An archive of my writings from 2007 till 2011. If you're interested in the recent stuff, visit my Tumblr at dvirreznik.com.
I just had to check for myself.. after seeing some of my colleagues take the test for themselves.
Although a low score by some standards, I feel good about myself, 68 is an honorable score, if you take into consideration that I don’t think of myself as a nerd..
So, you can see my score, 68. Want to check you score? click the image, or here.
BTW – I’m not surprised. Are you?
Excellent report from IDC, which adds up to other awards and reviews, but this one marks IBM’s leadership not only in 2007, but also in terms of future implementations and releases.
The 2007 reports puts IBM WebSphere Portal in the lead for the 5th year in a row – not an easy task.. IBM’s market share in 2006 was 31.5%, well ahead of the competition.
IBM is “successfully selling portal solutions to businesses of all sizes in conjunction with other complementary products, especially those used for collaboration” according to IDC analyst Kathy Quirk. Kathy’s comments are very much aligned with IBM’s latest initiative, Web 2.0 Goes to Work, launched last month.
Larry Bowden, vice president of portals and Web interaction services at IBM elaborates:
“Portals have been primarily used to distribute information, but now things are getting more interactive,” he said. “You can have instant messaging, real-time chats with customers and constituents, and even video.”
In an all hands call this morning with Lotus GM Mike Rhodin, Mike said that he will announced the official launch date of Lotus Notes and Domino 8 during Lotus Day next week in Japan.
The date is still in August, no delays there.
Mike also mentioned the excellent performance IBM, Software Group and Lotus brand showed during the 2nd quarter, the strongest since Sam Palmisano became CEO of IBM. During August up until October Software Group will host almost 100 session of LCTY (Lotusphere comes to you), across the US, Europe and AP. There will be a speical session in NYC during September, with press and analysts, and Steve Mills, Software Group Executive.
Lots of exciting events, virtual and real, so keep track of the dates and mark your calendars !
IBM has released it financial results for 2Q, that exceeded the analysts expectations.
Revenues in 2Q has increased 9% to a level of $23.8B, with gross profit of $2.26B – the 12th consecutive quarter of growth, and the best one since 2001.
NY Times are saying “Profit at IBM Rises 12% on Strength of Its Software”.
Software has a strong impact on the results, with growth in all 5 brands.
“For the WebSphere family of software products, which facilitate customers’ ability to manage a wide variety of business processes using open standards to interconnect applications, data and operating systems, revenues increased 28 percent. Revenues for Information Management software, which enables clients to leverage information on demand, increased 21 percent. Revenues from Tivoli software, infrastructure software that enables clients to centrally manage networks including security and storage capability, increased 33 percent, and revenues for Lotus software, which allows collaborating and messaging by clients in real-time communication and knowledge management, increased 12 percent year over year. Revenues from Rational software, integrated tools to improve the processes of software development, increased 11 percent compared with the year-ago quarter.”
It’s good to know that Lotus brand had, and still has, a strong contribution to the results. I hear customers asking me about the future of Lotus, and will it still be there in couple of years.
I think recent results speak for themselves.
There’s a saying in Politics (Israel politics at least) that every new public official gets a 100 days grace period. Personally I think that’s too much. 100 days? that’s more than 1 quarter ! In corporate life, grace period is a lot shorter. I like to think 30 days, but usually it’s less. I feel like my grace period was just over, 20 days (21 almost) into the job. Next week is quite busy for me, 2 meetings per day, most of them with customers, presenting my portfolio. There’s a learning curve of course, but I feel next week is my first ‘true’ week as WPLC sales specialist.
I have never seen my calendar as full as it is now. I’ve been driving (or commuting for US readers) a lot, customers, business partners, presenting at IBM and other events, and I see a shift in my working hours. I try to come in around 09:30 (if I don’t have morning meetings), but I stay longer, sometimes until 20:30 – I’m a night guy, like to work when it’s quiet and late.
As for support from within – I get plenty of that. First, many colleagues have offered their help and assistance, without asking. For those who works for large corporations, there are many systems and processes that you have to learn, and that can be frustrating at times, because it takes a lot of time to learn. And it’s purely administrative. Second, there’s lots of information available, both internally (IBM Intranet) and externally (ibm.com/software/lotus). My del.icio.us account has grown in the past 20 days, with new bookmarks. Some internal (that you can’t access obviously unless you’re an IBMer) and most are external, so feel free to browse. So I read a lot. That’s good. Third, blogs. Yes, you heard me right, blogs. There’s a new folder in my Google Reader that’s entitled “lotus and portal”, and I’m tracking over 15 blogs – most of them are sales/marketing oriented, but some are also technical ones. Good to know, and try, when I have the time. You can see the list of my lotus/portal blogs at the bottom of this post.
Gotta to now, lots of stuff to read, presentations to prepare, fact sheet to memorize…
Here’s a list of the blogs I follow, in the ‘lotus and portal’ folder (in random order):
Adam Gartenberg, Carl Tylor, Chris Peppin, Collaboration Loop, developerWorks, Ed Brill, eKrantz, Enterprise 2.0 News, IBM Lotus Notes Hints and Tips, IdoNotes (and Sleep), Lotus Geek, Lotus Rock Star, Lotus Viral Marketing, Mary Beth Raven, The Connections Blog and The Quickr Blog.
