Today's digital natives grew up with fingers thumping the computer keyboard, eyes glued to computer screens, and ears intently tuned to their MP3 players.

They are in their element when immersed in three or more simultaneous conversations on IM (instant messaging) tools such as MSN and Yahoo Messenger, and contributing to wikis and having their say at social bookmarking such as Deli.cio.us and StumbleUpon.

Now companies are looking seriously into using these social computing tools in the enterprise space.

One such initiative, Lotus Connections, seeks to exploit the power of social computing from within Lotus Notes, a group-work tool.

Unlike the loosely available applications in the consumer space, Lotus Connections - built around Web 2.0 design principles - is packed with security safeguards needed by high-security agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigations and the White House.

Digital Life met up with one of the key software architects, Mr. Marty Moore from the IBM Software Group, who was in town in early August for a conference.

What are the three most requested-for features and functions within the social computing space and how are these built into the Lotus Connections product?

Most corporate customers want tools that capture the tacit knowledge of their employees. Rather than "know-whats" (the facts) and "know-whys" (the science), employees' tacit knowledge - or "know-how" - can aid corporate survival.

So, much like people exchange business cards, Profiles within Lotus Connections was designed to allow the corporation to keep a record of, view and search for employees with core skills and competencies.

With it, one department can "borrow" staff from another, pulling down territorial barriers and creating efficiency.

For employees, this sharing of workload brings personal benefits.

Mr. Moore said that only 10 to 20 per cent of the employees within a corporation are "active contributors". With a tool like Profiles, leaders in key domain skills, technology and knowledge are quickly identified and their reputations established, leading to greater job satisfaction - and rewards.

The second most-requested for tool is the integration of the social computing tools. This customer feedback has been incorporated into the entire range of Lotus products to provide a powerful and seamless solution to facilitate social computing within the corporation.

Finally, customers also want to be able to access the applications - say, a word-processing document or a presentation file - from within activities like instant messaging or blogging. They want to be able to send e-mail messages directly by, say, clicking on a digital business card instead of first opening up that program and then sending an e-mail note.