I am AquaWoman!
Crazy title I know. But did you know since I had my accident in Brazil, I have swam everyday consistently for 3 months in my quest for total recovery. And have earned my new nickname --- Aquawoman!
Given that I go to the same pool daily ( except for the 2 weeks at Christmas where I went to another location and pool!), I have learned the names of the lifeguards, their shifts, who swims when and what injury they have sustained, where kids are heading to college and the list goes on. Given the lifeguards had to help me into and out of the pool for a while, I gave them each a small present of my appreciation at Christmas. I have developed a new small family of swimmers!!!
I thought about how amazing this was! And it was all SOCIAL! I learned a lot of lessons in that pool for my Social World!
- Consistency earns Trust. In Social or any relationship, you can not come in and out. You must remain consistent in your interactions. Plan time to interact and develop relationships.
- It is P2P - People 2 People. People are not robots. And they are not just all business. They have lives and their lives extend far beyond their business side. Get to know things that matter to them -- their families, hopes, dreams, and injuries! This helps you to know them as a full person.
- Reward those that help you. Yes, the small token I gave each lifeguard (22 in total!) was a way I could express how appreciative I was of their help. Everyday I thanked them. And they responded in kind. I get so much help and great attitudes every time I come in. The same is true in Social. Re tweet others, interview them and spotlight them. Thank them for their help and assistance!
As I have said many times, Social is not magic. It is simply something people have been doing throughout the ages --- forming relationships!
You don't have to be as smart as Watson just have the social skills!!!!
Fluid at NRF! Check out their Watson Retail Solution!
At NRF, Ginni Rometty discussed the use of cognitive for Retailers. On the Main Event, she talked about an application that our IBM Partner Fluid has built to take advantage of this use of cognitive in the retail space. I had the great pleasure of meeting with them on Monday!
Fluid, which builds online shopping experiences for retail businesses to drive customer engagement and conversion, is developing the Fluid Expert Personal Shopper(sm) powered by IBM Watson. The app calls upon Watson's ability to understand the nuances of human language and uncover answers from Big Data. Consumers who use Fluid's app will interact with rich media and dialogue with Watson, as their newfound “cognitive, expert personal shopper.” The Fluid app incorporates the information users share and questions they ask to help them make smart, satisfying purchases by putting a knowledgeable sales associate in the hands of consumers, on demand!
On stage, she mentioned David Jones leveraging this new paradigm!
See how cognitive can assist Retail in this use of data in a cognitive way!
Answering some of your WATSON questions! Summary of Watson Announcements
Happy Monday! Yes I am at NRF today but see the breadth of questions coming in from IBM's announcements last week on Watson so I would like to summarize in a blog post!
With the introduction of the new Watson group comes a host of supporting activity including a new headquarters in Silicon Alley section of New York, over 2500 professionals staffing and over a Billion dollars in funding.
1. The IBM Watson Discovery Advisor will discover connections within Big Data to help organizations speed up research and bring new innovations to market.
2. IBM Watson Analytics will revolutionize how business users—from C-level to front-line—discover, visualize and share Big Data insights.
Watson Hot News !!! $1B, $100B, 51
Today IBM unveiled its plans to embark on a bold new direction with Watson by launching the IBM Watson Group, a new business unit dedicated solely to the development and commercialization of cloud delivered cognitive innovations. This is a strategic shift by IBM to accelerate into the marketplace a new class of software, services and apps that think, improve by learning, and discover answers and insights to complex questions from massive amounts of disparate data.
I am here in the room in downtown NYC at this announcement Event!
Through the IBM Watson Group, IBM will continue to provide our academic partners with the types of tools and resources needed to help students build the T-shaped skills (discipline depth and cross-industry breadth) needed to succeed in the era of cognitive systems. This includes new workshops and seminars at its headquarters on topics such as development skills and techniques, as well as networking opportunities for students, academics and professionals.
Following are key details about today's announcement:
- IBM will invest more than $1 billion into the Watson Group, focusing on development and research and bringing cloud-delivered cognitive applications and services to market.
- This will include commitments of $100 million in venture investments to support IBM's recently launched ecosystem of start-ups and businesses that are building a new class of cognitive apps powered by Watson, in the IBM Watson Developers Cloud.
- The IBM Watson Group will have a new headquarters at 51 Astor Place in New York City's "Silicon Alley" technology hub, leveraging the talents of approximately 2,000 professionals, whose goal is to design, develop and accelerate the adoption of Watson cognitive technologies.
There are several other ways in the near future that you can learn more about the new IBM Watson Group and the way that cognitive systems will transform how we live, learn and conduct business:
- Register for a virtual conversation on Jan. 17 with Katharine Frase, IBM vice president and chief technology officer, global public sector and Chalapathy Neti, IBM director of education transformation research about the role of cognitive computing in education.
- Attend IBM Global Entrepreneur Week virtually or in person, Feb. 3-7, for online and in person venture and startup focused events including a presentation from Fluid, a startup using Watson technology to transform the retail industry.
As always, please reach out to us with any questions, ideas or opinions about the IBM Watson Group. We invite you, your students, colleagues and network to join us in the ongoing conversations about IBM Watson via social media using #IBMWatson. You can also watch this video series that brings the IBM Watson story to life.
Girl with a blog in 2014!
I have been reading all the 2014 trends for social! One thing I found interesting was the number of articles that included blogging coming back -- I just share a few here!
The blog is back!
Creating great content on a regular basis and driving traffic back to your site is going to remain the number #1 way to generate new leads. This means as a small business, if you don't have a blog yet, it's time to start one.
Here are 4 reasons you need to blog:
- Drive traffic to your website
- Increase your SEO!
- Position your brand as an industry leader and showcase your POV!
- Develop better customer relationships
Social Business is all about People! In 2014, 3 Big Priorities!
Social Business is about 3 things:
1. Empowering People to activate a digital ecosystem!
2. Trusting People to create an authentic, and effective way of working!
3. Understanding people through actionable analytics
To be a strategic Social Business, start with Empowerment! It is a great way to start in 2014! Empowerment starts at home -- with your workforce -- and then extends to partners and clients.
With those empowered employees, your business processes will become more competitive.
To be your best in this new year, you need to Understand People and their choices and decision making ability. Analytics is your best friend!
Social Business Coffee Break: Interview with Janet Powers of Woman's Toolbox
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9ZAh9fSUMA&feature=youtu.be]
Don't miss Connect! THE Social Event of the year!
I hope you join me at Connect 2014!!!
It is not to be missed!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcoW73-kmA4&feature=youtu.be]
Saturday and my Favorite Infographic of the Week!! Millennials
Happy Saturday ! This one of my favorite infographic of the week on the new client -- the Millennial! These folks are wed to technology -- so much so that 53% of them would rather give up their sense of smell than of technology! WOW!
14 in 2014! My 14 Predictions of Trends for the New Year! Vblog
Happy New Year!
I will have a detailed written blog at midnight tonight but in the meantime, here's my Vblog to get you thinking!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf5yg_ERDfo&feature=youtu.be]