IBM is listening... Thanks Alistair

Sunday, October 27th, 2013
I've just returned from my second IBM Leadership Alliance Conference in Boston.  


The IBM Leadership Alliance (formerly known as the "Lotus Leadership Alliance/LOLA") is a small invitation-only event in which IBM Collaboration leadership share what's happening in their world and engage the aforementioned groups in intimate discussion about topics of interest. By creating an environment in which we can hear from and communicate with key players (without the big stage and teleprompters!) we can learn from one another. It was a rich experience. Much of this, will no doubt influence the products and announcements at the next public Connect conference.

In this day when "social" business is promoted -- and often confused to mean social tools only -- it's nice to see that IBM's Collaboration division really gets the value of "social" as in connecting with your ecosystem in order to share, learn, and do smarter business. A quick word of thanks to Alistair Rennie and his team for creating and hosting an environment rich for knowledge sharing.

While I am not at  liberty to share what was presented or discussed at the conference I think it is appropriate to point out one of the many ways that IBM communicates with key people in its ecosystem, including customers, developers and business partners to name a few.

Before you ask, there is nothing further that I can share. It's an invitation only event and we are asked to not share the contents of what was presented. I do not know who invited me or what got me on the list, but I'm thankful for the opportunity to participate.

Overall, it was a worthwhile trip for me. My hope is that the information that I learned and the experience that I was able to share in conversation will have an impact on how we all do business.

Thank you IBM.

He’s not dead and gone yet. (Thanks Bruce)

Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013
When I logged into PlanetLotus this morning, my screen was awash in thank you's and tributes to Bruce Elgort. For a moment, I thought I was afraid that someone serious had happened and I was late to hear of it., The blogosphere is a buzz with news that Bruce is retiring from OpenNTF.

Image:He’s not dead and gone yet. (Thanks Bruce)

I enjoy my friendship with Bruce Elgort. No doubt he's had an impact on my personally and professionally for many years. Now, as he moves to a new chapter as a college professor, I enjoy following his adventures in the classroom. As so many in the Yellowverse (Oops, it's blue now It will always be yellow for me) have said, Bruce was instrumental in many initiatives - not only with OpenNTF but with IdeaJam and others.  I want to thank you publicly, Bruce, for your many years of dedicated and fruitful service to the Lotus/IBM community. I wish you many more fruitful years in your new endeavors. I'm glad you're not dead and gone yet. ;-)

Eric