Bob Picciano made quite an impression on the community presiding over his first Lotusphere, Bob was kind enough to take a few minutes and answer a couple of questions about his Lotusphere experience. Before we get to that, Bob also shared a little of his post Lotusphere travels in his own words
After Lotusphere was over I flew off to Nigeria to help launch IBM’s business in Nigeria and sub-Saharan/western Africa. It was quite an experience and I was amazed at how much knowledge there was about Lotus and our Collaborations offerings there was. There was a great deal of enthusiasm about Symphony and Linux as well of course.
Sounds like an interesting trip, though not necessarily the most relaxing post Lotusphere activity. Now on to Bob’s Q &A. How did you prepare for you first Lotusphere? Traditionally Lotusphere represents the convergence of all the Lotus and WebSphere Portal businesses in one place for a quick view of what’s new; what progress is being made; and, what is top of mind for the community. So my preparations were fairly simple since I live this every day. For me, the power of Lotusphere is the opportunity to learn first-hand from our clients and partners how our technology is making a difference in their businesses. As I said in my opening remarks at Lotusphere, our most important yardstick is our clients’ success. To facilitate these conversations, I learned as much as I could about the businesses of the attendees before heading to Orlando. You clearly made an effort to attend as many events as possible, and make yourself available to every one attending for a conversation. What was the most common thing you heard in your conversations with attendees? Was there anything that really stood out or surprised you that you can share? Mitch, thank you for noticing. Lotusphere is all about our clients and partners. IBM has the pleasure of hosting the event and setting a meaningful agenda for enablement and knowledge exchange, but, ultimately, it is about our community. With that in mind, I wanted to reflect the energy and enthusiasm our growing audience deserves, and as a result, it was a great learning experience for me. Attendees repeatedly said they found the “testimonials” of the clients who participated in the OGS session valuable and that they were impressed by the key role Lotus and WebSphere Portal played in the client architectures. Another frequent thread in attendee feedback was the elegance of our portfolio integration. Attendees acknowledged that we are weaving many disciplines into a seamless experience. They could see that the capabilities our portfolio offers can, in fact, empower people to drive better business outcomes across a spectrum of environments for organizations of all sizes. What were your personal highlights of the week? There were many, many personal highlights, but the one that I think about frequently is the openness of our clients and partners. I was struck by their genuine enthusiasm for Lotus software and excitement about our momentum in the market . I am grateful for their willingness to share their views, their passion for collaboration and their warm welcome to me into this the very special community. My personal thanks to Bob for taking the time to share a few thoughts.