It’s been awhile folks! 2012 has turned out to be a crazy busy year but one full of opportunities and most importantly, growth. Last Friday, I attended my 2nd annual Chic-Fil-A Leadercast event hosted by the very nice folks at the Laurel, Delaware Wesleyan Church. Once again, thought leaders from around the world gather to share their experiences, their insights, and strategies to become a better leader and decision maker.

A standout segment of yesterdays simulcast was around collaborative leadership and organizational dynamics. What is collaborative leadership? It’s self-explanatory isn’t it? Leadership defined by the dynamics and contributions of his or her team. Meaning, lets solve our problems with the best each of us has to offer within our skill-set and talent where we discuss, collaboratively, the best possible outcome. Great leaders surround themselves with great team members. Those team members create, collectively, the best possible solutions and innovations that allows those leaders to make the best and most informed decisions, again, for the best possible outcome.

What I took away from that segment was how collaborative leadership wasn’t about the technology, platform, or application of principles but how it started with people, first, whether in a conference room, coffee shop, or a commute to the office or a client. The way teams interact then stream those solutions collaboratively and leverage what is available to them via collaborative or social technologies. These platforms of communications enable actions at a much greater pace never before seen in almost real-time, especially when we are all geographically dispersed.  Instant messaging or chat, twitter, facebook, linkedin, IBM Connections, Jive, SocialText… all platforms driven by a simple concept that starts with people first, technology second. 

It’s compelling to think that the old ways of communicating found in the concepts of collaborative leadership ring true today. Take into consideration the *way* we collaborate can be at a much greater speed given the technologies that are available today whether that is via a technology *cloud* or as something as basic and assumed as email.

Learn more about the CFA Leadercast here —> http://www.chick-fil-aleadercast.com/

ibmsocialbiz:

Financial services firm ING Direct Canada is known for its tweeting CEO, Peter Aceto. Aceto told eMarketer in a February 2012 interview that using social media helps him gauge how employees and consumers view the company and its products. “We saw it as a competitive advantage for us,” Aceto said. “There was no science. There was no ROI. We just needed to get going, start to build a community and learn about how we can use it.”

Via eMarketer

ibmsocialbiz:

True or False? Talking about the Jersey Shore over your company’s social network adds value to the enterprise. 

Answer: True, if the converation is happening between people who never before found a reason to speak.

Very nice article in our local paper published last week.  Thanks, Cape Gazette!

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The RockTeam, a local business, supports its clients’ leverage of social software and the latest technology to increase productivity and profitability. In recognition of this success, IBM has granted The RockTeam Premier Partner status.

Through the Premier Partner program, IBM recognizes top performers who not only maintain excellent customer relationships but also remain up-to-date on teaching, technical and product information skills. Attaining the Premier Partner designation with IBM reflects the RockTeam’s ongoing commitment to partnering with IBM and providing client value through innovative solutions. Fewer than 8 percent of all IBM business partners have qualified for this special recognition.

Upon being granted Premier Partnership, Carlos Casas, CEO and IBM champion, said, “Becoming an IBM Premier Business Partner sends a strong message to our clients and the business community that The RockTeam is committed to our company’s growth and to maintaining the legacy of excellence that we began more than 30 years ago as Lotus/Domino experts. By providing smart social business solutions, we and our customers can corner the edge that smart technology provides to the risk-takers and the established business community. We will continue to work hard to ensure that this partnership with IBM remains strong and relevant.”

To learn more about The RockTeam, go to rockteam.com.

A new blog entry is way overdue! Since Lotusphere, we’ve been incredibly busy with new opportunities to help organizations get engaged with Social Business. For our first quarter in 2012, we are seeing a pipeline of growth that is nearly double from a year ago.  Very exciting! As a result, we are excited to share our experiences with you at an exciting event happening tomorrow at the Virden Center in Lewes, Delaware co-sponsored by RockTeam, IBM, and the Delaware Social Media Network.  The topic —> Social Media 101.  Yep, it’s that simple.  The focus of the event is to provide a venue for our local residents of Southern Delaware a place to learn and collaborate with one another in this new era of social computing. We have a distinguished lineup of guest speakers who will share experiences, successes, challenges, and ways to engage their customers, partners, friends, employees digitally.

For more information, please visit http://sodel101.eventbrite.com/

For those that are coming, please stop me and introduce yourself.  I would love to chat. Members of the RockTeam and IBM will also be on-hand to answer questions. Some quick to-do’s while you’re at the event tomorrow:

1. Bring your business cards and share! 
2. Don’t be shy. Let your voice be heard and engage the speakers and our staff!
3. Please fill out your evaluations. This is essential in making sure we hit our mark for you!
4. No question is a dumb question. Ask any and all questions. You are coming tomorrow to learn and share your experiences
5. Question for you to answer after the event: What does Social Media mean to you and your business?

The event is sold-out. Our waiting list is growing and we did not anticipate such interest in social media and social business.  We are already in our planning stages for our next event so please stay tuned!  Additionally, feel free to stop by our office in the Nassau Commons. We would love visitors and we would love the opportunity to talk with you!

Lotusphere 2012 is 8 days away from this post and I’m really excited to reconnect with you, our customers, partners, and peers in the IBM ICS community.  I’m also very honored to be speaking at three sessions at Lotusphere this year. Additionally, I’m exciting to be joined by two RockTeam Consultants - Rob Kirkland and Doug Morrison.  If you see any of us during the conference, please stop us and introduce yourselves… we would love to meet and talk with you!  Here’s a short summary of the exciting sessions that I will be presenting at Lotusphere.  I certainly hope you can attend and participate in these really exciting and engaging sessions!

BDD302 - Transforming into a Social Business Partner for Messaging and Collaboration Partners | Sunday - January 15 - 10:15am - 11:15am | SW 7-10 | Speakers: Carlos Casas, Dennis Shafto (IBM)

This session is targeted for classic IBM Lotus Notes and Domino Business Partners. Dennis and I will cover the ways to take advantage of the new Social Business opportunity that is in front of us.  I will present some key points around what has made us successful sellers in the Notes Domino pillar and how we can translate those skills into the larger Social Business market that our customers are starting to evaluate and move towards.  I’ll also share a couple customer wins as well as the strategies we use at the RockTeam to really leverage our IBM partnership for maximum value.  

BP304 - The Way of the Social Dragon, 10 Key Strategies for Building a Thriving Social Community in Your Organization | Dolphin Hem III | Speakers: Kathy Mandelstein, Carlos Casas

You are rolling out a social pilot in your organization, but have you addressed the cultural change in how the people in your organization work? Building a strong community is critical to internal adoption and the success of your social project. In this session you will learn 10 key strategies to launching a successful social community within your organization. The presenters will focus on the whys, the hows, and the value of building a community to speed adoption, transforming the way people work socially and open up effective communication at all levels of the company. You will learn about the social engagement model from an IBM social evangelist and IBM Champion and their keys recommendations for community adoption with real life examples from IBM, Business Partners and Customers who are well along the social business journey. Finally, attendees will learn best practices concepts behind community management and social media as well as the tools that help you be more effective.

What will your audience learn? 

1. Social Software is a a growing trend that is quickly transforming the enterprise market. For success in any social initiative to drive business value, technologists and decision-makers alike need to address not only the technology enablers but the cultural transformation and key concepts to build a strong social community.

2. In this session, we will take a first hand look at some of the social capabilities in IBM Collaboration Solutions including IBM Connections, IBM Unified Communication and IBM Lotus Notes Domino that socially enable the community to work more effectively. 

3. Learn what has worked for successful social adoption in all sizes of companies and tips on enabling your own organization to make this major cultural shift in the way you work.

BOF123 - The Art of User Adoption: Cultivating Learning Experiences to Drive Adoption for ICS and Lotus Software | Swan Toucan 1 - Tuesday, January 17 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM | Facilitators: Carlos Casas, Rob Kirkland, and Doug Morrison of RockTeam

This is a round-table session where we facilitate discussion around ICS adoption strategies, education, and learning. We ask participants to discuss their successes and challenges around upgrades, training, education, and brand sentiment within their organization.  We will also have guest participants from IBM Lotus Education who will be on-hand to field questions and also gather feedback on education offerings, online learning, and the future of Lotus Education.  This is an early morning session so kick of your day with us!!

Winding down 2011 and Winding up 2012 

I wanted to share with you a nice email to IBM customers from one of our IBM friends who will be joining us at Lotusphere 2012.  Hope you all can make it!

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Join me and my IBM Lotus Partner, Carlos Casas from the RockTeam, at Lotusphere and Connect 2012. Lotusphere and Connect 2012 are IBM’s premier software conference of the year. We will be there to assist you, our customers, in making the most out of your Lotusphere experience. While you are attending many of the great sessions at the conference, we can also provide you with unprecedented access to IBM Product Managers, Executives, and your account team for one-on-one discussions.

Carlos is also a featured speaker at Lotusphere on topics such as IBM Social Business & Collaborative Software.  Additionally, Carlos was named one of the 50 world-wide IBM Champions for 2011-12.  

Connect 2012 is a conference within Lotusphere targeted for line-of-business managers and executives to learn about IBM’s strategic roadmap for collaborative and social business software. Click here to learn more about Connect 2012!

As your IBM Account Manager, I invite you take advantage of the holiday pricing offered now ($200 Discount!) if you register today for Lotusphere and Connect 2012. Please be sure to reference my partner, RockTeam, as your referring partner to Lotusphere 2012! Click here to register for Lotusphere 2012!

Robert Jonell
Covering PA, IN, OH, KY and MI

 866-426-4256 ext 5327 or 770-863-1570    800-242-6329    bjonell@us.ibm.com   I am here to help you if you have any questions, concerns or needs. Check out my personal webpage for new information! http://www.ibm.com/myrep/bjonell

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to spend the morning with an exciting start-up company that will be launching their product at the beginning of 2012. Their CEO has a history of success with other ventures but is relatively new to the digital world of marketing outside of the standard SEO practices. They’ve retained the RockTeam to help with their social business strategy as well to augment their social media marketing efforts. The compelling part of this conversation was that this CEO was adamantly against the use of social media in business as it relates to productivity.  With that in mind, how do you convince business leaders like this to re-think employee productivity and business effectiveness outside the traditional linear channels of communication?  Here are 5 strategies I’ve used which have been successful over the past few months:

1. Take the word ‘social’ out of the conversation: The word social has immediate negative connotations to business leaders today. Remember ‘instant messaging’ in the 90’s?  Today, you’re hard-pressed to find an organization who’s not leveraging IM to *build* on productivity in the workplace.  The word ‘social’ sits in this bucket today for many if not most people and I’ve asked business managers, leaders, CEO’s to remove the labels such as ‘facebook’, ‘social’, and merely think about those as concepts of communication as it relates to openness and becoming transparent.

2. Retool your conversation around the way people communicate.  Building on the non-social theme from Point #1, we go back to what is familiar to business leaders, communication.  Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Email, IM, are all channels of communication.  Some channels newer than others but what is common is that all channels are relevant in todays digital world.  There are more Facebook accounts than there are people in many countries (combined) in the world.  Putting that into perspective for your decision-maker opens eyes regardless of their personal view of Facebook.  Keep the conversation around communication and productivity and the *tools* available and the focus remains in tact for your conversation.

3.  Relate the communication tools (not social tools) around the target audience. In my example above, this CEO is targeting a specific demographic of people which more than likely has a Facebook account.  5 years ago, they may not have had a social account of any kind but today, you can surely bet they are on Facebook and most of them are probably on it right now! This communication tool as well as Google+ and Twitter has an audience.  How do you want to connect with them?

4. Now think about why they have these accounts? What is the driving factor for them? It’s not just to share what they ‘ve had for dinner or the latest photos of their pets in their funny Halloween costumes. They have these accounts because of the *access* they have to people they typically don’t communicate to over email.  The moment of “ah-ha” hits here.  Sure you can drive email marketing till you’re blue in the face but many folks are not normally ‘communicating’ over email any longer.  There’s a segment of the B2C market that are leveraging Twitter and Facebook to learn about products, services, and most importantly how their friends/family *feel* about a certain product or service *you* are providing. The value proposition is high here and it’s an opportunity to capture your message and adding (not replacing) an audience to your marketing campaign. Throw in a real example like, “Adidas has reduced their speed to market by 40-60% by leveraging social media”. This is a true statistic and there are many more like this to support your conversation.

5. Finally, keep the discussion around the overall goals of the organization. Internally, it’s about productivity, communication, etc.  Externally to your customers, it’s about quality, validity, and yes…communication as well (not social).

This conversation that I had on Saturday revolved around these 5 points and now my customer feels a certain level of comfort around the cutting-edge tools of communication to reach his target audience (not social ;-)) 

I’d love to learn your key resonating points with your customers/partners around social communication. Please share!

ibmsocialbiz:

“In their book, Future Work: How Business Can Adapt and Thrive in the New World of Work, co-authors Alison Maitland and Peter Thomson, pose this important question. Are we ready to change the way we work? They believe that the changing needs of the workforce as well as the opportunities that technology offer, necessitate a radical change the way in the way we do business if we are to be successful.

4.  How does leadership and management need to change with this model?

They need to move from controlling to enabling. They need to provide people with the tools and clear objectives and trust them to get on with it in the way that works best. This is tough for a lot of managers and we give lots of guidance in the book on how to make the shift. It has to start with the leadership of the organization, and to be driven as a business strategy, otherwise it’s unlikely to be successful.”

Me: there is a need for leadership, for sure. but sometimes, the obstacles seem so stubborn to shake, akin to the ”tendances lourdes” as they say in French, which are the basic, fundamental trends or characteristics which are at once structuring and structural. It’ll be a matter of luck for a company or organization to be endowed with the leaders capable of effectuating such necessary changes as refered to in the interview

From below, newer employees from the younger generation come into the company, and rise through the ranks, but they have different assumptions in regards to relationships and networking. Control/command strikes them as…odd. Just isn’t the way they operate.

From above, the top-level managers and direction operate under the auspices of the shareholder value model of doing business which handicaps them from thinking and investing in the long-term.  They react by doubling-down on the command/control side of management in order to squeeze out those margins which Institutional Investor-grade analysts urge them to achieve under pain of rating them as “sell”.

In the middle, the varying levels of empowered employees and hierarchically-recognized (middle-) managers who are more  or less left to themselves to use their discernment in striking the right balance between the seemingly contradictory demands emanating from the direction and the newer employees (if not to also say already-existing colleagues & employees). The most valuable resource in this regard is their judgment and character, as opposed to the name of the school emblazoned on their MBA or BComm diplomas. Given such a state, the prospects of a company or organization will be significantly determined on the frontlines of market competition where middle management is to be found, and dependent on how they navigate such rocky waters between the Scylla of direction’s commands and the Charybdis of the Millenial employees’ claims.

via domesday:

mikemccreadypj:

Photos from Sao Paolo taken by John Doe!

With the recent release of Lotus Notes 8.5.3 we announced an entitlement to the Files and Profiles features of IBM Connections 3.0.1 to customers with Notes client licenses.. (See my email on 10/5). At that time we announced that we would release new parts number for customers wanting to upgrade from this entitlement to a full license of IBM Connections.  The new Connections Extension Authorized User part numbers enable customers to upgrade their existing Connections restricted use rights, obtained through an IBM Lotus Notes® or IBM Lotus® Domino® product, to the full capabilities of Connections.

IBM Lotus Notes 8.5.3 provides entitlement to the Files and Profiles applications of IBM Connections 3.0.1 to customers, who have the following licenses:

    * IBM Lotus Domino Enterprise Client Access License
    * IBM Lotus Domino Messaging Client Access License
    * IBM Lotus Domino Collaboration Express® License
    * IBM Lotus Domino Messaging Express License

The entitlement, provided with the above licenses, enables customers, as an example, to:

    * Share content with other people.
    * Find the people they need by searching across the organization’s content to identify expertise, current projects, and responsibilities.
    * Stay informed of the latest updates from across their social network.

The new Connections Extension Authorized User part numbers permit customers with the above licenses to expand their existing Connections restricted use rights to the full capabilities of IBM Connections.

Some of the benefits from expanding usage to the full capabilities of Connections include the ability to:

    * Collaborate with a community of professionals using activities, blogs, wikis, forums, and shared files, including rich media files.
    * Expand one’s professional network through social analytics based recommendations for people to connect with, and communities to join.
    * Access one’s social data while on the go using mobile device support.

Planned Product Availability

November 22, 2011

Yesterday, the RockTeam officially celebrated it’s move to the Delaware Beaches from Malvern, Pennsylvania. We had a great turnout. From what I’ve been told by our great event planners from Make My Day, we had roughly 70 people from the local business community as well as some of our customers and partners who came to join us for lunch, ribbon cuttings, and the opportunity to collaborate about the world of online collaboration and social technology.

With a big heart, I’d like to thank Patricia Kirby Gibler, our Director of Administration and Training, for leading this event. She along with Leanne from Make My Day were focused on creating a fun and energetic event for our community in Lewes, DE. They succeeded.

Customers came from as far as Mt. Laurel, New Jersey to come celebrate our opening. John, Tim, and Val…it is because of customers like you that this event could even be possible.

The rain didn’t deter our local Sussex County community from engaging one another at our office and reconnecting. The friendly conversations, handshakes, and smiles from the local business community in Lewes and Rehoboth solidified to me that having an event like this was well worth the effort.

A special thanks to N.Wyman Winbush from the IBM who shared with us some thought provoking facts around the use of collaborative and social technologies. Wyman traveled the farthest from Jacksonville, FL to support the RockTeam and got to spend the entire day and evening with this crazy bunch! :-)

Finally, to my team who mainly reside in the Philadelphia suburbs and some from New Castle County, the RockTeam is not a “team” without you. You came once again to reinforce our value proposition which is “integrating people, organization, and technology” regardless of where you are located in this world! We will be there and we will be responsive.

“IBM Champion, Carlos Casas is CEO of the RockTeam, a business that educates and consults users worldwide on computer software, has settled his company headquarters in Lewes, bringing an advanced technology and social media education-based business to the First State.  By teaching businesses to use social media, offering online instructor-led training in application development and system administration for Lotus/Domino software, as well as packaging software and hardware deals for enterprises and small and medium businesses, the Rock Team is a full-service shop.

Companies of all sizes now can reach employees and customers across the globe, allowing users and technicians to work from their homes in various communities, and with a broad marketing reach - all via the web.

“Bringing a high tech company to lower Delaware is a no-brainer!  We can expand your connections in the cloud as well as help your team work on the ground  hand-in-glove with statewide, national and international opportunities.  Also, we have consultants who will come to you and work on-site in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest states to show your IT team how to customize your software, put office connections on smart phones and offer help-desk training,” Casas said.

The RockTeam has been serving Delawareans and users around the world for more than 20 years, but is now a Delaware-based business.  Patience Rockey, the founder of Rockey and Associates/The RockTeam, enthusiastically shares, “Stepping up to the future, the RockTeam has moved from The Farmhouse in Malvern, Pa. to Lewes. As a leading IBM Lotus social software partner, we look forward to being a part of the Delaware community as well as getting to know our new neighbors.”

Casas, an avid surfer, and eclectic businessman, envisions the RockTeam as a place “to enable businesses to grow beyond their scope of imagination by encouraging social media, interaction, technology, education and more!”

To learn more about The Rock Team go to www.rockteam.com.

Call Patricia Kirby Gibler at The Rock Team at 302-827-2681 if wishing to attend the Grand Opening/Local Launch Event, planned for 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 19, at their Lewes office in Nassau Commons.  The event is free and will include demonstrations of on-line classes, Twitter training, and a chance to talk to each of the RockTeam experts.  Registration is required.”

Source: Cape Gazette - http://capegazette.villagesoup.com/business/story/casas-rockteam-settles-headquarters-on-lewes/170759

There’s no denying that over the past 5 years or more that email, as we know it, has evolved into something else.  Not something more, or something less, but something else. Certainly, email is the primary way of communicating online for most business people in this world and that will certainly not change in the near future but what I can tell you is that the “way” we use email is changing. 

In the consumer world, email is not much more than a component of the entire online experience.  If you look at the model of Facebook or even the iPhone, email is a “place” to go that is often overshadowed by the other more interesting components of the online experience such as applications, rivers of news (data stream), activities of friends, activities of friends of friends, the list goes on. And in the this little corner somewhere on the page is “Messages”.  The default online behavior of many of us now exists not in just email but what the world around email.  Email is now the place for the private message, for the linear often slow conversation. On the iPhone, “Mail” is there like any other application and can often just “grow” like our traditional Inbox for Lotus Notes, Outlook, or whatever client you are using for email.

What I’m seeing with email, particularly with the next generation of online people, is the urge for people to share with their “friends” and using functions like text messaging and email as a quick way to communicate privately.

The demise of the BlackBerry device over the past few years also falls, in my opinion, into the evolution of messaging.  BlackBerry’s initial success was around the ability to serve up email to your mobile device.  Guess what? That hasn’t changed and that is part of the problem! Evolving into the “component” of the online experience (take social out of the picture for the moment) is exactly what Facebook and Apple have successfully done and not to the detriment of email but to the benefit of email by providing it with a relevant place to still live in our business and personal lives.  What we will see as the next generation of knowledge workers, students, consumers entering the online world is their ability to communicate, share, and consume not through email but through their entire online experience from the tool of their choice.  Could be Facebook, or maybe Google+, or perhaps an enterprise business tool such as IBM Connections which is geared towards large enterprise organizations.

For the old-schoolers, email is very important. If trends are any indicator, Twitter, Facebook, Apple, Google, and even IBM have acknowledged that close to a billion people actually prefer to share and collaborate with one another in an open, transparent fashion while leveraging email or text messaging, not as the focal point, but as a compliment to their experience.