IBM Connect Conference Opener with Guy Kawasaki (among others)

Here at Lotusphere, IBM has a conference within a conference called IBM Connect. It’s more business oriented with less “geek” going on.  The first speaker was Bridget Van Kralingen, General Manager of IBM North America

Note: Great quotes are in bold

• The most incredible thing about social business is that we are truly in a situation where the process of solving problems can be shared by many and can go to a deep, deep, level.
• We’ll see a level of democratization and flattening in companies
• Stats
• half users of social networks over 35
• 2 billion users in 5 users
• 7 billion apps downloaded in 2009
• 50 billion apps will be downloaded in a few years
• Very large percentage download unsanctioned apps that allows them to do their work
• 200 million tweets a day
• 156 million public blogs
• Those stats point to a 20X increase to the year 2015
• In 2012 data will rise to 2.7 zetabytes (that’s a really, really, really, large amount of data)
• Sentiment is an incredible tool to gather information and understand impacts to you
• Cemex has to operate locally to do the work but also operate globally to run a business and innovate
• implemented social and with over 500 communities worldwide and cut months out of the product cycle
• Bottom up change and innovation powered this
• Mars
• When you take the voices of many people you can enact change
• can drive progress and not just change
• Mars is dependent on the cocoa bean
• It’s an orphan crop
• grown by small farmers
• Mars made it their mission to crack the genome of the cocoa bean and make it more resistant to disease
• A researcher realized their research was good for the entire industry and decided to share it
• Worked with IBM and the Department of Agriculture
• Took their research and made it open in an open database
• This changed the mental model of how research and problem solving was done in that industry
• Kraft
• Mental Model
• Kraft saw the challenge of white labeled goods
• Omni consumers who is more empowered
• Built an iphone app for food
• takes advantage of what an omni-consumer
• gives directions to stores, coupons, recipes, and grocery lists
• Became the 10th most downloaded app or essential to a key workflow in many peoples kitchen
• Every single person understood that to gain control you have to give up control. You have to listen
• Find something at the seams that really captures energy to enact change. (emphasis added)
• Technology should become a real partnership with business because both sides can’t do it alone
• There is a strong need for governance and risk management
• The more you are able to understand the risk in social technologies the more you are able to address it
• When you introduce this, you are making a fundamental change. You are working to increase a more understanding and listening culture.  You have to drive the change in the same ways you want the outcome to occur.
• It has to be a democratic process.  There has to be a lot of listening and thinking involved when you drive this type of change

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Martina Gurkens, CIO of Continental AG in Germany then spoke.  Changed her company from product oriented to solutions oriented.

• Automotive industry changing. they have shorter development times.  Complete systems become part of a car
• Gone are the days where you just provide a brake to spec. Now you need to work with the manufacturer to shorten the braking time of a vehicle. This may include the need to interact with brakes, wheels, the engine, etc.
• Four megatrend in the automitive industry
• Safety of people inside and outside the car
• Environment protection
• Always on state. Cars are intelligently connected via sensors, cameras, etc.
• Support global mobility. Think electric vehicles and other types that change the mobility game and needs to support these new technologies. (My comment, how will you charge an electric car more than 50 miles from home for example)
• To address these trends we must work smarter not just harder.  Continentals CEO called it networking behaviour
• Business have towers or silos
• Ideas move around in towers but not between them
• Answer begins with a higher view. Look down between the towers where people can meet between the tower
• It’s not about tearing down the towers but in allowing people to meet between them
• Local employees can act a a sensor to changes in their area.
• They can see shifts faster and get new types of tires to the right place (decentralized approach)
• Tagging, commenting, blogging, and other sharing combined with enterprise search help to meet between the towers
• Only works when empoloyees keep profiles up to date and updates information about their work
• ConNext is the project they started a year ago
• Brings together people from HR, Corp Comm, another group, and IT.
• Goal is to create a network culture
• Offer a variety of training. Gives option by language and learning approach.
• Rewards new behavior
• It’s a significant change. It disturbs the culture of the company and requires committed management.

IBM also got  Guy Kawasaki of Apple Evangelist fame is here to speak.

• Worked for Apple as their software evangelist
• left, returned as their chief evangelist
• Wants to talk to day about Enchantment and the art of social business
• He uses the word enchant to denote a deeper relationship
• To be enchanting you have to learn to trust others before they can trust you
• Amazon lets you return an ebook within one week no questions asked
• Zappos gets women to buy shoes sight unseen.  It has told the world, “buy the shoe and if you don’t like it we’ll let you return it and we’ll pay shipping both ways
• Nordstrom solves the problems
• Become a baker and not an eater
• an eater sees the world as a zero sum game
•  A baker sees the world as NOT a zero sum game. I can bake more.  The rising tide floats all boats
• Mars, referenced above, was thinking like a baker to share research for the good of the entire candy industry
• Learn to accept others
• Default to a yes attitude
• default to yes. I will do what this person asks even before this person asks
• This will make you a world class networker and a world class schmoozer
• Do something Dicee
• It’s a lot easier to enchant people with great stuff
• Great stuff is deep.  It has features, functionality.
• It’s intelligent. They were thinking. They understood my pain
• Take for example the new Shelby Ford Mustang.  The thought of enabling his 16 or 18 year old sons seems socially irresponsible
• Ford has a my key. They key lets you control the top speed and the volume of the stereo.  Now he can limit the speed of the car to 55 mph
• It’s complete
• It’s empowering
• It’s elegant
• (hence DICEE as an acronym)
• Tell a story
• It’s not a feature driven description
• he gave several examples of well known companies starting for good reasons
• Plant many seeds
• Marketing 1.0 – suck up to the influencers
• Marketing 2.0  is a flatter world
• unwashed masses embrace
• then the “influencers” have to write about it.
• Twitter is a great example. It’s successful because people loved twitter and used it.
• You need to go after lonelyboy15 and not Forbes. He may make your product tip.  So plant the seeds, cover the world, and hope it reaches the audience
• Provide social proof.  The more white wires you saw the more comfortable with ipods you become.  That’s what’s behind the “Like” button
• Build a complete ecosystem.  It’s developers, resellers, websites, blogs, consultants, conferences, etc.  They fill in gaps in your product.
• Think of iOS and Android developers
• Provide value.
• Information.
• Insights – what does it mean
• Assistance – how to make it happen to you or how to avoid it.
• Engage fast.  The half life of a Google Plus toast is two hours.
• Answer your email in 48 hours
• Engage flat. Respond to anyone not just important people
• Engage frequently
• Remove the speed bumps. CAPTCHA is an example
• Sungevity makes it easy. They use a satellite photo and can give a calculation of what panels to use, where, and how much it will cost.  All this without a visit to your home
• Get on your hands and knees and begging for it.  The story of Richard Branson trying to convince Guy to fly Virgin Airlines.  Richard got on his hands and knees and stared polishing his shoes to convince him.