Chris Crummey from IBM is presenting the opening general session at AusLUG 2013 in Brisbane. Some notes:

1. The big picture – from liking to leading. Trying to take the success of what we see in social media and apply the ideas into the organization. Trying to influence the tippers (from Malcolm Gladwell). Two key ideas: (a) create a smarter workforce, and (b) create exceptional and smarter web experiences.

2. IBM platform for social business – enabling “systems of engagement” solutions. Smarter Workforce and Smarter Commerce. For social areas – social networking, social analytics, social content, and social integration. The reason for showing this – we shouldn’t sell features and functions. We should be selling business outcomes.
– … some examples: Omron (Europe), Illy Coffee, Slumberland, IBM w3.

3. A “social business” – need to use it to attract new talent, and various other outcomes. Social is organic, it’s like water, it should allow free flowing of ideas and information inside the organization.

4. A “social intranet” – you can’t tell where one part starts and ends. It’s integrated and seamless by design.
– … Can use a social intranet to shield people from the churn of internal systems. Eg., going from hundreds of HR applications to much fewer.

5. How do you increase adoption? Put the tools people need where the eyeballs are. Eg., integrating Connections into Notes 9 Social Edition, Microsoft Outlook and Office, and Mobile Clients. Various Microsoft customers say, “IBM integrates better with Outlook and Internet Explorer than Microsoft does.” Eg., IBM treats Microsoft tools as a client to IBM’s tools – eg., Outlook, Office, Windows Explorer, SharePoint.
– … We need to get away from a religious war between Microsoft and IBM.

6. On Notes 9 Social Edition:
– … Want to take the Activity Stream and turn it into a Business Stream. Want to integrate other applications into there. Enabling embedded experiences in the Activity Stream.
– … A social business card gives people direct access to your blogs, files, wikis, communities, etc. Enables a self-service model for others.
– … Can right click on someone else’s name and invite them to your network.
– … Changing notifications to active participation. Eg., can participate in a forum discussion from within email. Can approve an SAP workflow item.
– … Strategy – make the Notes client a catalyst to participation.
– … Four ways to access email – rich client, Connections, iNotes via browser, and mobile devices.

7. On Connections Mail:
– … When sending files to others, I add the files from Files. It adds the recipients to the access control list.

8. On the new Sametime – “social communications”
– … Huge focus on better audio and video.
– … Displaying multiple people on video at the same time, rather than one at a time.

9. On the new Connections 4.5:
– … Changing mindset – the more I share, the more valuable I am (vs. the old approach – the more I know myself the more valuable I am).
– … New feature – “Connections Content Manager” – a world class document management system. “For Quickr customers, this is your migration plan to Connections. There will be migration tools provided, and licensing approaches.”
– … … Includes nested folders, document status, workflow, metadata
– … … When uploading a file, can mandate particular metadata and associate a workflow.
– … New Share button
– … @mentions
– … Can provide a status update just to a community.
– … File Sync – for keep files in synchronization across multiple devices. “Like a Dropbox model, but secure.” The information on your mobile device is encrypted.
– … IBM Docs – web editors, for editing in the browser, and co-editing within the browser.
– … on an iPad, shifting the user interface to a magazine style – a bit like Flipboard. Strategy at IBM – “mobile first.”

10. Moving the needle:
– … Five things that hold organizations back – divisions/silos, organization chart, taxonomy, email, and documents.
– … Eg., when someone leaves the firm, their mail file is archived away. We lose access to their knowledge and skills.
– … You need to use social to drive business initiatives. Don’t think about blogs and wikis. Need to think about a “new way of working.” Eg., blogs and wikis are a way to support the way we get work done.
– … Four examples at IBM – “BlueThx,” product managers customer engagement, engagement for industry sellers, and BYOD initiative (tech support only deals with BlackBerry and Windows XP; use communities in Connections for Mac, Linux, Android, etc.).
– … call out to eOffice for their integration of Office 365 documents in SharePoint within an activity stream.

11. Responsive design:
– … re-factoring the screen layout depending on what device type I’m using. Changes what is shown in the screen to tailor it for an iPad or a smartphone.

12. A business partner took a large touchscreen table, and wrote an interface between it and Connections. Can pinch-and-zoom, etc.

13. How IBM is leveraging the capabilities:
– … “The Digital IBMer” – protecting customer data, become more social, support work-from-home.
– … CEO of IBM creates a video blog every quarter – giving an update to all of IBM. Has validated the concept of video blogs.
– … Better engagement with employees, through writing directly on their wall – and allowing others to see.

14. People at different levels engage for different reasons:
– … employees – better file sharing. Much faster way of getting information out.
– … HR manager – people to follow, and how to increase your digital reputation.
– … line of business – applications, business initiatives.
– … executives – a better way to communicate, a better way to be a leader.
– … company – makes people better.