Social Software BP Rountable notes/comments #ls10
Tags :Lotusphere
This is my second year attending this roundtable on social software at Lotusphere. It seems some headway was made on certain areas raised as a concern last year and is still on hold in others. Here are my quick thoughts and notes. Keep in mind that social software is both Connections and Quickr.
What was on the concern last last year and how they did
- Common branding for social services - started and will be doing more this year
- Competitive information - they have it and have sone great studies. The push is to get that information in the hands of partners so it can be utilized in informing customers. Partners requested access to internal competitive information. We were told we will look at finding a way and apparently if they can substantiate the source and testing it can be shared. Should prove helpful if they can make this happen
- Positioning in the marketplace - they say it is done. I agree that Lotus is being seen as a leader in the enterprise social space. But you cannot sit back at any point as there are so many new ones popping up constantly.
- Air cover through a social media manager/community leader across blogs, wikis and more - they state they have really moved into this. I am really struggling to see it pop up anywhere. They did found the "Collaboration Soapbox" but unless you knew that name I don't see how they are promoting it in other networks.
- Lastly was a licensing model for hosted environments to get Connections and Quickr up faster for SMB with a better licensing model to meet the SAAS needs - this has not been done
Technical and sales enablement was next. A concern was the missing sales kit enablement parts that are needed to present to customers when engaging them in IBM Social Software initiatives. Greenhouse is becoming a resource for some partners to store, share and get information. But it is partner driven, not IBM and they asked for IBM help.
A big topic was SMB entry pricing models for Lotus Connections. The current minimum of 45k is way above what a small company would invest. That was agreed so options were discussed. It was suggested a 6-10k model with a limited amount of users would be helpful in reaching the smaller new customers. They cannot use the word "Express" without some process inside of IBM, but the seed has now been planted. This goes back to the above point of hosted license model options which would give quick startup and easy entry costs for SMB.
Lastly a topic was on the current competition reaching beyond Sharepoint and into other products like Jive and BlueKiwi. Jive also acquired Filtrbox which I mentioned as a tool in my BOF507 last night on using social media to consume Lotus information. More higher level marketing materials on why IBM Social Software and the Collaboration Agenda was requested so it could be used when talking to customers.
As last year, there are some partners deeply involved in selling the tools, while others are finding it tougher with some of the concerns they raised. It depends highly on area, need and how it is presented. There was mention of a 6 month follow-up call to see where we stand mid-year instead of waiting till next Lotusphere. I will have updates then.
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On Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 by Chris Miller
