IBM Software Group has used the 2009 IMPACT conference to urge enterprises and partners to take advantage of the current challenging global economic climate and start building organisations that are smarter and improve business agility and value.

The conference which was held under the theme "Smart Planet" and had seen an increase in the number of participants that have come to share their successes in the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) area.

Steve Mills, Senior VP and Group Executive at IBM Software Group says that in today's smarter planet that is instrumented, interconnected and intelligent, the potential exists for enterprise organisations to improve agility and gain real business results.