Dvir Reznik | The (old) Blog

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20 days later…

Published July 20, 2007 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Tags: work wplc ibm blogs lotus portal

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.

IBM vs. Microsoft – Mark Bennett

Published July 16, 2007 Uncategorized 2 Comments
Tags: ibm microsoft, mark bennett, notes lotus, יבמ, לוטוס נוטס, מיקרוסופט, תחרות

In the various meetings I attend as Lotus Sales in Israel it always comes down to the same question: what’s the difference between Notes and Outlook? where are the benefits? I’m used to Outlook, why migrate? Most of the remarks are coming from a Microsoft-based companies, that are aware of the limitations Outlook has, in terms of team collaboration and messaging, but they haven’t heard enough about Lotus Notes. As a prefix I’ll explain that Outlook has a very strong hold in Israel, mainly because it was faster to adopt Hebrew in its user interface, which appealed to many businesses.

I read recently an interesting post, from Michael Sampson, a blogger writing about collaboration and effective team management. He interviewed Mark Bennett, the IT manager of a New Zealand based company. Mark has a strong technical background in Microsoft/Citrix technologies and he came right into a Lotus Notes R5 company. His natural instinct was – I’m going to migrate them away from Notes and back to MS Exchange.

He was horrified, and immediately started talking about an Exchange/Outlook migration. In other words, a classic default position for an IT Manager with a Microsoft background.
Fast forward a few years and he is (a) increasingly convinced of the tremendous value of Notes, (b) increasingly drawn to IBM and repelled by Microsoft, and (c) looking for ways to extend the depth and reach of Notes in the Firm.

How did this transition take place? Mark says, “A little while after I joined, I attended a wider Firm meeting where some of my new colleagues talked about the power of Notes. I kept saying to myself, ‘I didn’t know Notes could do that’. That meeting was a turning point in my appreciation of what Notes could do … and the possibilities for using Notes to Firm advantage.

Lotus Notes is a leading messaging and collaboration software, that enables strong teaming and increases efficiency. You just have to be open for other products, that can bring great value to your business. You can read the full interview here.

Mental note: not all companies are IBM…

Published July 14, 2007 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: collaboration, customers, innovation, lotus quickr, lotus software, software, websphere portal, חדשנות, יבמ, לוטוס, לקוחות, ניהול ידע, שיתופיות, תוכנה

It’s has been an interesting week for me, in my 2nd week as Portal, Lotus and Collaboration Software Sales, for IBM Software Group. I met with customers, business partners, colleagues and drove a lot. But, no complaints. It’s good to see the interest some of my products arose within the industry. I had 3 different meetings this week on Lotus Quickr and Lotus Connections and next week I have some more. Not to mention the interest our real-time collaboration (pdf) software has made, Lotus Sametime, with its versatility, set of features, level of security and openness.

As this is my first sales role, I always remind myself that not all companies are IBM. In many ways, not just revenues and global reach. Also in adaptation and implementation of software, especially collaboration software such as Lotus Quickr, Lotus Connections and Lotus Sametime. Innovation is more than just a buzz word. It’s a way of doing business, both internal and external. If you don’t sponsor a culture of innovation within your employees, it’s almost impossible to foster such a culture externally.

That’s why I think Lotus Quickr and Lotus Connections are the right software at the right time. We’re right at the crossroads, of businesses trying to figure how to “deal” with web 2.0, collaboration and innovation. How can my business grow from those trends? how can I stay ahead of the competition?

I met this week with Blink IT, a web 2.0 consulting company, relatively new (under 12 months), that has good ties with business and corporations. Their business is consulting companies on how to implement web 2.0 technologies in the business. What tools to adopt, where to begin, what is the name of this new department, etc. They told me that many of the customers they meet don’t know where to begin. They want to adopt collaboration, foster innovation, create more business, but not sure how. And we’re not talking about old, traditional businesses, also new and hi-tech businesses – that are simply lost. Lotus Quickr and Lotus Connections provide a good first step for business wanting to join the collaboration trend, innovate from within and stay ahead. I hope our products and their skills will benefit more and more businesses in Israel, looking to put their feet at the web 2.0 door, just a notch, and continue from there. It’s possible, and some have already done it.

To conclude this post, I thought you might be interested in some articles, published recently by my colleagues from Lotus in the US. I “starred” them for later reading, maybe you’d like to do the same.
Collaboration University (CU): With the first session in Kansas City ending this week, and the second one coming up next week in London, there are amazing responses from participants. There was also a live coverage of several lectures, that you can replay and also tune this week, for CU in London, UK (July 18-20).
Quickr Demos: lots and lots of Quickr Demos (for QSite, QActivities, QContacts, QIssues, QMeeting and QAnnounce) – all courtesy of Rob Novak.
Lotus Sametime: new demo of Sametime 7.5.1 now available, courtesy of Adam G.
Ed Brill came back from Japan Lotus Conference.
and there’s always something interesting over at The Quickr Blog.

The Virtual World of Business

Published July 8, 2007 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: ibm, innovation, themarker innovation, virtual world, דהמרקר, חדשנות, יבמ

IBM and Themarker.com held the annual Innovation Event today, just outside of Tel Aviv, Israel. The main issue was innovation (obviously), and a respectable list of speakers came to this invitation only event to hear how (and most importantly) why innovation is crucial to businesses, regardless of size or industry.
Meir Nissensohn, IBM Israel General Manager opened the event with a 2 min clip of his activities in the virtual world of Second Life. He then followed by saying that innovation is what makes a company survive, although there’s usually a natural tendency to resist the change. Meir gave the example of IBM itself, back in the 1990’s, when the company lost $6-8B a year – only when we felt it in the flesh, it started to matter. Until then we (as many other successful companies) behaved as if we were unbeatable. Everything is working fine – why fix if it’s not broken? You can read more on Meir keynote here.
For those who haven’t been in the business 15-20 years ago, IBM was facing some rough times. Losses were at $6-8B a year, massive cutoffs were considered and the business climate has changed. Shifted. There were even talks of splitting up IBM into 6-7 smaller companies.
Lou Gerstner, the 1st CEO who was brought outside of Big Blue, decided to focus future business on Business Services (among other things), not products, and some IBM executives didn’t see his logic. IBM Global Services brought $47B in 2006, out of $91B total revenue.

After all the formalities were put a side, the floor was cleared for the last presentation, mine, on the “3D Internet – Applying Virtual Worlds to Business.” At first I (and my colleagues from IBM/TheMarker) were not sure how many people would stay to the presentation – it was at the end of the day, 5pm, was published only at the event itself (not on the program) – in short, it could go either way. To my surprise, and from the feedback we got – people who knew about the presentation, waited just for it. The presentation was short and brief, and I tried to convey the message of where we are now and where are we going, and why 3D internet is the logical next step. I followed with some some examples on various business applications for virtual worlds, such as Commerce (Circuit City and Sears stores), Education and Training, Events and Collaboration (Greater IBM) and others (CDC, University of California). IBM has been investing heavily in virtual worlds for over a year now, with various projects, covering many aspects of our business and society. I like to think that people left my presentation with a better understanding of virtual worlds and the opportunities for businesses. We must always remember that virtual worlds are only at their beginning, with many applications yet to be developed, and we as individuals must find the right balance between out virtual life and real life…

Live Earth 7/7/07

Published July 7, 2007 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: climate, concert, crisis, live earth, אפקט החממה, כדור הארץ, קונצרט

Live Earth which takes place today, 7/7/07, is scheduled to be one of the biggest live events our world has seen. Broadcasted live from 7 continents and 8 major cities, starting at Sidney, Australia and moving on with the sun, the event is dedicated to increase the level of awareness to our planet and the natural resources, which are diluting at an alarming rate. More than 100 music artists are schedule to perform, and over 2 billion people around the world will watch the awesome concert, as we bring the focus to our planet, and what we can do to help. In Tel Aviv, Rabin Square will host the live show, starting at 8pm (local time), with performances of local singers and live hook-ups to the world event. The square was covered in green grass Thu evening, to stress the deep climate crisis we are all facing. According to researchers, in 50 years time the entire square will be covered by water, unless we start dealing, now.

It’s gonna effect us all, in our life time, and our children’s for sure – so don’t act like it’s not an issue. Come to the events, where ever you are in the world, and show you care. And enter www.liveearth.org to learn what you can do to help. You can also watch the concerts live at MSN.

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