Tag Archives: IBM

IBM Social Business User Community – Where all the Cool Kids are going

Well that didn’t take long…

After my previous post about SocialBiz User Group’s site getting retired, I received a couple of responses on my Facebook page from Wannes Rams and Oliver Busse about the launch of the IBM Social Business User Community, the NEW and IMPROVED place for the IBM Social Business (and user group) community to go. It’s slick, and IBM will be giving it the continuing love and attention sites like this need!

Because it’s part of the whole DeveloperWorks environment (which is based on IBM Connections), that gives all of you ANOTHER reason to join us over there if you’re not already a member! Once you are a member, head over to the IBM Social Business User Community and become a member!

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I’ll see you all there! #IBMSocialUG

IBM Champion Program – Honor to be included again

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Yesterday, IBM announced the 2016 IBM Champions for IBM Social Business. I was honored to be included in that list again. It’s very humbling to be included in a list of such talented people that I admire and who I consider friends. It’s great to see the 63 other returning Champions, plus 39 new IBM Champions! I’m especially proud to see my brothers Devin Olson (aka Spanky) and Steve McDonagh included in that list! (I’m predicting an ‘IBM Champion’ Collaboration Beer in our future.)

Congratulations to all of my fellow Champions! To see the list, click here:
Announcing the IBM Champion Class of 2016 for IBM Social Business!

 

As Rafiki would say… IT IS TIME! MWLUG 2015 Abstract Submission is NOW OPEN!

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The Master of MWLUG, Richard Moy, begins on his post

I am please to announce that session abstract submission is now opened for MWLUG 2015.  Abstract submission will close on May 22, 2015 so get your abstracts in.  To submit your abstract go to: http://mwlug.com/mwlug/mwlug2015.nsf/Abstract.xsp

I love the theme this year, “Transforming Collaboration Through Innovation”, as it speaks to what a lot of us are doing. We either change what we do WITH what we have (or can get) or we’ll get left behind!

If you are doing something different or new, submit an abstract! If you are doing something that could help others, submit an abstract! If you are doing ‘something’, submit an abstract! (Do you see a trend here?)

You have until May 22nd, so get on board and submit an abstract NOW!

2015 Class of IBM Champions for ICS have been announced… so humbled and honored!

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After the evening, night and morning that I had, I was surprised by a text message by my brother, Devin Olson:

Congratulations Champ!
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/ibmchampion/entry/announcing_the_2015_class_of_ibm_champions_for_ics?lang=en

Needless to say (but saying anyway), I am SO HUMBLED and HONORED to have been selected as a 2015 IBM Champion for ICS! Last year was a complete whirlwind of energy, excitement, and knowledge sharing. I thought that I would be ‘one and done’, and I was okay with that! With this honor, I will not only continue to ‘learn and share’, ‘collaborate and teach’ and ‘exchange knowledge and ideas’ to the community at large.

One way I’m hoping to do this is by bringing back and enhancing a user group here in Michigan! There have been a couple of them over the years, including my ‘home’ UG, Detroit Notes Professionals, but they have really been in need of some attention. In 2015, they will get that attention… at least from me!

Congratulations also go out to my friends and fellow IBM Champions, and welcome to the new IBM Champions selected for 2015!!! See you all at IBM ConnectED 2015! (The rest of you are coming, right? If not, you should… register HERE!)

Thank you to Amanda Bauman (IBM Champion Program Manager) and Oliver Heinz (ICS Community Manager) for all of their hard work in 2014. Let the fun (and hard work) continue in 2015!

Domino getting support for POODLE and SHA2

I’m being cautiously optimistic on this! Thank you IBM for finally addressing one of the many elephants in the room!

How is IBM Domino impacted by the POODLE attack? (IBM Technote 1687167)

Planned SHA-2 deliveries for IBM Domino 9.x (IBM Technote 1418982)

Notice that the second technote indicates that support for SHA-2 will be for Domino 9.x only. There are plenty of posts out there about ways to get around this… off the top of my head, my friend Darren Duke posted one here: Here is a freely available VM to reverse proxy Domino – shoot the poodle

And now… WE WAIT!

Reminder: Nominations for the 2015 IBM Champions for ICS are due by 17 September at 5PM EST (Tomorrow)

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Just a quick reminder to everyone that the nominations (and self-nominations) are all due by 5PM EST tomorrow, September 17th, 2014. You were going to nomination someone, right? Of course you were, so go do it NOW!

Get more details in my earlier blog post: Nominations for the 2015 IBM Champions for ICS are now open!

Nominations for the 2015 IBM Champions for ICS are now open!

IBMchampion-250x65As usual, I’m late to post this (seriously, do some of you people work?), but IBM has opened nominations for the 2015 IBM Champions for IBM Collaboration Solutions. What is the IBM Champions program? Per the IBM Champion homepage,

The IBM Champion program recognizes innovative thought leaders in the technical community — and rewards these contributors by amplifying their voice and increasing their sphere of influence. An IBM Champion is an IT professional, business leader, developer, or educator who influences and mentors others to help them make best use of IBM software, solutions, and services.

IBM Champions are not employees of IBM.

I have been HONORED to be an IBM Champion for ICS for this past year. The things that I do for the ICS community are the same things I would have done if I had not been an IBM Champion, and I tried to the best of my ability to live up to the designation.

Current IBM Champions have to be nominated again each year… we are not ‘grandfathered’ in. If you think someone should continue to be an IBM Champion, you have to nominate them again! Don’t assume someone else is going to do it.

If you feel like you have been helped by someone in the ICS community, honor them by nominating them! Just click here to get started: https://ibm.biz/NominateChamps – You do not have to fill in every field. Just fill in what you can and hit submit. It may not seem like much, but to those of us that get nominated, it means a lot! (By the way, you can also nominate yourself!)

Click here and here for more information.  Again, click here to nominate someone: https://ibm.biz/NominateChamps

Nominations for the 2015 IBM Champion program will be accepted through 5 PM Eastern on Wednesday, September 17th, 2014. Go nominate someone TODAY!!!

Help tip the scales so IBM will support SHA-2 in the native HTTP stack

Go read Darren Duke’s ‘Call to Arms’ about getting IBM to listen to those of us that want/need SHA-2 support in the native HTTP stack:

So Domino and SHA2…..There’s a SPR for that

Now that you’ve read it… ACT! He tells you how, and even provides easy links to get you going.

Thanks Darren for leading this charge! Sometimes #ItsDarrensFault is a good thing…

Live Blogging from OGS (Opening General Session) at #IBMConnect

755am – Getting ready to start… I’m basically front and center, about 6 rows from the front… Being an #IBMChamp has its benefits!

758am – Devin Olson (@Spanky762) stopped by and took my picture… probably for the Post Office wall.

801am – almost starting – lots of great pics on Instagram from here… go check them out (later)…

803am – we’re told it will start in 2 minutes

803am – Veronica Belmont (@Veronica) is our Social Host – she’s really one of us… She’s been joking with a few of us… Cool Nerd Girls

805am – starts off with the band The America Authors… Cool!

807am – posted a pic of the band on Instagram (and everywhere else)

810am – Theres something great about good rock music at 8am!!! BTW, Stuart McIntyre is multitasking like a NINJA!!!

812am – One of the guitarists looks like he’s playing a banjo…

813am – some are chanting for an encore… Now the band equipment is being moved offstage.

814am – The host for the day, Jay Baer, comes out. (OH: Who?) This guy is sort of funny… but we got a commerical for the American Authors new album (coming out March 4th).

816am – This guy is doing some monologue. OK, he’s someone… Social media guy, author, etc.

8:17am – Engergizing Live’s Work is not just a slogan… OK, this guy’s pretty good. “We must do this together!”

8:19am – This year’s special guest (OH: Justin Beber) is Seth Meyers!!!

820am – I lost the OGS Guest Speaker contest… I’m not going to say much because I love this guy so much! Sorry…

822am – Comedy writers are checked against their Twitter accounts now… I guess I’ll never get hired…

825am – Back in the day, Facebook was a book with a bunch of faces, but the data was safe.

826am – I just realized I still look at the video screen of Seth Meyers instead of him, and he’s really right in front of me… Some habits never die I guess.

828am – As soon as you say, be cool, be cool, you won’t be cool…

831am – Seth Meyers is the reason that Osama Bin Ladin is dead… per Seth! He finished right now and KILLED IT!

832am – Jay Baer is back to introduce GM of Industry and Cloud Solutions, Craig Hayman

832am – He’s talking about Rhythm… a RHYTHM OF SUCCESS!

835am – The Customer-activated Enterprise – Treat EVERYONE as an individual

837am – Mobile, Big Data & Analytics, Cloud and Social – This is what IBM is investing a lot in right now

839am – I just realized how warm it is up here… I’m sweating… making it hard to concentrate

840am – The Internet of People and the devices that connect us together

841am – Going to hear talks from 3 customers on how they’re making a SMARTER Workforce (Pepsico is one of them…)

842am – Performance Bicycle is mention how they are providing an exceptional client experience

843am – Cloud!!

844am – Jay is back! We’re connected like never before, and we need to collaborate like never before!

845am – Introduce Pepsico , but first a video about all the ways Pepsico affects our lives… AKA COMMERCIALS!

846am – I’m hungry and thirsty now… thanks Pepsico!

847am – The commericals ended with PIPED APPLAUSE and an introduction Fern Johnson from Pepsico

848am – She’s speaking a little fast, and really working the cue cards… Looks like they’re using Websphere Portal or Connections (they call it PEPnet). They’re also using CRM and Entrprise Search and Analytics

8:51am – 25K users using PEPnet now, 100K in the future

852am – Crucial is the Mobile Worker “On the go and always on”

855am – JAY! He called out #IBMChamp Brad – He’s almost got IBM Champion Bingo according to his Twitter feed – Jay gave him BONUS!

8:57am – Someone from Performance Bicycles (Sorry, didn’t get her name because the Bingo thing distracted me)

858am – Sounds like performance Bicycles wants to go toe to toe with small bike shops…

859am – They want to be known as The Authority on Cycling – using their colleagues as experts. Theyre using WCM and other IBM commerce tools. Customers like being able to get the latest info, and their associates like helping by creating over 400 videos and over 200 articles on cycling. Knowledge scores up 22% in the last 7 months.

902am – Keys to Success – Establish a brand voice, Develop specific goals – now commercial for their session (to learn more about them and how they did it)

903am – JAY! Who’s ready for some DEMOS??? Cool.. he’s giving a backstory to the demo scenario! Bank (sounds like [REDACTED] where I used to work, but they didn’t do this…)

906am – They are really working on the backstory… Nice touch! They keep talking about being a small business. I hope this means that this is a market that they want to work on getting.

907am – Greenwell Bank is the demo business… Looks like the bank site is a portal. Creating Contextual Experiences.

909am – Hmmm. I’m not sure if the tablet being used is live… no, I don’t think it is… Demo looks like they’re allowing small businesses to create their own sites. (showing the different IBM pieces and parts including Business Partner brightcove and IBM’s Rich Media support). Also mentioned IBM Worklight. IBM looks like they’re doing geofencing (like Groupon). IBM Interact allows them to target offers to customers.

915am – I’m really freaking hot! Ugh!

916am – Tealeaf, an IBM Company, allows a business to analyze why and how customers have problems with parts of their websites. Exceptional Digital Experience… this is a great story, but it’s just a story right now… I hope that IBM (and IBM Business Partners) go out and sell it…

918am – Two more people come up to continue the story… Now we hear the story from the HR perspective.

921am – IBM Kenexa stuff now… this is really cool stuff actually… ow, awkward comedy moment…

924am – RON!!!! New CEO of Greenwell Bank!!!!! (RON is Ron Sebastian, who is a Connect/Lotusphere legend. I would love to have a drink with him some day…) He was part of the IBM Social Education video demo.

926am – IBM Kenexa Survey… ooh, a mobile feedback app! All this stuff is nice, but how much is it? Can a small business afford it?

928am – IBM Watson Foundations – He combines human insight with analytics

930am – Luis Benitez is pretending to be from Greenwell. He’s with IBM’s Jeff Schick

932am – Mail Next – definitely looks Next Gen

934am – Browser based and has offline access

935am – Luis really looks comfortable up there! “Why does Mat Newman wear yellow?” – Luis types that during the demo! POWERFUL, POWERFUL STUFF!

938am – So we’re seeing IBM Connections in the Cloud! Now, a fake alarm goes off, and Mitch Cohen get’s his acting debut. (Don’t quit your day job!)

940am – Connections Next will be Cloud and On Premises. Now they are talking File Sync and Mobile app. Wow! Great stuff!

942am – Analytics and Personalized Portal pages

944am – Luis just placed on sunglasses and rocked it! Great job!

944am – Announced available beta of exceptional digital experience next

947am – They mentioned SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS stuff!!!! Woo hoo!

948am – IBM MAIL NEXT is part of IBM Connections??? Hmm…

Sametime is IBM Connections Chat and IBM Connections Meetings

IBM Softlayer – Bring your IBM Domino Applications to the Cloud!

949am CEO of Actiance is introduced Kailash Ambwani – talking about compliance!

950am – I think the name change announcements were a shock to the audience. Message will need to be sold this week!

951am – Alcatraz – the first context-aware archive (single repository for all types of communications). Looks like it includes external social media as well (FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), plus Sametime, mail, Dropbox, etc.

953am – Commericals for sessions and Actiance booth in Product Showcase

954am – JAY is BACK! “No one has ever escaped from Alcatraz!” (Sounds like a challenge… gulp!)

954am – Intro video for BR Petrobras – Oil

955am – Intro to their ‘Conecte Project Manager’ – 3rd company with a woman presenting – I don’t care, but I just noticed…

1000am – Honestly, I didn’t pay attention right now… but JAY IS BACK!

1000am – Christian Frey from Sika Services AG is introduced. [I’m sure a few people hit Buzzword Bingo by now… sigh!]

1003am – He’s talking about his SmartCloud Engage project, GECO, a portal.

1005am – He’s talking in monotone, so with the heat and his soothing voice, I’m getting sleepy.

1006am – JAY! Wrapping it up, and introducing Craig Heyman – Craig heard people saying that there wasn’t enough demos… #Truth

1010am – Best of Show and CTO Award = Teamstudio wins!

1012am – That’s the news and WE ARE OUTTA HERE!!!