Posts Tagged 'innovation'



5min with FuxyTunes and Mudo

There have been several announcements recently regarding Israeli hi-tech companies – either bought by large corporations or introduced what could be the next big thing in the business. Respect.

The first time I heard about 5min.com was over at Ouriel’s blog, when the company was chosen (along with 14 other) to travel to California for IsraelWebTour. I thought it’s a nice concept, making a 5min tutorial videos, but the only differentiator between YouTube for instance is that 5min.com are limiting the content in terms of time (5min max) and type (tutorial). My opinion still stands, and I guess only time will tell if I’m right or wrong. I hope I’m wrong.

On related news, Yahoo! announced earlier this week they are buying Israeli company FoxyTunes.com, which lets you control almost any media player and find lyrics, covers, videos, bios and much more with a click right from your browser. Again, Respect! I think FoxyTunes was the first extension in my Firefox – had no idea (at the time) it was an Israeli company…

Last but not least, is ModuMobile.com, from M-Systems founder Dov Moran. The company is said to introduce the next big thing in the world of mobile devices. And the short video they released to the web (excellent viral marketing example) didn’t shed more light on the mystery. Now I’m reading they will introduce their mobile solution in October 2008 – a mobile device that takes your personality where ever you go – laptop at work, mp3 in the car, GPS, media system at home, etc. Interesting.

These are only 3 examples of Israeli innovation. No wonder IBM Corporation decided to open up the Global Technology Unit (GTU) in Israel at 2001 – a corporate initiative to promote world wide business for IBM with Israeli-based technology companies. Not to mention the numerous Software and Storage acquisitions IBM made in Israel – XIV being the last one – and the excellent work IBM Haifa Research Lab are doing, both locally and worldwide.

The next net and your business

After 3 days of army reserve training, just before heading home, I stopped at IDC Herzeliya, to lecture on The Next Net – What it means to your business, to the members of The Israeli Innovation Forum – an academic program for executives, run at the Arison School of Business.
The forum aims at creating a community for executives to promote innovation in Israel, while fostering the knowledge and expertise of its members. For full disclosure I’ll mention that the forum is run by IDC with sponsorship from IBM Haifa Research Lab.

There is at least 1 video in my lectures, and on this I had 2, although I had only 30 minutes.
The first video was The Facebook Song, which I saw at Lior Zoref.

This song provides a good intro and ice-breaker to the subject of social network – there are many disciplines, topics, focus areas – 30min was quite a challenge.

Just before slide 3 I did a quick survey, to see if social networking and web 2.0 era had any effect on business leaders – so I asked how many track blogs, write blogs or members of any social network. I liked what I saw – over 60% of participants had their hands up on all 3 questions, which shows social networking and social software is not overlooked, and business leaders are taking it seriously, looking for business opportunities.

In slide 6 a small shiver crossed my body – I noticed that I’m obsolete – not part of the NetGen.
I’m almost 30 (presents are welcome), started working with computers in high school, and had my first cellphone only 10 years ago. The members of the forum reassured me that I’m still very relevant, so it’s cool. For now.

Despite the time (8pm), the members were very cooperative and we had some interesting discussions, on facebook, viral marketing and innovation at the business. To wrap us my lecture I pointed people to BusinesWeek Special Report, Social Networking with the Elite, which I wrote about earlier this week. When I referred to the CIA as the Central Intelligence Agency, one participant told me which CIA is the “important” one – the Culinary Institute of America. I should start cooking more… Gabi, thanks for the tip. Now I know.

You can view my presentations over at slideshare.net/snowmaster.

As a (bit long) side comment, I must say Lior is a business colleague/competitor I value – he holds a unique vision on digital media and true to the ‘try it yourself‘ rule, was responsible for several breaking marketing ideas in Israel. The latest being Yossi and Lior‘s Test Broadcasting, a 15min clip, on technology and marketing.

Mental note: not all companies are IBM…

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

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…

IBM a Top Innovator, again…

I don’t usually comment about IBM, as this is my personal blog, but some issues require my attention, and comment.
BusinessWeek-Boston Consulting Group published its 2007 World’s Most Innovative Companies report, and IBM is in the top 10, again. IBM is not in the top 5, but we did jump one place to 9th.
Still, a respectable achievement, if we consider the competition. Competing with Apple and Google (1st & 2nd, respectively) isn’t easy, especially if you consider IBM is in an entirely different line of business. We work with corporations, governments and companies, whereas Apple & Co. and working with consumers.. it’s easier to show innovation in the consumer based market.
100 million iPods do make a difference..

IBM’s Innovation agenda has been in the front line of our strategy for some time now. Sam Palmisano, IBM’s CEO, mentioned in PartnerWorld 2007 why innovation is crucial to survive in the industry, and how IBM is positioned to support our business partners, customers and even ourselves to become better innovators. According to IBM, innovation is not only in products or services, but also in business processes and business transformation.
You can learn more about IBM’s Innovation at ibm.com/innovation/guide.

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Mobile & Media Consultant. I help startup companies launch products to the consumer market. Reach out: dvir.reznik [at] gmail.com
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This is my personal blog. The postings here do not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my past employers or of my clients. It is solely my opinion.