IdoNotes (and sleep)

I see other bloggers have picked up on this article as well.  The FastCompany blogger, Drew Neisser, does a nice job with his article Why IBM Could Be Bigger Than Facebook In Social Media following along the launch event last week for the IBM Customer Experience Suite.  The blogger explains how IBM can be the leader in the social media metrics space and the leader in social software in enterprises.  Making it a larger adoption that Facebook in enterprises.

For my blog coverage of the launch events last week feel free to read both Part 1 and Part 2 right here in IdoNotes .

The blogger summarizes:

Drenched in the vision Schick shared for the IBM Customer Experience Suite, it occurred to me that IBM could end up being more important to the business use and monetization of social media than Facebook

I think this speaks highly of the vision IBM has and the continued purchasing of companies that provide analytical services.  IBM is stretching out it's arms to embrace social media monetization, metrics and tracking through the compilation of software packages.  Taking all of these and making a deployable platform or even cloud solution makes perfect sense as companies attempt to grasp how to best work with, and not against social media

I am anxious to install and test the IBM Customer Experience Suite myself across some initiatives and social media plans.

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On Monday, September 20th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Alistair Rennie, GM of Lotus and Websphere Portal, does the introduction of the event introducing a team around the world.  The theme is "Reinventing Relationships" and the US NY launch is the last city to see it as Japan and Germany already did.

Don't forget my blog posting from two days ago about my early thoughts on the Project Northstar launch

IBM already has a site up for the launch pulling tweets, videos, pictures, blog post and more about the event.  It is using the tag #ibmexperience and there is a bunch of traffic from around the world  Now what metrics they can take from that should be the basis of Northstar.

Alistair passed the mic to others that held events around the world to see the reactions.  I am not sure why this was important before they actually launch the product information to us watching.  I am not sure what value they are talking about since I have not seen it yet.

"almost all customers want to know how to get to the customer experience suite.  To use analytics well, bring social capabilities in as well, bring in social context"

This was from London person that spoke.  Now we are back to hearing what attendees will hear this afternoon.  I went back to the press release to give you the understanding of what they are releasing.  Here is a quote:

IBM is introducing the IBM Customer Experience Suite, a new software portfolio that help companies in every industry, including financial institutions, government agencies, insurance companies and healthcare providers, provide consumers with a dynamic Web experience that's easy to navigate, interactive, and personalized - whether it's from a mobile device or through traditional online Website.

The goal is connecting the social information with the context and allowing businesses to use this data.  (speaker gets up and walks to close a door where he is).  Another piece from the press release gives you a feeling for the IBM Customer Experience Suite.

The new software allows organizations to create highly customized interactions by analyzing and then adapting to the preferences, behaviors, location, products owned, device, and sentiments of each visitor.

Additionally, the IBM Customer Experience Suite helps organizations better understand and influence visitors through customized, engaging experiences using blogs, chat forums, videos, and mobile functionality.  It supports conversations with and between users through online communities and allows business owners to manage the creation and delivery of content, rich media, campaigns, and surveys delivered through multiple channels.

After 26 minutes we get some information about Project Northstar.  The strategy for customer engagements is Project Northstar.  How do they get it?  A new offering, The IBM Customer Experience Suite, has been put together that no other software vendor has.

The software suite is available immediately.  So go call each customer and make this what you show them when you see them.   For some flashy demo videos and more see the IBM Customer Experience website

If you wish to skip half the required registration (not an exceptional web experience to see a demo) then here is the link

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On Thursday, September 16th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Last week at NLLUG there was some show and tell around Project Northstar as well as a recent email I received inviting me to the launch event.  Here is what I have gathered from the site, information and working with it so far.

The initiative revolves around measurement of your customer interaction through social media sites, your own CRM type infrastructure and learning social context of how your information is perceived and used based on location, device and their own individual preferences.

To simplify this, consider it social media influencer measurement and ROI of these.  This is the same topic I presented at the Social Media Business Forum last Oct in North Carolina.  One of the hardest things for companies to understand is the importance and then measurement of their exposure across the social web. Plus the tools to complete this daunting task are hard to find, usually incomplete and never quite right for your organization.

IBM Project Northstar appears to be, according to the IBM Japan site, a Webpshere Portal based system to:

Providing outstanding Web experience
Northstar Project IBM, the content management framework and provides enterprise portal mash-up, the standard real-time communication and social communication, search, personalization, marketing tools, integration, support for mobile devices, real-time analysis provide customers with innovative ways to combine and other rich media management functionality. That these functions work together, to meet the evolving needs of customers today are very attractive, personalized offers to customers of IBM's own Web experience.

Linked from the page was an IBM PDF publicly available with the following information:

Meet expectations with exceptional experiences: A comprehensive vision
IBM Project Northstar is IBM’s vision and multiyear roadmap for helping you create differentiated, exceptional web experiences that attract and retain the best customers, improve brand loyalty, and lower operational costs. IBM shaped the vision—which is focused on providing businesses and organizations with all of the capabilities needed to support an exceptional experience—from the results of thousands of customer engagements and interviews with business leaders around the world. It is based on the idea that capabilities must evolve in“Internet time” as well as the following tenets:

UPDATE as of 3pm: Interestingly Wikipedia of all places is the the IBM Customer Experience Suite will drive Project Northstar:

IBM Customer Experience Suite is a set of software tools that enables companies to build customer targeted external facing web portals.
In August 2010 version 7.0 was announced as an enabler of IBM's Northstar project. Project Northstar is the IBM's vision on building Exceptional Online Experiences

As I ran across the wikipedia I also then came across the full PDF with system requirements and more of the IBM Customer Experience Suite that drives Project Northstar.   You can also find a Quickstart Guide for the Customer Experience Suite online at IBM and available.

Continue Reading here" IBM Project Northstar launch- breaking down my thoughts early #ibmexperience" »

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On Monday, September 13th, 2010   by Chris Miller