It's been a busy few weeks since my last blog. I've been with IBM at various events, working with the Sales team on some enablement, doing (lots of) admin on the IBM Partnerworld websites, and most importantly, meeting customers and talking to them about Connections and Social Computing.
In the past, it's been quite easy to generate a "value proposition" around a software product. Document Management software does what it says on the Tin - you wouldn't buy it if you wanted to run a helpdesk. Likewise, a Firewall is great for providing security, but it's not much use for data archiving.
But Connections is different. Every customer I speak to sees value in different areas. The Borough Council sees an HR solution for managing "soft data" about employees and providing a basic authentication tool/ The Petrochemicals Company sees bookmarks as being the answer for their worldwide team of Geologists to share links to interesting information. The University wants to build cross functional research teams.
This is great of course - it means that there is a good conversation to have with almost any potential user. But there are challenges as well. It's hard to develop a coherent go-to-market strategy when you're saying that this software can be all things to all users. So this is an area where I must focus over the coming weeks. Any ideas gratefully received!
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Thoughts, from a bloke who'se been in IT for a very very long time, about whether social computing tools can help organisations, in a practical and down-to-earth way, to be better at what they do.
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