The power of the ecosystem: Magic happens!

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Throughout the year, I've blogged about the power of the ecosystem. Whether it was a focus on the http://socialbusinesssandy.com/2014/02/27/pulse-cloud-ecosystem-announcements-a-summary-infographic, the http://socialbusinesssandy.com/2014/02/05/the-power-of-the-entrepreneur-and-the-ecosystem-ibm-entrepreneur-week/">entrepreneur ecosystem, or <a href="http://socialbusinesssandy.com/2014/01/07/social-business-is-all-about-people-in-2014-3-big-priorities/">empowering folks to create a digital ecosystem</a>, I'm a big believer that nurturing an ecosystem is essential to success.
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I'm always encouraging companies who have smarter, game-changing, industry-disrupting solutions to build and engage their ecosystem. As a result, I've seen tremendous opportunities come to life... magic happens!
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At the IBM Connect conference in January, two IBM Business Partners, <a href="http://www.isw.com.au/wps/portal/isw">ISW</a> and <a href="http://www.trustsphere.com/">TrustSphere</a>, met for the first time on the trade show floor. What makes this really special is that ISW and TrustSphere both have a presence in Australia, but met for the first time in Orlando, Florida. They quickly realized the value that could be gained for each company in collaborating with each other!
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Working together, these two companies developed a new social solution, called <b>Kudos Insights for IBM Connections</b>. According to the TrustSphere website, "Kudos Insights for IBM Connections can now leverage the power of Messaging Intelligence to deliver better collaboration insights when managing on line communities and accelerating social adoption."
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What a great business success story! And I can't think of a more powerful way to underscore the value of participating in an ecosystem, and, of course, on being an IBM Business Partner!
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How can you do the same? Attend our next conference: <a href="http://www-01.ibm.com/software/events/insight/">IBM Insight 2014</a>! Early registration discount is available.
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I hope you will attend. Magic can happen!
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by sandraanncarter

The retail industry goes cognitive at SXSW

What a great weekend it was here at SXSW in one of my favorite cities... Austin!
Let me start by saying that I love to shop and what woman doesn’t, right?! Have you ever thought about the reason why you love to shop? Sure, we all appreciate a great bargain, but have you ever thought about what draws you to a particular store, website or brand? Things like product placement and assortment, digital media, customer service, packaging, visual displays, coupons or special events? Even more, have you thought about the experience of shopping that you enjoy, what goes into the process of purchasing your favorite new bag? Well I’m proud to say that cognitive is here to stay in the retail world and its introducing major innovation in retail! All of which is being showcased here at SXSW in the retail innovation lounge.
To give you a bit of background, retailers are spending millions of dollars and collecting astronomical amounts of data to analyze what makes you knock down their doors and remain loyal to their products! Thanks to new technologies and a strong emphasis on employing innovative individuals, companies are becoming more focused than ever before on enhancing the shopper experience.
Today at SXSW I will be leading a panel with some of the latest and greatest retail innovators who are also female founders!
Join IBM and some of our retail partners at the Retail Innovation Lounge  http://ibm.co/1R7o955
   @ SXSW Friday March 11th- Tuesday March 15th for panels discussions, keynotes, and networking sessions. Bring your best handbag!
-Sandy

by sandraanncarter

Anatomy of a cognitive startup - LIVE from SXSW

Every year, SXSW Interactive comes alive. Like a human body, all of these various systems of technology intermingle and create something magical for a few days here in Austin. Today, I had the chance to talk about some anatomy myself: The Anatomy of a Cognitive Startup.

On the outside, the anatomy of a cognitive startup is just like any other in the IBM Ecosystem: focused, innovative, and always forging the future of tech. The true difference comes when you examine the tools of the trade our cognitive startups leverage as they achieve their goals. The IBM Cloud offers a diverse set of software and services dedicated to maximizing developer and startup utilization of the defining tools of the Cognitive Era. When coupled with the laser-focused guidance of the IBM Developer Ecosystem,
Cognitive startups are utilizing IBM Watson visualization, trade-off analytics, personality insight, tone analysis and other cognitive services, with cutting-edge results. Atlanta-based Simple C uses both the IBM Cloud and cognitive systems to provide media-delivered therapies targeting the behavioral symptoms of dementia and related cognitive disorders, providing breakthroughs in the medical industry.
Look at FinTech startup Alpha Modus. By utilizing IBM Bluemix, they’re disrupting the entire investment management industry with tremendous results by using social media to analyze the market sentiment. In fact, their efforts won them the Beacon Award for Best New Application on IBM Cloud from an Entrepreneur at the PartnerWorld Leadership Conference 2016.
Stay tuned for so much more from SXSW Interactive as we dig deeper into the innovations and the people behind them that are truly defining Cloud, Cognitive, and social influences of the future.

by sandraanncarter

Honoring Robin Carey, a social media legend at SXSW - Saturday 5pm

Today I am pleased to share my condolences related to a well-known social media figure who passed last year. Robin Fray Carey founded Social Media Today, one of the first companies to manage online B2B communities that connect large organizations with people that they want to influence.

There’s not better place than at SXSW, the land of digital to hold a memorial for such a powerful and innovative woman! Robyn spent years building her reputation as a powerful force architecting strategies that helped companies reach their goals and audiences consume content they enjoy.
Here at SXSW we’re gaining the tools we need to be successful social professionals. Robyn led the charge in discovering that social media platforms offer huge promise to corporations seeking to interact and learn from customers, employees and experts!
Thank you Robyn for being such a powerful female figure and founder, and for leading the way toward a social future!
Much love.
-Sandy

by sandraanncarter

Video Summary of Day 1 SXSW Interactive - My POV

I loved the first day of SXSW!

 

by sandraanncarter

The Global Entrepreneur Program from IBM Rocks!

Find out more about our Global Entrepreneur Program while attending InterConnect 2016!

https://developer.ibm.com/startups/
@Sandy_Carter

 

 

by sandraanncarter

Introducing the Cloud Champion Program!

Want to be an IBM Champion? Find out more about becoming a champion - or a new Cloud Champion here!

https://www.ibm.com/champion

by sandraanncarter

5 Power Women Who Rocked IBM Interconnect

I loved Interconnect this year due to the great people who I met and expanded relationships with at the event.

Here's my highlights so that I can share these amazing people!

  1.  Amy Wilkenson - Author of Creator Code - Amy wrote the book that outlines the 6 characteristics of the most successful US entrepreneurs based on her personal research
  2. Tamara  McCleaery - Creator of RelationShift - Social media extraordinaire and passionate supporter of Women in Tech.
  3. Adriana Gascoigne - CEO of Girls in Tech - an amazing speaker and leader of the outstanding group helping to fill our pipeline and help women in tech.
  4. Connie Mester, Founder and CEO of Thrive 4-7 - is driving to help well being with an app that is designed to help chronic stress, illness or workplace behaviors so that employees can live healthier, more productive lives
  5. Jane Russenberger, Director, Genetics and Breeding, Guiding Eyes for the Blind - who is using technology to help increase the number of guiding eye dogs for those in need.

As you can see, these women are not only driving strong ROI for business, and using technology, but they are changing the world.   They touch relationships, health, business, the disadvantaged, and mental health.   I feel honored to have met each of them!

by sandraanncarter

Top 10 Announcements on Day 1 of #ibminterconnect

Day 1 of InterConnect 2016 at an end, but with it came so many beginnings: The beginning of a simpler Cloud, of new value in existing offerings, and a new chapter in the Watson story.

Cloud development is even easier thanks to the new 1. Bluemix Whisk, which drives the rapid creation of new apps and microservices fueled through an open ecosystem. Plus, our existing 2, Cloud Data services are now “open for data,” to speed the use of data sources for new apps.

We’ve brought billions in value to our existing offerings through Connect, extending enterprise apps and data to the Cloud. 3. WebSphere Connect and the Connect family of offerings have already cloud enabled 100K+ IBM Software clients, and with Bluemix services, they’ve connected to Cloud-based apps, data, and APIs.

Our new Cloud-based 4. Blockchain resources gives developers the ability to speed up DevOps and get Blockchain ready for their business. With video poised to exceed 80% of all Internet traffic by 2019, we’ve launched our new 5. IBM Cloud video platform, perfect for live-streaming and on-demand needs.

Finally, IBM has offered a number of robust as-a-Service solutions from Platform to Software. Now, we’re excited to announce 6. AI-as-a-service with IBM Watson. Get access to the most expansive portfolio of AI capabilities with vision, speech, language, and data. We’re equipping developers with SDKs, tooling, and more, and it’s only available on IBM Bluemix!

Yesterday we discussed the announcement of 7. GitHub Enterprise  and I will blog in a bit on 8. bit.ly

In addition, 9.  Swift and 10. VMware were incredible partnerships!

An astonishing day of astonishing news. Stay tuned for more as InterConnect kicks into high gear tomorrow!

 

by sandraanncarter

1 Minute Review of IBM Interconnect Messages!

by sandraanncarter