Bluemix Girls Night out! Diversity improves performance and increases innovation
Organizations that are the most inclusive of women in top management achieve 35% higher return on equity (ROE) and 34% better total return to shareholders versus their peers – and research shows gender diversity to be particularly valuable where innovation is key, according to research conducted by Illuminate Ventures.
Despite women making up more than 50% of the population, women are conspicuously absent in IT. Only 3% of tech companies were founded by women, and, of venture-backed startups, only 1.3% have a female founder and only 6.5% have a woman CEO. Women make up half of all consumers, but by not having their voice included in the development of today’s new technology, the world is missing out on a wave of new technology and products that would appeal to both genders.
Women in IT has always been low, but today it is even lower than 30 years ago. Today, women represent 12% of all computer science graduates. In 1984, they represented 37% of all computer science graduates.
Much of this has to do with exposure to computer science before college and during college. According to Code.org, nine out of ten schools don't even offer computer science classes, and in 28 out of 50 states, computer science doesn't count towards a math or science credit.
This is why I love the focus on more women in Computer Science! Join our movement to get more women in Tech!
In Japan, our team hosted a great event for a "Girls Night Out" around the cloud!
If you are interested in hosting a "Bluemix Girls Night Out" in your region, please let me know!
SmartCamp Entrepreneur Winners in France, Italy, and Africa!
We have more exciting news coming from SmartCamps in Africa and Europe!
Last week, we had SmartCamps in Milan, Lille and Nairobi. And at each location, the local entrepreneurial ecosystem was engaged and participated!
Congratulations to Social Bullgard (Italy), Seclud-IT (France) and Digital Vision East Africa (Nairobi)!
Social Bullgard gathers and structures social media content to help companies react quickly to requests and opportunities, as well as avoid and manage crisis efficiently.
Seclud-IT's solution, Elastic Security, brings to cloud infrastructure providers the ability to provide on-demand computing resources to their customers, without compromising with security.
Digital Vision East Africa's solution, Chamasoft, is a simple to use web and mobile application that automates all activities in an investment group. Their solution also promotes transparency and accountability within investment groups.
What an impressive list of startups! And all that just from last week! There are more to come, as our SmartCamps are happening around the world. Find out more about a SmartCamp near you!
A Tribute to 25 years of Women in Technology: Carolyn Leighton
WITI this year is celebrating 25 years of helping women in technology progress, grow, and network.
Here's a snippet of the past and the future!
Our NYC SmartCamp winner is announced: Yosko!
IBM SmartCamp season has begun, and we've already had some great SmartCamp events in Austin, Chicago, and Prague!
Earlier this week, we held a SmartCamp event in New York with a focus on Watson-related solutions. The winner was Yosko!
With their mobile-based solutions, Yosko provides access to the electronic medical records, facilitates exchanges between physicians, and improves care team communication. Sounds like a great Watson for Healthcare solution!
As I said, SmartCamps are just getting started! Want to participate? Want to attend one? Check out our schedule of upcoming SmartCamps!
Social Busines Mythbusters! Happy Monday!
I love the Mythbuster Show -- it is a great one to watch with your family and to challenge your thinking!
I hope you love this Social Business Coffee Break as much I did making it for you!
For Developers - The Wimbledon Experience!
We are calling all Developers to get under the covers at Wimbledon 2014 and help take the experience to the next level.
Background:
The Wimbledon website, with 19.7 million unique users last year, is being enhanced with more mobile functions where users are able to create a personalized feeds with news from their choice of players, countries and categories of match, from data updated up to 140,000 times a day.
A new addition this year is "Hill vs World" which will be polling the results questions asked of fans sitting on Henman Hill via the giant screen, and pitting them against those of the television and internet audience responding via social media.
An IBM Softlayer based analytics console known as Wimbledon Social Command Centre will allow the social media team to view engagement from users in real time and tailor content according to reaction. This could take the form of everything from a conversation about strawberries in the rain to which photo of Andy Murray is causing the most stir!!!
48 tennis analysts are stationed around the site to manually capture data from the courts and feed it into the IBM cloud, which then crunches it into the statistics and graphics for the TV coverage and the second screen Slamtracker service
IBM has uploaded years of analytics gathered from previous championships to its private cloud. The cloud server is scalable and will be ramped up during the fortnight to cope with demand. IBM's Watson will be flexing its elastic data muscles to ensure that data supply and demand are always met, constantly analyzing information to ensure that pertinent data is at the front of the cloud's 'mind'
Now it is your turn!
And the innovation doesn't stop there! – What would you do to make the Wimbledon experience even better?
Now it’s your chance to create a prototype app which uses, creates, consumes, or analyses data in and around The Championships to enhance the fans’ experience on-site. Your code will create, consume, or analyze data in and around The Championships (either previously generated or real-time) to enhance the fans’ experience on-site.
You can also contribute your own data if you like. Don’t have any? That’s okay. There's some on the website to download
We will have prizes for the Best mobile app and Best Data Insights.
To take part, upload your app to BlueMix and send us a 2-4 minute video demonstrating your solution's use of IBM technology and include a 500 word max abstract.
We are starting this to run from October 24 - November 6.
The best apps will be invited to pitch in front of a live audience at IBM BusinessConnect from which we will pick our category winners, and the overall winner
- Prizes - Two show court tickets for The Wimbledon Championship 2015 and the opportunity to work with IBM Interactive Experience team in the UK, to explore how your solution might be incorporated into the official Wimbledon mobile app for the 2015 Championships.
http://www.ibm.com/uk/wimbledon_innovation_challenge/
Social vs Risk-averse Enterprises: Is it possible to be both
I had a webcast today https://www.brighttalk.com/r/jsw with Kailash Ambwani, CEO of Actiance, to talk about how to become a social enterprise. You don't want to miss this! If you are considering how to become a social business, and you are concerned about exposure, then this webcast is for you!
You may wonder is it possible to be a social enterprise and risk-averse? That’s the fundamental question Kailash and I will address today. I know that if you’ll listen in, you'll see how we get to a resounding “Yes!” to that question.
I’ll also give my insights on the value of being a social enterprise, the range of benefits that are available to all organizations, and show you examples of where you can see success.
Kailash will speak to key corporate responsibilities and how organizations can keep confidential information confidential. He’ll also give us some core examples of organizations highlighting strong leadership and integration of social into business processes.
We'll also answer the often asked question: “how do we get started?” Don’t miss out on this chance to get the inside scoop on how to become a social enterprise!
To attend the webcast, simply register at https://www.brighttalk.com/r/jsw
Date and Time: June 19 at 1pm PT / 4pm EST. Replay will be available!