Taking The Pulse On Mobile

IBM Pulse 2013 is introducing a new social networking feature called “Pulse on Vivastream,” where you can connect and interact with other attendees and speakers to find people with similar interests and skills, share agendas, discuss hot and trending topics, and network with your peers. So, sign up now so you can make the most of IBM Pulse 2013 — before, during, and after the event.

First it was Ubuntu Linux on phones, and now it looks like it’s going to be Ubuntu Linux on Tablets.

TechCrunch posts that on Thursday, developers will be able to start “playing with” the new code, citing Ubuntu founder and VP Products Mark Shuttleworth saying that the strategy is “One Ubuntu” that contains the same codebase but works across multiple platforms, including desktops, phones, and tablets.

But, that each platform “uses a Linux kernel” that’s tailored for the specifics of the target hardware.

This in juxtaposition with iOS and Android, which don’t work as well beyond the handset form factor.

For the record, I currently run Ubuntu on several of my older machines, and save for some VPN woes, I’m a (mostly) happy Ubuntu user.

But what’s more interesting to me about this announcement is the timing. The global mobile confab, Mobile World Congress, is set to launch next week in Barcelona (one of my favorite cities on the planet!).

And speaking of mobile, just last week, IBM announced that Forrester Research, Inc. has recognized IBM as a leader in enterprise mobility services in its recent Forrester Wave report “Enterprise Mobility Services, Q1 2013.”

The report gave IBM the highest score possible on its current offering, writing that IBM “brings clients a world-class design agency (IBM Interactive) combined with breadth and depth of enterprise mobility consulting in terms of technology and global presence.”

I expect you’ll hear more about IBM’s mobile strategy in Barcelona, and shortly thereafter at the IBM Pulse event in Las Vegas, which I’ll be covering for Big Blue.

If you’re planning on attending IBM Pulse, I would highly recommend you start preparing your schedule now.  Already-registered attendees simply need go to the Pulse SmartSite to start checking out this year’s fare.

But wait, there’s more!

This year, IBM has introduced an exciting new social feature in the form of Pulse on Vivastream, a unique social networking platform where you can connect and interact with other attendees and speakers in advance of, during, and after the event to find people with similar interests and skills, share agendas, discuss hot and trending topics, and network with other attendees before you ever land in the land of what happens there stays there.

I’m already registered on “Pulse on Vivastream” myself, so feel free to drop by and introduce yourself.

This year, IBM Pulse guest speakers and performers include 4-time NFL MVP quarterback Peyton Manning and 6-time Grammy Award winner Carrie Underwood.

You’ll also have the opportunity to mix it up with 8,000+ of your peers and hear from IBM business partners and top industry analysts on the latest trends and hottest IT topics…including, yes, mobile.

You can go here to learn more about IBM Pulse 2013, which goes from March 3-6.

I’ll be bringing you more insights and coverage leading up to and during the event right here in the Turbo blog, and will once again be broadcasting via the Interwebs from the show floor, speaking with a variety of IBM executives, industry analysts, and other thought leaders that help make the IBM Tivoli world go round.

IBM Leads New Forrester Wave For Web Analytics

Yesterday I wrote a detailed post about the recent IBM 2011 Global CMO study, which offered a variety of interesting findings.

The first of the four key challenges mentioned that CMOs believe they will be facing moving forward was the massive explosion of data, and how they as CMOs reckon with that.

As the study mentioned, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data a day — so much that 90 percent of the world’s data today has been created in the last two years alone.

Put your head around that piece of data.

Hence, the increasing volume, variety and velocity of data available from new digital sources like social networks, in addition to traditional sources such as data and market research, tops the list of CMO challenges.

The challenge, of course, is how to analyze these vast quantities of data to extract meaningful insights and then use them to improve products, services or the customer experience.

Web Analytics Leads To Market Intelligence

One way to help with corporate Web sites is through Web analytics.  IBM has invested in this space through its acquisitions of both Coremetrics and Unica (which had an enterprise Web metrics solution entitled “NetInsights”).

Forrester Research recently placed IBM at the head of the Web Analytics pack in its most recent Wave report on the subject.

Forrester Research recently published their Wave report for Web Analytics, and in so doing named IBM has one of the Leaders and, in fact, putting IBM in the lead position on its Wave chart.

Not to say that IBM didn’t have some solid competition. Forrester noted four vendors lead the market, including Adobe, comScore and Webtrends.

Yet while the other three vendors had their own unique attributes, it was IBM which “viewed web analytics as a key component of its enterprise marketing management portfolio.”

In the Wave, IBM had perfect scores in corporate strategy and a top rating on current offering. This validation comes at less than 12 months following the acquisition of Coremetrics and Unica (forming the Enterprise Marketing Management portfolio), and provides further market recognition of IBM’s  Smarter Commerce initiative.

The Digital Marketing Optimization Suite is a key solution supporting this initiative.  While this Wave focused specifically on web analytics, IBM’s real strategic commitment is in helping organizations respond to shifting consumer and business trends.

In this way, IBM’s web analytics offerings are considered a critical component of the Smarter Commerce initiative, designed to transform how companies manage and adapt to customer and industry trends such as online, social and mobile shopping.

Leadership ratings for IBM’s Digital Marketing Optimization Suite come as a tribute to the powerful combination of capabilities from Coremetrics and Unica NetInsight, now a single on-demand offering that fuses customer profiles, web analytics, and digital marketing execution to enable marketers to turn site visitors into repeat customers and loyal advocates by orchestrating a compelling experience throughout each customer’s digital lifecycle.

Here’s what Forrester had to say about IBM’s enterprise marketing management capability:

IBM. Since our previous evaluation, IBM acquired both Coremetrics and Unica in 2010. IBM has consolidated these companies into its Enterprise Marketing Management software division, and product portfolio integration is under way. IBM is incorporating the complementary and notable features of Unica NetInsight into a merged web analytics solution based on the Coremetrics platform. To stay ahead, IBM must execute on its vision for enterprise marketing by completing the product integrations in progress, gaining market traction for major initiatives such as Smarter Commerce, and creating synergies between web analytics and other IBM assets such as eCommerce, business intelligence, and predictive modeling.

Go here if you’d like to learn more about this report and to learn more about IBM’s enterprise marketing management strategy.

Next Gen Web Analytics

Just got off a Webcast entitled “Next Generation Web Analytics,” and presented by Forrester’s John Lovett, whom had somehow had escaped my radar.

Though the Webcast didn’t cover the Unica Insight tool in any detail, it did provide an excellent overview of how organizations need to evolve and adapt if they’re to fulfill the promise of customer intelligence that can be delivered via the Web digital footprint.

The net? (My interpretation):

• Web analytics made a promise it couldn’t keep…the infinitely measureable Web didn’t materialize.
• Data collection is the root of complexity…Stop digging through the logs, you’re missing the forest for the trees.
• Value is in the empowered interpretation, not the enduring collection, of Web customer intelligence.
• The “action chasm” renders analytics inert. Need to move towards an in-dash navigation.
• Which means more data confidence is required, so folks stop questioning the accuracy and focus on the actionability.
• Orgs need to build a foundation of analytical excellence, which begins with a strategy that evolves out of guiding business objectives.
• Technology is simply the enabling factor.

Smart and somewhat self-evident stuff, but easy to lose sight of in an enterprise with lots of switches, levers, and pilots.  : )

That Huge IT Spend Sucking Sound

That Huge IT Spend Sucking Sound

Okay, we’ve got some good news, and we’ve got some bad news.

Which do you want first?

Okay, I’ll start with the bad news and get that outta the way.

In its recent “U.S. and Global IT Market Outlook: Q2 2009,” Forrester Research has forecasted that global IT spending will decline by nearly 11% in 2009.

According to coverage in NetworkWorld, the U.S. drop will be down 5.1% (two percentage points more than previously forecast).

The reason? A “ghastly” first quarter (I thought it was relatively ghastly myself), and “likely similarly poor results in Q2” (Doh!…Can’t comment on those Q2 numbers just yet.).

Now for the good news.

Vendors and end-user organizations apparently believe we’ll start to see some signs of recovery later this year and early next.

The Forrester report also suggests that the pullback is reducing spend across all categories of IT: Software, hardware, telco equipment.

It’s an equal opportunity IT spending pullback.

Can you hear the giant sucking sound?

Shhh, just listen….There it is, can you hear it? It’s slowing down, bit by bit.

According to Forrester, the even better news is that the bad news could have been so much worse.

It’s no small privilege for me to help deliver such bad tidings when it could have been sooooo much worse.

Further, nominal GDP growth helped prevent a further decline, but the credit crunch “caused IT capital purchases to drop like a stone,” with “companies large and small” being shut out of credit markets.

So what’s a poor hungry tech vendor to do?

In 2H09, it’s time to restart those IT marketing engines.

However, focus not only on the efficiency story (always great in a slowdown), but also highlight the opportunity your products and solutions can provide to drive growth.

Coming out of a downturn, it’s always all about revving up growth.

This also presents an opportunity to highlight reference clients (including word-of-mouth via the social media!) which are leveraging IT for real and distinct competitive advantage.

Okay, we’ll bite.

Here’s one from the European Horticultural industry, Danish company Container Centralen.

Europe’s largest provider of re-usable transport equipment and services, Container Centralen is now using IBM sensor technology (including RFID tags) to allow its horticultural supply chain participants to track the progress of shipments of flowers and plants from wholesalers to retailers across 40 countries in Europe.

As former U.S. First Lady and fellow Texan Lady Bird Johnson once said, “Where flowers bloom so does hope.”

Kudos to Container Centralen for their very smart transportation solution.

And here’s hoping a few million new IT projects bloom across the globe very soon!