM statement.

The "Multi-Enterprise Relationship Management" (MRM) platform feature is built to enable organizations to manage shared processes across business communities. MRM will also reduce the onboarding process for trading partners, IBM said. The "Sterling B2B Services Reporting and Analytics" feature is designed to help monitor transactions across an organization's ecosystem to detect performance trends for better decision-making. "Aspera eXtreme File Transfer" will enable the transfer of big data while avoiding traditional networking limitations and bottlenecks, according to an IBM statement.

As part of the new software, new enhancements to the Standards Processing Engine, Supplier Lifecycle Management and Contract Lifecycle Management solutions are built to provide capabilities that monitor, manage and action data associated with risk and compliance.

Partners and launches

IBM lists Lenovo as a launch partner for the software releases. Lenovo has implemented Sterling B2B Integration Services, to build "a unified foundation to connect and collaborate across its partner ecosystem as well as reduce the time it takes to onboard new partners by 85 percent," according to the statement.

This week, IBM rolled out the Elastic Storage solution, which the company claims can reduce storage costs up to 90% by moving data into more economical locations. IBM also recently launched QRadar Incident Forensics which is designed to help security professionals retrace the steps of cyber criminals.