The Official Lotus Knows Blog

Calling Lotus Business Partners and Customers - IBM Exceptional Web Experience Conference 2011

2011-02-23T08:45:40-05:00

By Sonia Malik
WPLC Education Offerings Manager

Call for Abstracts Now Open!
IBM Exceptional Web Experience Conference 2011

The Americas IBM Exceptional Web Experience Conference 2011 will be held on May 15 -19th at the Buena Vista Palace, Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The Call for Abstracts is now open and we invite you to submit conference breakout session and hands-on-lab abstracts for consideration to one of six tracks in either the Business Impact or Technology Program.

Examples of session topics are listed to provide guidance in alignment of solution areas to conference tracks. Actual sessions and labs selected for presentation at the conference will vary, and be based on submissions received through the conference Call for Abstracts process.

Business Impact Program
Track 1: Customer Case Studies and Industry Solutions
Detailed presentations of client solutions, including Project Goals and Analysis, Industry Specific Approaches, Implementation and Governance Techniques, Best Practices.

Track 2: Accelerating Solution Time to Value and ROI
Proven Strategies to Build the Vision and Value of an Exceptional Web Experience; Building a Portal Delivery Roadmap: Paths to Success; How to Successfully Justify and Deploy Portal and Social. Software in Your Organization; The Real Scoop on Understanding the Portal Competitive Landscape.

Track 3: Optimize Customer Experiences to Build Brand and Generate Revenue
You are What You Market: Leveraging New Rules of Marketing; Getting Smart with Retail Portals to Address the Accelerated Shift in Buyer Behavior; Delivering Your Portal Solutions to Mobile Audiences: Best Practices; User Experience Optimization Initiative: Understanding and Applying Web Analytics.

Technology Program
Track 4: Web Experience Platforms and Solutions
Getting Started with IBM WebSphere® Portal and IBM Web Content Management; WebSphere Portal 7
Technical Overview and Strategy; Leveraging Portal NOW to Deliver Exceptional Web Experiences; IBM
Forms Technical Deep Dive; What’s New in Lotus® Quickr™?; Extending your Portal to Mobile Devices; IBM Mashup Center Overview; Exceptional Web Experience in the Cloud – How to Use IBM WebSphere Portal; IBM Web Content Management; Forms and Mashups in the Cloud.

Track 5: Developing Exceptional Web Experiences
Improving the Online Experience: Building Next Generation Web sites;Using Adobe FLEX to Deliver IBM
WebSphere Portal and Collaboration Services; Developing Web Applications using IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory, IBM Rational® Application Developer and IBM Lotus Widget Factory; Powering Exceptional Web Experiences Using Industry Toolboxes; Leveraging WebSphere Commerce and IBM Web Content Management; Deliver Operational and Real-time Business Intelligence with Cognos® Business Intelligence; IBM Forms Technical Deep Dive.

Track 6: Best Practices and Implementation
Managing the Portal Deployment Project: Best Practices, Effective Portal Governance; High Availability Designs and Implementation with WebSphere Portal, Virtualizing Portals, Successfully Managing Your WebSphere Portal, Virtualizing Portals; Successfully Managing Your IBM Web Content Management Solution; Hands On Lab; Administrating WebSphere Portal.

To submit an abstract to be considered for presentation at this event click on Submit Abstract in Lotus Greenhouse to access the submission form.

Note: You must be a registered user of Lotus Greenhouse to access the form. To register, access this link. https://greenhouse.lotus.com/home/login.jsp and select Join Now !

Deadline for submissions is Friday, March 4th, 2011

Important dates ! (subject to change)

Open for Abstracts - February 16th, 2011
Close for Abstracts - March 4th, 2011
Session Notification - March 17th, 2011
Speaker commitment - March 29th, 2011
Final presentations due - April 20th, 2011
Conference arrival - May 16 - 17, 2011

Submission Types
Lectures: 60 minutes (including Q&A)
Hands-on labs: 75 minutes

If you have any questions about your submission, please feel free to contact the IBM Exceptional Web Experience Conference content team:

Lauren Wendel - wendel@us.ibm.com
Sonia Malik - sonia_malik@us.ibm.com
Sean Flanagan - seanf@us.ibm.com (Partner/Business Development Day)

Please feel free to share this with others who may have an interest in participating in this event. Thank you for helping to make the 2011 Exceptional Web Experience Conference a success!

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VideoFest 2011 - Congratulations to contributors of top-rated videos!

2011-02-11T15:45:06-05:00

By Joyce Davis

Lotus Technical Information and Education community manager

I'm happy to announce that we received 101 submissions to VideoFest between October 26th and February 3rd! Contributors of the top-rated videos were recognized at Lotusphere 2011 at the beginning of the Closing General Session by Kristin Lauria, IBM Lotus VP of Marketing and Channels. Thanks to all those who submitted such creative and informative videos. Your contribution helps ensure that members of the community learn more about Lotus products and the value they offer.

And now for the awards...

	The top-rated video in WebSphere Portal, and top rated video overall is Designing Wizards for IBM Forms by Eric Dunn
	The top-rated video in Messaging and Collaboration - Application Development is Introduction to XPages by David Leedy
	The top-rated video in Messaging and Collaboration - Lotus Domino is How to analyze Notes and Domino Crash and Hang Data by Liam Harpur
	The top-rated video in Unified Communications is Implementing custom community icons in Sametime Connect and integrated clients by Chris Miller
	The top-rated video in Social Software is The man who should have used Lotus Connections Wikis by Jean-Francois Chenier

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Lotus announces the Lotus Certified Lotus Instructor Awards for 2010 at Lotusphere

2011-02-02T15:58:18-05:00

Outstanding Customer Satisfaction award recognizes instructors who are constantly sought after and requested for by name from their students.
Our first recipient is the quintessential combination of a technical person and a people person. His 16+ years of technical experience with Lotus is enhanced by his talents with personal interaction. He is described as inquisitive, interested, motivated, empathetic and understanding. The winner of the 2010 Outstanding Customer Satisfaction Award in North America is Robert Schwentker.

The next recipient of this award has been working as a Lotus Instructor since version 4 and was one of the first certified instructors in his entire geography. He teaches Notes, Portal, Sametime and Quickr. Students and training providers rate his teaching skills and technical knowledge as near perfect in evaluations. The winner of the 2010 Outstanding Customer Satisfaction Award in Latin America is Ivan Moraes.

Our final recipient of this award has obtained the highest level of training qualifications in Lotus Notes Domino and is always one of the first instructors to re certify on new releases. He is asked for by name from students due to his high level of subject knowledge, superior interpersonal skills and ability to integrate job relevant examples into his classes. His evaluations are consistently excellent. The winner of the 2010 Outstanding Customer Satisfaction Award in Northeast IOT is Denny Sternberg.

The Best Mastery of Product Courseware Award recognizes instructors who know their curriculum and product technology inside out.
Our first recipient has been dual certified in Notes & Domino for over ten years. His dedication to IBM technologies includes Portal and other brands. He is known for bringing education and solutions together by applying business challenges in combination with his technical prowess. The winner of the 2010 Best Mastery of Product Courseware Award in North America is Daniel Jans.

Our other recipient is a very flexible and qualified instructor. He has been a trainer in Lotus Notes and Domino since release 4 and was also one of the first instructors in his region to become certified to teach Portal courses. This instructor achieves near perfect evaluations in both product areas. He is well-liked among his students for his warm professionalism and expertise. The winner of the 2010 Best Mastery of Product Courseware Award in NE IOT is Daniel Baber.

The final award presented is the Dr. Jim H Adair Award for Instructor Excellence.
Only one instructor worldwide can win this annual award and the recipient must embody the unique qualities exemplified by Dr. Adair. The legacy of his expertise, optimism and humanity live on in this award. Among many other criteria the recipient must demonstrate personal and technical integrity in his or her instruction, seek out opportunities to meet individual student learning needs and receive consistently high instructor evaluations. Someone who has always been positive, upbeat and motivated to achieve success – not just personally, but for IBM, for Lotus and for the many colleagues and students who benefit from an expansive knowledge augmented by integrity and humor. Here is an excerpt from what the nominator had to say about this year’s recipient:
“This person is constantly trying to figure out new ways to engage students and to make their experience the best it can be. Regardless of whom you talk to - people within Lotus, within IBM, external training partners, students or other instructors - they all convey the same message: This person is an exceptional instructor who consistently performs at a high level. This instructor cares passionately about the students, the product, the offerings, fellow instructors and IBM.”

The winner of the 2010 Dr. Jim H Adair Award for Instructor Excellence: Virginia Fitzpatrick.

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Sisu for collaboration success

2011-02-02T15:31:25-05:00

By guest blogger, Ilari Nurmi, Nokia

I am a Finn. One of my favourite Finnish words is “sisu”. There is no directly equivalent word in English. It is sort of a combination of guts, determination, perseverance, and the ability to withstand adversity, no matter the odds.

Sisu factored in many of the decisions Nokia has made in the last few years. Having solidified our position as the world’s leading mobile phone manufacturer, we set out to transform ourselves from a devices company, into one focused on giving consumers the best possible experience they could come to expect from a mobile device.

In September 2008, we made a significant strategic shift in our business mobility strategy. We announced we would cease developing and marketing our own behind-the-firewall solution. Instead, we decided to strengthen our strategic relationships with leading enterprise technology vendors, including IBM. To give up a key asset, one that anchored us to the lucrative enterprise mobility industry, required a big dose of sisu.

Less than two months later, Nokia and IBM announced Lotus Notes support for Nokia S60 smartphones.

On the surface, this seems simple enough: We announced our decision to partner, found a partner and made the change. But back in September 2008, this wasn’t an easy decision. A positive outcome wasn’t guaranteed.

Collaboration is hard work, especially when it’s between two companies from different countries, with different cultures, backgrounds and histories. However, we used our primary differences – our market offering – to our advantage. Nokia’s leadership in mobile devices and IBM’s history in corporate backend and enterprise IT laid the foundation for our collaboration.

With IBM, we also saw a common vision: to free millions of people from their desktops or laptops, and move them to Nokia’s Symbian smartphone platform for their important business communications. Since then, our partnership has strengthened, bringing upgrades and additional services to business smartphone users.

Lotusphere 2011 will be another milestone in the Nokia-IBM collaboration. With IBM’s support for Symbian and new touchscreen smartphones like the Nokia E7 prominently positioned in IBM’s mobile product roadmap, I am extremely excited about the future. Excited for both companies, as we enter a new phase of our relationship. And excited about the opportunities we will unleash to enterprises and smartphone users around the world.

Sisu describes the courage to make a decision and then work your hardest to make it succeed. We recognized the market trend, and it’s no surprise that IBM has joined us in realizing our strategy for enterprise customers.

Like Nokia, IBM’s got sisu.

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Welcome Bloggers and Tweeters

2011-01-31T08:59:08-05:00

This is starting out to be a great year at Lotusphere! We have more planned for Social Media events than ever before. We have record number of developers, executives, Business Partners, Customers, and even university students in attendance.

Whether or not you are there in person, you can stay tuned through the Lotusphere 2011 Website at http://www.ibm.com/lotusphere. Here are some important social media basics for this year's event.

Social Media Aggregator: www.ibm.com/social/lotusphere

Follow Lotusphere blogs, tweets, pics, videos, and live streaming at ibm.co/ls11social

Blogs: Share your blogs by registering your blog feed, and use #LS11 in the body of your blog post.
Tweets: Share your tweets using hashtag #LS11. Follow the Lotusknows twitter account.
Photos: Share your photos to the Official Lotusphere Flickr Group of LS11 at http://www.flickr.com/groups/ls11
Videos: Share your videos by tagging your YouTube videos with Lotusphere11, or tweet your video with hashtag #ls11.

Geo-location trips: www.gowalla.com

Gowalla: Check-in for Lotusphere trips by registering for Gowalla at www.gowalla.com and download the Gowalla app on your phone.
Check in and complete trips to earn custom Lotusphere pins. Exchange two pins for Gowalla give-aways (while supplied last) at the social cafes from 1pm – 4pm.

Social Cafes:

Look for interactive touch screens in the main hallways (near tables with polka-dots).
Enjoy afternoon coffee.
Enjoy social networking in a cafe setting.

Lotusphere Online:

Enjoy laptop access in the Lotusphere Online lounge in the Dolphin at Europe 5.
Learn more about sessions and other important Lotusphere information.
Connect in real time with other delegates using Sametime.

Lotusphere Community: http://lsonline.info

As part of your registration, you are automatically a part of the new Lotus Connections 3.0 Lotusphere Community.
If you have registered for Lotusphere, you can access the community at http://lsonline.info using your registration confirmation and password.
Enhance your profile, and engage with sessions and other community members.
This community will live on long after Lotusphere has ended.

Don't forget, we also have the Social Jam and Lotusphere comes to you events in the weeks to follow.

Donna Bieg

Lotusphere Social Media Manager

Follow me on Twitter: @dmbieg

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LotusTechInfo at Lotusphere!

2011-01-21T17:37:36-05:00

By Joyce Davis
Lotus Technical Information and Education community manager

We in the Information Development Center (IDC) are getting excited about Lotusphere 2011 and hope that those of you attending will take some time to drop by our conference activities to introduce yourself!

VideoFest - Come relax with us in the VideoFest Lounge where you can view and rate videos submitted for VideoFest. The lounge is open daily on the Dolphin main floor near the showcase floor escalators and registration area. Winners of the top-rated videos will be announced by General Manager, Alistair Rennie, at the closing session held Thursday 3:15pm - 4:30pm in DL, Northern/Southern Ballroom.
Birds of a Feather (BoF) session - Join the LTIE flock at the BOF412: Secrets of the Yellow Bubble - Using the Lotus Community to succeed in your role. Thursday, 7am, Swan - Toucan 2. Chris Toohey (IBM Business Partner) and I will discuss the benefits and opportunities the Lotus Community has to offer. We'll be adding a list of valuable community resources on a wiki page entitled Resources for the Lotus Professional at http://bit.ly/yellowbubble.
Usability Lab activities - Participate in interactive, usability activities to provide input on our Lotus product wikis and on the new Lotus Notes FAQ help. Hear all about what we're up to... mobile support, multimedia, user profiles, and more. Rank new wiki features and tell us how to prioritize our work this year. Share your ideas and let us know what's on your mind concerning Lotus documentation, and don't forget to grab some Lotusphere mementos! Hosted daily in the User Experience (UX) Lab, DL - Asia 4.
Chalk talks - While in the UX Lab, participate in chalk-talks to express your views to help Lotus design the best possible products. The Lab also has self-serve stations where you can participate in a quick, self-directed activity, and tell us what you think.

Not attending Lotusphere?
No problem! This year, many Lotusphere sessions will be livestreamed so you can benefit from the conference even if you aren't in Orlando! Also, select sessions will be available via video after the event. Be sure to bookmark IBM's Social Media Aggregator to follow the fun! (Sadly, IBM will not be sponsoring any live streamed Karaoke sessions from Kimono's....at least I don't THINK so!)

To learn more about Lotus Technical Information and Education, visit our community landing page, join our community in Lotus Greenhouse, or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Socialize, Learn and Collaborate with Lotus Education at Lotusphere 2011

2011-01-20T17:34:06-05:00

Sonia Malik

Education Offerings Manager

The ISSL Education Team will be participating in numerous ways at Lotusphere 2011: Instructor Day, Training Partner Activities, Certification Testing, and various Ancillary Sessions. Please take a look at all the ways you can participate below:

BOF401 Creating Excited and Energized IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 Users

Speakers: Denise Tinguely, Carlos Casas
SW Toucan 2 - Tuesday 5:45pm - 6:45pm
Is your company upgrading to IBM Lotus Notes 8.5? How do you get users excited about the new features? What do they need to know? What learning experiences should you be providing them? What skills should you be building? What tips should you be providing your Help Desk? Share your thoughts and experiences. Make IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 the software your users can't live without, whether they are accessing it on your own infrastructure or on Lotus Live. We have valuable tips to share !

BOF403 Get Up to Speed on XPages
Speaker: Sara Nicklin
SW Toucan 2 - Wednesday 07:00am - 8:00am
Show the world you're 'Up to Speed on XPages" ! Participate in this rapid-fire XPages game show and score BIG within the community! Similar to Lotusphere's SpeedGeeking, participants will have an opportunity to answer XPages questions from one of our assessment tests in a game show-type format. After ten questions, the winner gets an 'Up to Speed on XPages" prize and the host moves on to the next group of participants. Up to four rounds will be played, if time permits.

BOF415 Why Certify? The Value of Lotus Professional Certification
Speaker: Sara Nicklin
SW Mockingbird - Monday 6:15pm - 7:15pm
Certification enables companies to maximize the value of IT investments. Learn how certification can reduce your overhead cost and increase productivity. In this tough economy, certification is a way to ensure individuals and the companies they work for differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Certification Prep Lab - Take advantage of a variety of onsite learning resources to study for your IBM professional certification exams.
Location: Swan Hotel - Peacock Room.

Lotus Certification Testing Lab - The Certification Lab is an IBM testing facility that enables customers to fit certification exams into their Conference schedules with convenience and flexibility. Candidates are encouraged to take their exam(s) as early as possible during the conference in order to ensure seating, as the lab typically gets busier as the week progresses. The Testing Lab open on Monday, 31 January at 11:00 AM.
Location: Swan Hotel - Lark Room.

Certified Instructor Day - This annual event gives instructors the opportunity to network with their peers from around the world -- as well as with key players on the Global Lotus Education team.

To register, send an email to snicklin@ca.ibm.com in order to secure your space at the only face to face event hosted by Lotus Education devoted to the instructor community. Non-registrants will be accommodated if seats are still available.
Date: Sunday, 30 January 2011
Sign in: 1:00 PM
Session: 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Grand Harbor II in the Yacht and Beach Conference Center

Education "1-2-1" - Interested in meeting with a Lotus Education representative "1 - 2 - 1" while at Lotusphere? Please contact lorraine_ludwicki@us.ibm.com to arrange an appointment. Please specify your topic of interest.
Stay tuned for updates on the following:
Certification/Education Lounge
Education Focus Group Sessions
Training Partner Breakfast
Partner Advisory Council Meeting
Training Roundtables

Will YOU be participating in the Lotusphere Twitter Scavenger Hunt?

2011-01-20T17:09:48-05:00

By Alexis Atkins

Marketing for North America

Join the Social Media buzz and follow @LotusKnows all week long (http://twitter.com/lotusknows) Why do you ask?

Whether you are active on Twitter through your laptop or smartphone device, follow the @LotusKnows account for hints all week and participate in the Lotusphere Twitter Scavenger Hunt.

Find the @LotusKnows sign at various locations throughout the conference and collect Lotus Lucky Tickets at each Scavenger Hunt spot by following @LotusKnows all week long at Lotusphere 2011.

Find clues and you will surely be rewarded. Games, prizes and fun to be had by everyone all week long. The person with the most Lotus Lucky Tickets at the end of the conference will receive a prize.

Tweet. Get News. Win Prizes. See you at Lotusphere 2011 !

Simple Solutions Create Exceptional Experiences: IBM Forms

2010-12-15T11:57:28-05:00

By Stephanie Falzon Ragany

Marketing Manager, WebSphere Portal

Cutting costs, improving efficiencies, adhering to compliancy regulations, and going green – that’s just a sampling of the myriad pressures affecting the modern business. In today’s climate, even simple tasks can become overly complicated, creating an undue amount of stress and confusion, wasting time and money in the process.

Everyone knows that businesses with well-connected resources function much more elegantly, but what’s the underlying secret to businesses that gracefully flow versus those that totally freak out?

KISS: Keep it simple, stupid.

In a world of complexities, simplicity is next to godliness. Businesses that get with the times and embrace the right technology can significantly reduce complexity and improve their ability to compete in the market.

On December 7, IBM announced the release of IBM Forms 4, a product that provides exquisite out-of-the-box functionality for businesses that want to reduce complexity with workflow tools and process automation, and create exceptional web experiences for their customers in the process.

This simple product offers a modern departure from an age-old task from which no one was exempt: filling out the paper-based form. The reasons for businesses to go electronic on this one are vast and compelling. As a customer, it provides a whole lot of freedom from the ball and chain of the paper-based, in-person process (I can never forget the first time I filled out a passport application online, and the happy dance I did when I found out I didn’t have to stand for hours in the paper-based application line-up). And, for businesses that are keen on getting on top of the pressures of modern times, the benefits are wide:

Improves efficiency, time to revenue, & customer service by automating paper based processes
Cuts costs by eliminating printing, distribution, processing and storage of paper
Reduces transaction times and error rates
Provides auditable, compliant records
Minimizes environmental impact and enables you to "go green"

It also integrates easily with existing IT investments, is scalable, and boasts security features like military-grade digital signature. It’s also available in 28 languages.

At the end of the day, I’d like to think that life is meant to be pretty straightforward. Even though business can sometimes be tough, the tools we use should help take us to that happy place in which we can get things done with ease and simplicity.

In our day and age, electronic forms are pretty much a no-brainer for me. If you agree, you should definitely check out IBM Forms 4.

New Android 2.x operating system support with Lotus Notes Traveler

2010-12-14T10:13:09-05:00

By Jan Kenney

Lotus Notes Traveler Product Manager, Design Partner and Beta Management

Today December 14, IBM announces availability of Lotus Notes Traveler version 8.5.2.1, which includes support for Android smartphones and tablets!

As product manager for Lotus Notes Traveler I know the IBM team is very proud to deliver this release for Lotus Notes Traveler for Android devices that are running the 2.0.1 (or greater) operating system. With this new, native Android client for mail and calendar and the on-device contact function, customers can easily extend their company's Lotus Notes messaging and collaboration environment to employees using Android devices; allowing them to take advantage of Lotus Notes Traveler's ability to seamlessly synchronize mail, calendar and contact information between the Lotus Domino server and the Android device, and utilize the Lotus Mobile Installer to keep their client software up-to-date.

Ensuring the security of company information is a top priority for every Lotus Notes Traveler release, and 8.5.2.1 is no exception. Lotus Notes Traveler synchronizes data (in transit) via secure HTTPS connection and stores the data (at rest) in encrypted form on the Android device. Lost or stolen devices can be remote wiped; either the entire device or just the Lotus Notes Traveler information. Administrators can monitor the mobile user community -- by name, password, device type, build version -- all from a single point of control and allow or deny access for users based on company defined policies.

In my other role as manager for Lotus Notes Traveler for Android beta program, I was fortunate to work with customers and partners from around the world and the most common feedback we hear about Lotus Notes Traveler was that "It's so easy install and configure!" and "It just works!". The ability to keep current with your personal and business information, anytime/anywhere and from a variety of platforms has just taken a significant step forward with Lotus Notes Traveler for Android. Read all about it on the in the Lotus Notes Traveler documentation wiki and in Ed Brill's blog.

Important notes:
AT&T: Lotus Notes Traveler for Android installs and run well on all Android devices, with the exception of Android devices from AT&T, due to an AT&T policy decision that supports the installation of applications only from the Android Marketplace. AT&T is planning to resolve this issue in early 2011.

8.5.2.1 is a full, cross-platform release that not only includes support for the Android platform, but includes a few improvements for the other platforms, as well, which are documented in this fix list.

Smarter Industries Symposium

2010-11-09T14:14:44-05:00

By Vivianne Farmer

Collaboration Agenda and Industry Solutions

Oil spills, automobile recalls, financial meltdowns. It's no secret that industry is being challenged like never before in the current, volatile economic environment. Industry leaders need to innovate to seek new sources of growth and drive insights from information to make better, faster and smarter decisions.

Beginning today in Barcelona, IBM is convening 1000 clients, business partners and industry experts for the Smarter Industries Symposium to discuss the ways in which different industries are leveraging technology and innovative management to become "smarter."

We'll be providing a number of means to stay connected to the themes, ideas and insights from the event over the course of the next few days. You can follow live tweets via the #IBMSYM hashtag, or join the blog posts at www.asmarterplanet.com.

IBM announces new solutions that helps organizations become social businesses (Enterprise 2.0 Conference)

2010-11-09T10:00:33-05:00

By Kristen Lauria

Vice President Marketing
IBM Collaboration Solutions

On Monday November 8, IBM announced new software and services that will help organizations become social businesses. Less than a day old, and the news has already been covered in The New York Times ("IBM’s Lotus Connections 3.0 Aims to Make Businesses More Social"), InformationWeek ("IBM Boosts Social Media Software, Services"), ReadWriteWeb ("IBM Bakes Analytics Into Lotus Connections 3.0"), and by many others. You can also read a recap of yesterday's announcement from one of our own, Luis Benitez on Socialize Me. Or better yet, if you happen to be in Santa Clara this week for the Enterprise 2.0 Conference this week, see social business in action with a wide variety of activities to choose from.

Why is this announcement important?

Every few years, there is a generational shift in computing style that leads to new opportunities and new business. The intertwined trends of the rapid growth of social network participation, proliferation and adoption of mobile devices like the iPad and Android, cloud computing, high-speed broadband access, and the democratization of content creation and sharing, are fundamentally changing the way we interact with one another, whether as consumers, employees, or citizens. It really comes down to people being the center again. We no longer discuss the latest gadget, network, or transaction, we are interested in value that is created for people, over time, through trusted relationships.

This renewed focus on people is opening up new opportunities for forward-thinking organizations and leaders. When people are the focus, trust becomes the primary competitive differentiator. Empowering individuals to engage with each other -- as consumers, as employees, as citizens -- is key to success. Empowered consumers increasingly experience Brands directly through your employees, not just through a call center or your website. Empowered employees experience your organization through their personal relationships with their informal networks as much as formal organizational structures. And if empowered people don't trust you, they'll find someone else to buy from, or to work for.

Outperforming organizations see becoming a social business as a fantastic opportunity to create new business value:

Deepen customer relationships while growing revenue and reducing customer churn
Speed product development efforts by more rapidly iterating more ideas with feedback, from a much broader internal and external audience than was possible before
Turn workers into more productive, dare we say even happy, Brand evangelists

With the announcement of the IBM social collaboration platform, the release of Lotus Connections 3, and new business strategy services, IBM is uniquely positioned to enable your organizations to cultivate trusted relationships through people-centric experiences when and where needed. We have the expertise to help you plan, build, secure, and actively manage your evolution towards becoming a Social Business. And to integrate those capabilities with the rest of your business, such as the recent Cognos 10 announcement for analytics tools that include social collaboration. With all this, it's no surprise that Global CIO recently named IBM #1 in it's list of the most influential IT companies.

This isn't document-sharing-web-content-management that turns into expensive kudzu for your IT department. This isn't talk about cool tools. It's about what's really cool: being more successful. Real success that looks like CEMEX. who just won the Forrester Groundswell Award, and like IBM, who just won it too . Like many more real businesses. Social Businesses.

Visit the links above to learn more. See what the social buzz is about and join the conversation.

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IBM at Enterprise 2.0 Santa Clara Nov 8-11

2010-11-05T18:59:55-04:00

By Jacques Pavlenyi
Market Segment Manager

Many of you are gearing up for what is shaping up to be a very energetic Enterprise 2.0 Conference next week. The show this time is November 8-11 at the Convention Center, in sunny Santa Clara, CA, Which, right now given the cold wet weather in New York, makes me realize how much I miss living in California :-)

IBM is a Diamond Sponsor this year. And we have a great presence planned for attendees, including:

the IBM Booth (#201) on the Expo Floor, for demos, meetings, or just getting to know us in person!
real-time updates from the Social Web via the IBM Social Media Aggregator (use hashtags #ibmexperience or #e20 to join the conversation).
Monday, November 8, 7:00 to 9:00 pm, join the IBM reception after BarCamp
Tuesday, November 9, 10:20am – 10:30am, join us for the Keynote: "Putting Social into Business, with IBM" (also live via LiveStream!)
Tuesday, November 9, 2:30pm - 3:30pm, attend the session "UC + Social Computing = Best of Both Worlds", moderated by Robin Gareiss, Executive Vice President and Senior Founding Partner, Nemertes Research
Tuesday, November 9, 3:45pm - 4:45pm, attend the Customer Panel "Large-Scale Implementations: Avoiding Defeat from the Jaws of Victory", moderated by Tony Byrne, President, Real Story Group
Wednesday, November 10, 2:30pm - 3:30pm, attend the session "IBM: Delivering Exceptional Experiences to Customers, Partners and Employees", with Ted Stanton, Executive Consultant and Strategist, IBM Smart Work, IBM
Thursday, November 11, 11:00am - 11:45am, attend the session "Leverage Social Messaging and Activity Streams for Business Results", moderated by Marcia Conner, Partner, Altimeter Group

And much more. Will you be there? What do you hope to get out of this year's conference?

VideoFest encourages Lotus information in video format

2010-11-03T10:38:44-04:00

By Joyce Davis
Lotus Technical Information and Education community manager

My team is responsible for Lotus and WebSphere Portal product documentation, online help, technical articles, learning material and more -- anything that helps customers get the most out of our products. One thing we hear from customers over and over is "show us a task, with screenshots and videos!" Well, we've taken that to heart and have focused on producing more multimedia technical content over the last couple of years.

But we realize there is a lot of expertise in the Lotus community OUTSIDE of our organization, both within and beyond IBM. So last week we launched an event called VideoFest, which is aimed at: 1) raising awareness of multimedia content, 2) encouraging the community to share their own Lotus videos, and 3) recognizing community contributions.

How VideoFest works
During VideoFest, which runs from now until February 3, 2011, participants contribute, view and rate Lotus-related videos in our product wikis. The highest rated submissions will be showcased online and at Lotusphere 2011. In addition, contributors will be recognized and awarded for the top-rated videos. Ideas for videos include: task-based demos, product tours, troubleshooting tips, performance tuning, and product integration. You might even show a solution you created using Lotus products. Be creative! We've set up a space on IdeaJam to help generate video ideas!

Upload your videos to YouTube or another video service, then embed them into Lotus product wiki articles. Then, be sure to publicize your article using the new share feature, which allows you to share the article via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more.

For more information
Event details and tips on how to create, post and share videos can be found on the VideoFest site. To learn more about Lotus Technical Information and Education, visit our community landing page, join our community in Lotus Greenhouse, or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

IBM developerWorks a winner in 2010 Forrester Groundswell Award (B2B)

2010-11-01T08:36:20-04:00

By Jacques Pavlenyi

Market Segment Manager

We are very excited to report that IBM developerWorks (IBM dW) has been named a winner in the 2010 Forrester Groundswell Awards (B2B). The awards are broken down by what stage of the social cycle the winners best exemplify: Listening, Talking, Energizing, Spreading, Supporting, Embracing. IBM developerWorks won in the "Supporting" category, and here's what Forrester had to say:

"IBM developerWorks is a free community and social network for 8 million developers and IT professionals worldwide. It includes content and discussions on open standards, open source, and IBM technical resources in English, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish. It includes 30,000 articles, forums that attract 1 million visitors a month, 400,000 active profiles, 800 bloggers, and 450 wikis. IBM saves $100 million annually from people who use this resource instead of contacting IBM support." (emphasis mine)

This is great news not just for IBM, but specifically for the Lotus Connections team - the IBM dW exceptional experience is built on IBM Lotus Connections.

You can read the full press release from Forrester on BusinessWire. Additional details about IBM DeveloperWorks' submission for the Groundswell Award can be found on IBM developerWorks.