It’s a beautiful time to be in Houston this week, nice temps, not overly humid and an awesome time to learn more about IBM Maximo and other capabilities. Today and tomorrow are the actual conference with additional training options Thursday.
Today opened up with a positive and informative few general sessions kicking off with a Maximo Transformation & acquisition example by Vista Energy (previously known as Dynegy). This was followed by Arizona Public Service Company (APS) discussing their business case to enhance their Transmission and Distributions Maximo functionalities to more efficiently manage and measure costs. The last morning general session was a presentation by CoServ discussing their progress implementing Maximo and their integration to other solutions. They also discussed their lessons learned and goals for the future.
As you can see from the included picture, it’s a full room with lots of learning. This afternoon attendees joined break out sessions covering a vast array of other capabilities, solutions to challenges, and thought leadership.
Tonight is the networking opportunity and vendor night. Perficient is in the entry way to the event next to the beverage center (aka bar), please stop by and say hello!
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Anyone thirsty and near Denver, CO, on May 8, 2018? How about a cold brew and some details about how you too can transform your supply chain / business operations and disrupt your industry with Blockchain?
To set your company apart from the others, you’ll need to operate in an integrated customer focused ecosystem. Suppliers are receiving more and more pressure to deliver faster, become more convenient, show trust and at the same time be more transparent.
Please join Perficient and IBM on Tuesday May 8th for an exclusive event of networking and education, and perhaps a cold beverage. We’ll discuss how Blockchain technology can help you transform your business operations with a focus on making your customers happier and exceeding their expectations.
The event will be held from 4-7PM at the Brewery in the RiNO District in Denver, CO. Register to receive additional updates to the event and attend.
Scenarios we will explore include:
- Quickly address product integrity issues while avoiding significant operational and financial disruptions
- Track asset lifecycle performance and maintenance to establish value and ensure optimal performance
- Maintaining security of digital content at different points in the value chain
- Facilitating trusted settlements of complex transactions quickly, electronically, and without errors
This isn’t just for Maximo clients, anyone who has business operations should benefit.
Agenda
4:00 – 4:30 PM – Registration
4:30 – 5:30 PM – Speakers
5:30 – 6:00 PM – Panel Discussion
6:00 – 7:00 PM – Networking
Light appetizers and drinks provided
Click here to register for this educational and fun event.
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Blockchain was 2017’s technology buzzword of the year, and for good reason. Blockchain technology has the potential to radically alter enterprise business models through cost reduction and increased operational efficiency. But many organizations are finding blockchain to be as confusing as it is promising.
Join us for our webinar on Tuesday, April 3, from 1:00 to 2:00pm CT as we help cut through the hype of blockchain and share a practical way to get started, including how to determine where it fits within your organization.
We’ll answer these questions about blockchain and more:
- Why adopt blockchain?
- What makes a good blockchain use case?
- What are some specific industry applications?
- What are the best practices for getting started?
Tuesday, April 3 | 1:00 – 2:00 PM CT
Click here to Register!
Conflict on April 3rd? Register and we will send you the slides along with the webinar replay to watch at your convenience.
And for our Maximo clients, here’s a link about how Maximo & Blockchain work together. Click here for more information on how to use blockchain to be more transparent, accurate and know where your asset transactions have been with traceable details across the different networks.
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I might be a little partial to the subject considering these six sessions are from my Perficient peers. We also have a large booth (#550 right once you enter the doors). I hope the sessions below are of interest to you. I found something cool today; log into the event from the website, find the sessions you want, save and then auto-update your mobile device with your agenda. Seems easier to read on a larger screen; but maybe that’s just me…And don’t forget about the 28 Maximo related sessions and Perficient’s experience with IBM Private Cloud while at the conference.
TUESDAY
First-Ever Implementation of a Cloud-Based Unified Data Model for Healthcare
Tuesday, 12:30 PM – 1:10 PM | Session ID: 9364A | Mandalay Bay South, Level 2 | Surf A
To address ever-increasing volumes of data and access requirements, BJC HealthCare needed to consolidate clinical repositories, implement an integrated technology platform, and reduce infrastructure costs. To help meet these challenges, Perficient implemented a healthcare-specific blueprint for data warehousing and analytics that incorporates a robust set of data models coupled with industry-specific terms, ultimately decreasing time to implementation. Join us as we discuss how BJC was able to reduce costs, increase scalability and flexibility, improve speed to deployment, and better leverage data for clinical initiatives with the first-ever IBM enterprise data warehouse on the cloud.
Click here to Add to your calendar
Innovating with WebSphere Commerce V9
Tuesday, 1:00 PM – 1:20 PM | Session ID: 9346A | Mandalay Bay South, Level 1, Bayside C, Think Campus | Business and AI Campus Think Tank B1
Learn how to innovate now with IBM’s next-generation modern commerce platform designed to give B2C and B2B organizations the power to rapidly innovate and drive their omni-channel business, with less overhead. IBM WebSphere Commerce V9 combines the scale, performance and security you expect from IBM, with the speed and flexibility of a modern, cloud-ready, extensible architecture. Innovate more, with less time spent, and deliver better business outcomes—right now.
Click here to Add to your calendar
WEDNESDAY
Gaining Cognitive Insights from Unstructured Data for Better Business Outcome across Industries
Wednesday, 10:30 AM – 11:10 AM | Cloud and Data Campus Small Theater C | Session ID: 8506A
Watson Explorer is helping organizations across industries transform their processes and applications with cognitive capabilities. Join our business partners and their clients from the healthcare, community services and power management industries, who will show you how organizations are using Watson Explorer to create advanced search, unified information access and unstructured analytic solutions that deliver new value.
Click here to Add to your calendar
Providing Cognitive Patient Care with Watson Explorer
Wednesday, 11:30 AM – 12:10 PM | Breakers J | Session ID: 3239A
One of the largest community-based health systems in Florida sought to improve their care management approach by implementing an IBM Watson-based solution for patient population identification. In this session, we will share their journey in implementing a cognitive solution to better understand unstructured information, more effectively generate insights into patient care scenarios, and ultimately better inform clinical decision-making. Find out how this healthcare leader leveraged IBM Watson Explorer and Healthcare Annotators to gain up to 14 hours of productivity per day and increase patient identification accuracy from 51% to 92%.
Click here to Add to your calendar
THURSDAY
Test-Driven Development and API Connect: The Perfect Fit for Building APIs
Thursday, 10:30 AM – 11:10 AM | Cloud and Data Campus Small Theater B | Session ID: 6232A
Test-driven development (TDD) can be a critical component in the success of many kinds of projects, and it also helps accelerate API development. Come join us as we discuss a real-life success story using IBM API Connect and a TDD methodology to expand an enterprise-scale API program. We’ll share best practices and lessons learned in integrating and optimizing our API products behind the scenes using CICS, IBM Integration Bus (IIB), and Operational Decision Manager (ODM). We’ll also cover the benefits of leveraging automated test suites in API development, and how to easily configure testing suites in your development environments.
Click here to Add to your calendar
Hope to see you there and contact us if you’d like to be invited to our VIP social Monday night!
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Do you have Maximo? Do you have a fleet of assets (cars, trucks, vans, ambulances, etc)? Are you looking for a better way to maintain asset performance using Internet of Things (IoT)? This second webinar in the series valuable to you too. With the cast of speakers, there should be a wealth of information and knowledge sharing…
The second in the series of two is next Friday, March 9th at 1PM EST. Click here if you missed the announcement of tomorrows webinar on how to transform your fleet, part one.
This webinar help provide answers to:
– What is your life-cycle for Asset Management and how can you better plan for future needs?
– How can you make correct repair and replace decisions for your critical assets and fleets?
– How does IoT fit into the life-cycle of optimizing a maintenance process?
– Interested in a quick overview of Maximo Asset Health Insights (MAHI)?
– What’s Predictive Maintenance Optimization (PMO) and how could help you?
The last two items should be brief demonstrations and your Presenters include:
Don Beahm, Watson IoT Transportation Leader, IBM
Jim Crosskey, Watson IoT Senior Offering Manager, IBM
Frank Henry, Watson IoT Client Technical Professional, IBM
Do you have Maximo? Do you have a fleet of assets (cars, trucks, vans, ambulances, etc)? Are you looking for a better way to manage them? This webinar may just be the information you’re looking for. With the cast of speakers, there should be a wealth of information and knowledge sharing…
Not only is this group focused on business examples, it’s also technical in nature too and has the proof points of how it actually works. If you’re looking for a way to improve / optimize your asset life-cycle processes and identify better ways to manage your fleet, people and repair facilities; attend this two-part webinar. The first is next Friday, March 2 at 1PM EST.
The webinar will cover:
– Suggestions to improve your asset and inventory acquisition and strategy
– Gain or improve your understanding of how costs are positively impacted with proper maintenance strategies within the asset life-cycle
– Ideas to improve asset / equipment life-cycle savings while managing the supply chain of acquiring and stocking items.
– A quick product demonstration by the one and only, Frank Henry, as he shows Maximo for Transportation and an associated use case.
Presenters include:
Don Beahm, Watson IoT Transportation Leader, IBM
Jim Crosskey, Watson IoT Senior Offering Manager, IBM
Frank Henry, Watson IoT Client Technical Professional, IBM
Click here to register for March 2 and next week I’ll blog a reminder for the second session on 3/9 when IoT is added to the conversation.
]]>Many of you may might recall a similar event, until so recently called Pulse or even InterConnect from previous years. This year IBM has enhanced the conference to include even more, but no mention of steak knives (sorry, I couldn’t resist). The date has changed a little since previous years, but it’s still most likely warmer than where you might be this time of year…
The conference is March 19-22, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you’re considering Internet of Things (IoT) or Artificial Intelligence (AI), this conference should have what you’re looking for and how you can harness the power of these as you re-imagine your products, customer relationships and even your business.
And to make your business decision even easier, I borrowed these points from IBM Marketing (Thanks Valerie) and here are the top 5 reasons why Think is a must-attend event. Sounds like the entertainment this year might be fantastic too (#6?)…
1. There will be compelling customer stories to discussing how AI and IoT are real. You’ll hear from Whirlpool, Boeing, GM, Sandvik, AbbVie and many more.
2. More than 61 Watson IoT breakout sessions. It’s a year’s worth of education in four days! You’ll find sessions focused on asset and facilities management, product development, platform and IoT for industry.
3. It’s smart with hands-on labs, think tanks and “meet the expert” sessions to get real answers to your pressing questions.
4. It’s personal with a new, unique campus (click here) that lets you connect with and learn from the right people.
5. It’s the networking event of the year with 40,000+ attendees from the world’s largest companies and the most innovative startups, plus industry experts, peers and IBM leaders.
As provided by IBM, this justification letter (click here) may help with approval for your trip. You can also use the Watson Session Preview tool (click here) to learn more about your interests and plan your agenda. Perficient will be there, please stop by our booth and say hello…
This is one event you don’t want to miss, so I encourage you to register soon by clicking here.
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I’m sure the social world is exploding with “upgrade now” messages and for reasonably good reason. The end of support for IBM Maximo versions 7.5 and earlier is April 2018. You can click here for details and additional links from last year when IBM first announced the end of support. Last I spoke with IBM there was not another major release planned which would shorten the 7.6 support time; as many of you had asked…
This blog is to identify a few of the new capabilities specifically within version 7.6.0.9. The entire feature pack details can be read here and supported upgrade paths.
As previously mentioned a lot of work has gone into improving the Work Supervisor and Work Execution Work Centers. And this previous blog has several links to other blogs to help tell the story. And if you want to see a recording of how they work, click here for a quick video on the new Work Centers.
For those of y’all using the Multi-Tenancy capabilities, IBM has updated the system property when accessing template data as you initially provision a new tenant. This allows you to define a default role for the administrator. Additional details are available within the provide software package should you want to grant other rights, etc.
Setting up an inspection form is reasonably easy and you can create a work order directly from the results as found while performing the inspection. This shows up in the Work Execution Work Center as soon as you create it and can easily be sorted based on the associated asset / location. You can also setup and conduct inspections now within the Work Order, Asset and Location applications. There’s a “create” action that allows you to quickly setup these unscheduled inspections.
Additional details and links to specifics can be found here and don’t forget, End of Support for IBM Maximo 7.5.x and earlier versions is end of April, 2018. I mention this as a reminder because I’ve heard some clients did not realize this and extended support is expensive…
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In today’s constantly changing and mobile world, the only constant is change, right… Within all these changes comes some cool new stuff. Well, IBM and Samsung have put together something very neat that many Maximo clients have asked me about. “What device should I use to go mobile?,” they ask. Well, the answer may just be here within this short blog post and will be available in the USA very soon; lucky for the U.K. people that already have access to the device.
Last week I learned about the new Samsung Tab Active2 and thought I’d share a few details about the device because it might help you and your business get into the mobile capabilities. First let’s ask a few brief questions about why mobile. Ever had the situation where paper was lost after filling out all the great information about the repair? What about the clerk being unable to read the technicians writing? How about a “coffee spill” or “my dog ate it” or “just plain forgot” type challenges.
Mobility just might the solution you need, and now there’s a reasonably inexpensive rugged device that will fit in the technicians pocket with the necessary capabilities for them to quickly and accurately enter the work details during or as they finish the work. It works with many technical solutions including Maximo and is designed for rough working environments. Here are some details:
– Business focused designed to be thin, light and rugged – it has certifications
– Includes an S-Pen so you can write, sign and have precise input even wearing your gloves
– Security using finger print (yes, you’ll have to take your glove off) or facial recognition
– Built in sensors for Telematic data and Augmented Reality ready
Some of the areas IBM plans to take this device include: Biometrics, Augmented Reality, Predictive Asset Management and Watson Cognitive. Sometimes a video tells a better story, so click here for a quick overview that identifies the device capabilities and optional extensions.
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Spreading the news to the larger audience to include the rest of y’all that weren’t able / didn’t attend the IMUG last year. We started with a brief presentation of the new Work Centers capabilities (Work & Inspections) and now would like to include the latest update. IBM improved the capabilities in the new release of Maximo 7.6.0.9 which might be something to consider as you evaluate your upgrade strategy.
Click here for the original post if you’re interested in the context and the encouragement within Perficient and our involvement. Additionally you can read about the PRFT / IBM relationship by clicking here for this exciting announcement.
Because it’s a ~13 minute demonstration, I’ll leave most of the talking / reading to the actual video. The simple version is, the developers have done a nice job adding additional feature / functions / usability to the Work Centers and Chad nicely summarizes the details in this short video.
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Hopefully this doesn’t apply to anyone and pardon my assumption. While on a conference call this morning, I happened to look out the window and watch something that’s proven not very shocking. A delivery vehicle, not FedEx, not UPS, but another large carrier just did a three point turn in front of the window; except it did not really make the turn. Instead drove into the curb, over the grass and back down onto the road!
I don’t know about you, but if that was my personal vehicle, I wouldn’t do this; well, unless I had a big 4×4 like seems most Texans have. Why not? I think it’s rather obvious, right, a delivery truck is designed to effectively drive on the road and deliver packages, not go off road driving. Not to mention the damage to the front suspension and steering mechanism. Based on the look on the drivers face, this was not the first time doing this either.
Further, what about the tread of the tires? I’m quite confident that the sidewalls are not designed for wear. Ever seen a vehicle with it’s whitewalls scraped down and you can’t read the words anymore? Sure, we all have, take the corner too tight and it’s a “curb check” and someone in the car thinks it’s funny… But long term driving like this creates a potential unsafe driving condition and risk of sidewall blow outs…
What if you could manage your fleet assets using a well known application? IBM Maximo has an industry solution for managing Transportation assets, including vehicles like this and many more. Lots of capabilities that can help maintain these vehicles as well as additional capabilities around driver log, Warranty recovery, Telematics integration, etc.
How about IoT, wouldn’t this fit? I think so. Let’s install a sensor and if the vehicle quickly “jumps” off the road, why not send an alert? I bet the driver would be more aware of their surroundings if they knew this was being tracked. Let’s not think of this as “big brother watching;” rather, keep everyone aware that it is a company asset, and someone else might drive that vehicle tomorrow. Sensors on the side of the vehicle might also help prevent side swipes and other exterior damage. How many of you have seen these white vans with damage? I wish it was surprising; however, I’ve seen way too many with new paper plates still attached! The damage appears to be caused by running into a safety pole (seen both yellow and red marks) or other type device.
It’s kind of like your laptop / tablet you might be reading this blog from, it’s a company asset; shouldn’t more companies have the control to know what’s happening to their assets? Hopefully I’m not creating any enemies here, but I think companies should know how their assets are being used…
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Here are a couple videos from several of our offices (15 of them actually) that include a quick blurb on a few more of our Perficient capabilities. I realize most of my blogs are IBM Maximo related, and this one, well it’s short and sweet. For those off next Monday, enjoy time with family and friends and hope you’ll take a couple minutes to watch the videos. Thank you for your business and…
Happy Holidays and Happy New year!
Click here for a quick video from some of my fellow colleagues at Perficient.
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