© Copyright 2007 iSociety Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
12:00pm US Central Time March 1st, 2007
Angus says: Welcome to the Fireside Chat with Elaine Lennox - VP Marketing System i...
 
Question from Angus: How are you enjoying marketing the System i?
Elainelennoxfori says: I'm loving it.
Elainelennoxfori says: This is at once the most challenging and one of the most fun jobs that I have had!
 
 
Question from Tpm: Hi Elaine. Can you describe the marketing plans and budgets for their System i line in 2007, and how they differ from initiatives in 2006?
Elainelennoxfori says: Well, firstly there are some key initiatives that will continue year to year.
Elainelennoxfori says: Specifically the academic initiative
Elainelennoxfori says: Skills with universities
Elainelennoxfori says: common, large user groups,
Elainelennoxfori says: and of course helping iSociety!
Elainelennoxfori says: Where things will change is that IBM as a whole is going to take a more integrated approach to marketing across the company
Elainelennoxfori says: What I mean by this is that in 2007 we will get more help from the rest of IBM
 
Question from Dkimmel: Does working with a gang of bigots on the one hand and disbelievers on the other hand make your job more difficult.
Elainelennoxfori says: Well I learned early in my career that having passionate customers is a good thing so I'd never call them bigots!
Elainelennoxfori says: but saying that there is an interesting tradeoff that we have to focus more on getting new clients
Elainelennoxfori says: and that the new clients want to hear about the newer capabilities of the system
Elainelennoxfori says: which means not always leading off with an RPG message.
Elainelennoxfori says: That sometimes doesn't make those passionate installed clients happy
Elainelennoxfori says: so yes - its a bit of a balance.
Elainelennoxfori says: but more important question - which category are you in?
 
Question from iSkills: Elaine -- tell me more about the student contest that I've heard about?
Elainelennoxfori says: Now this is one of the coolest things going on right now.
Elainelennoxfori says: We just launched what’s called the Innovation challenge.
Elainelennoxfori says: its a team competition for universities and colleges.
Elainelennoxfori says: And we have about 100 teams already signed up
Elainelennoxfori says: What’s really interesting is that 75% of the schools that have had teams join
Elainelennoxfori says: are schools that we did not have a formal relationship or System i classes in before now
Elainelennoxfori says: This is a really good sign!!!
 
From Dkimmel: Bigot
Elainelennoxfori says: well i guess thats better than being a disbeliever....
Elainelennoxfori says: I'm sure Timothy Prickett Morgan will be happy to hear that
From Tpm: hahahahaha
 
Question from Angus: Where can we find you at COMMON in Anaheim in April?
Elainelennoxfori says: At all the iSocials.  Mark Shearer and I will both be there.
 
Question from Alison: Will you be unveiling any new marketing campaigns at COMMON?
Elainelennoxfori says: We'll be focussed on exciting new offerings that are coming throughout this year.
Elainelennoxfori says: You'll also see that System i is going to become very prominent in the IBM simple campaign
Elainelennoxfori says: Which is our campaign targeted at SMB clients
 
Question from Eric Figura: I've heard good things about IBM's VIP program from a couple of IBM Partners. How many System i ISV's have been selected to participate in this program?  How many IBM resources are being allocated to most VIP partners? And how do you see the program going so far?  Thanks and see you at COMMON.
Elainelennoxfori says: VIP stands for vertical industry program
Elainelennoxfori says: And I would say it the most important new initiative that we have this year
Elainelennoxfori says: VIP is all about getting new clients onto the platform, by partnering and going deep in particular industries
Elainelennoxfori says: We are carefully selecting the partners that are able to invest jointly with us in driving significant new acquisition in those industries
Elainelennoxfori says: examples of industries might be labor union in New York City or casinos in Las Vegas, retail in India
Elainelennoxfori says: the program is very specific and local
Elainelennoxfori says: and so far we are really pleased with the initial roll out.
Elainelennoxfori says: we are expecting to get thousands of new clients onto the platform in 07
Elainelennoxfori says: because of this program
 
Question from Tpm: Can you describe this integrated approach to marketing a little more?
Elainelennoxfori says: Sure :-)
Elainelennoxfori says: Traditionally IBM has just TONS of different marketing programs
Elainelennoxfori says: And we did everything one product at a time
Elainelennoxfori says: Going forward, we are going to have a few big marketing programs within IBM.
Elainelennoxfori says: One set will be focussed on smb clients.
Elainelennoxfori says: And the other set on large clients.
Elainelennoxfori says: There will be one IBM leader for each program.
Elainelennoxfori says: And that one leader will be responsible for making a System i target...
Elainelennoxfori says: e.g they will have a responsibility to create leads for System i
Elainelennoxfori says: e.g new clients, new opportunities.
Elainelennoxfori says: Several of the programs are being led by software group.
Elainelennoxfori says: For example there will be a large enterprise program called "empowering people"
Elainelennoxfori says: which is all about collaboration.
Elainelennoxfori says: eg sametime, lotus, real time collaboration, IP telephony.
Elainelennoxfori says: You will see the System i IP telephony offering promoted widely within that program
Elainelennoxfori says: another example: in the smb programs - you will see System i turn up all over the place.
Elainelennoxfori says: The good thing is that many more people in IBM -beyond just the System i "bigots"
Elainelennoxfori says: will now have to be responsible for the success of System i
 
Question from Dkimmel: Is there an open source project underway on System i where these college students can contribute to developing applications for System i?
Elainelennoxfori says: Well that sounds like a great idea
Elainelennoxfori says: Here's what we 're doing so far....
Elainelennoxfori says: firstly, the competition (innovation challenge) actually has the students coding in PHP
Elainelennoxfori says: in its 3rd phase.. and we will make those projects available - the project is a vacation planner.
Elainelennoxfori says: Secondly, we have students coming into IBM in what we call  "speed teams" and many of
Elainelennoxfori says: the projects that we are giving them are open source projects.
Elainelennoxfori says: thirdly, we are developing mentoring special interest groups per university under iSociety
Elainelennoxfori says: to work with students
Elainelennoxfori says: but the idea of more like a library is an interesting one.. I'm hearing very good feedback on the
Elainelennoxfori says: idea that iSociety put a page that links you to many of the code libraries in one place
 
Question from Dkimmel: Will VIP play nice with the renewed interest in industry special interest groups at COMMON?
Elainelennoxfori says: Our goal is always to work hand in hand with common
Elainelennoxfori says: As common grows their industry segments/focus we'll work on how to have synergy
 
Question from EricFigura: How many VIP partners do you have now and how many do you envision in partnering with in 2007?
Elainelennoxfori says: In terms of numbers of industry networks our goal is to go after 80 different vertical sub segments (e.g combinations of a local market and a specific industry)
Elainelennoxfori says: we select as many partners as we need to build a compelling network in that local market
Elainelennoxfori says: where we have local colleges and universities we may also pull them in.
Elainelennoxfori says: example university of nevada las vegas is engaged with our gaming focus in las vegas
 
Question from Angus: How are you marketing System i internally to IBM?
Elainelennoxfori says: Great question.
Elainelennoxfori says: We are constantly working to try and educate the rest of IBM about the benefits of System i ,
Elainelennoxfori says: and I recognize that we still have work to do in this are.
Elainelennoxfori says: area that was
Elainelennoxfori says: One thing that I'm very hopeful/ positive about is that this new integrated marketing approach for
Elainelennoxfori says: 2007 will encourage and influence the rest of IBM to understand how special System i is
 
Question from Mpcrump: What metrics will you use to measure the effectiveness of marketing overall as well as specific programs?
Elainelennoxfori says: Well we are actually pretty rigorous in how we do this in all of our marketing programs.
Elainelennoxfori says: we measure the value of sales opportunities created, as well as # of new leads created each week and month
Elainelennoxfori says: And then we use market intelligence to help identify new areas to go after...
Elainelennoxfori says: we also measure money spent versus return
 
Question from Eric Figura: Elaine, you are quick to the draw with your answers. :-)  Light Question: How many people do you have assisting you in replying to queries in the Fireside Chat ?
Elainelennoxfori says: not enough
Elainelennoxfori says: Seriously, I'm actually in a room in Rochester
Elainelennoxfori says: and right next door our large user group meeting is going on this week.
Elainelennoxfori says: in fact we invited members of the large user group (LUG) to come be in the room with me
Elainelennoxfori says: so I'm getting input from both my team and our customers
 
Question from Tpm: You type pretty fast for someone who isn't a journo
Elainelennoxfori says: I get 500+ emails a day. its a critical job skill
 
Question from JonParis: PHP is a wonderful addition to the system - but a native port like Apache is needed.  Any chance of that happening?
Elainelennoxfori says: Let me ask the team on that one.
 
Question from JonParis: will you be working with SWG to ensure that tools pricing and packaging align with System i strategy? The latest announcements seem to be a "bait and switch" move and are stirring up a lot of resentment.
Elainelennoxfori says: I hear you. There has been a lot of concern expressed since the announcement yesterday.
Elainelennoxfori says: we continue to work very closely with the software group executive team
Elainelennoxfori says: and will be working this issue specifically.
Elainelennoxfori says: back to the question on apache, we are always exploring new requirements and requests
Elainelennoxfori says: brought in by our clients. I'll take this specific request back to the team
 
Question from Mpcrump: System i customers are extremely vocal on their concerns with marketing.  However, the opinions on what is wrong and how to fix it numbers in the tens of thousands (that includes my boss the little guy).  Is it helpful to hear and how can you process it?
Elainelennoxfori says: Its always very helpful to hear what clients think we should do.
Elainelennoxfori says: What’s interesting is this is kind of the core of how sales and marketing differ.
Elainelennoxfori says: in marketing you take a look of input (macro) and try to find a string or a trend that works
Elainelennoxfori says: where as in sales you attack it one client at a time.
Elainelennoxfori says: what i listen to the most is - a. the emotion. b. has the idea worked somewhere/ anywhere?
Elainelennoxfori says: we learn a lot from things and ideas that start very small e.g in one region or with one business partner.. and then we can extend.
 
Question from Alison: Can you describe the challenges of your job?
Elainelennoxfori says: I think the biggest challenge is that people sometimes base their opinion of this platform
Elainelennoxfori says: on hearsay, or history, not on how wonderful today's System i is
Elainelennoxfori says: And its always very hard to change people's perceptions.
Elainelennoxfori says: But then I knew that when I asked for this job :)
Elainelennoxfori says: Thats part of what makes it fun.... that and having such a passionate set of clients , partners.
Elainelennoxfori says: and a really good team here in rochester.
 
Question from Dkimmel: Gaming in Vegas is pretty much System i exclusive already, are you going after segments that aren't traditionally System i?
Elainelennoxfori says: Great question. One of the reasons you see us talking about gaming is that this
Elainelennoxfori says: is a great example of VIP that has already worked.. and how powerful this approach can be
Elainelennoxfori says: but the whole idea is to go after new segments.. to replicate the kind of success we've had in gaming
Elainelennoxfori says: into other industries where maybe historically we haven't been as strong.
 
Question from Angus: Elaine, what are some examples of those industries?
Elainelennoxfori says: Well these aren't examples where we aren't strong - but more where we see great opportunity - here's a few examples.
Elainelennoxfori says: small retailers in Australia and New Zealand.
Elainelennoxfori says: small health facilities in the UK.
Elainelennoxfori says: and small law offices in the US
Elainelennoxfori says: If you have any suggestions -we are very interested in ideas for our next phase of deployment.
 
Question from Mpcrump: Is it safe to say we haven't been successful with the C-level execs?  Moving forward - what can we expect or do to win their mind-share?
Elainelennoxfori says: well I'm not sure I would say not successful when you consider that I'm sitting next door
Elainelennoxfori says: to over 100 of the largest companies in the world that stake their business on System i.
Elainelennoxfori says: generally CIOs and the c level execs care about the bottom line.. and thats where System i excels.
Elainelennoxfori says: For example we have many clients who spend less than 1% of their revenue on it...
Elainelennoxfori says: and they can do it because of System i
Elainelennoxfori says: Of course, we always have progress to make in telling our message to c-level execs
Elainelennoxfori says: thats why one of the new IBM marketing programs will be all about talking to cios.
Elainelennoxfori says: If you have a chance you may want to check it out at www.ibm.com/cio
 
Question from Angus: Elaine, now you have been with System i for a while, how is your outlook for our platform's future?
Elainelennoxfori says: Knowing what I know about what’s coming throughout this year, its the most positive its been since I joined the team. Watch this space :)
 
Angus says: Elaine, thanks for being our celebrity today in the Fireside Chat
Angus says: Thanks everyone for joining us...
Elaine Lennox
Held: March 1st, 2007
          12:00pm Central US time
URL: http://isociety.common.org/chat.htm
Note: edited for spelling