How does a startup company grow?
The biggest challenge as a startup, says Russian startup CEO Dmitry Golovachev, is figuring out how to grow—getting the right resources to make the right decisions at an early stage which will end in good results years down the road.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icJgq9C7tXY&feature=youtu.be]
I love this video where Golovachev talks about how he and his company, STEK, hoped to address this challenge by finding new partners and create a bigger network through IBM SmartCamp. They found this and much more, with mentoring sessions which helped them be more confident in their company strategy.
Golovachev said STEK has also participated in startup programs offered by other big tech companies like Microsoft and Nokia, but received only software or technical guidance, which did not help his company see the bigger picture and give them the support they really needed. Providing this greater support, he says, is what sets IBM apart in its work with entrepreneurs.
Now, with a win at IBM SmartCamp in Moscow under their belt and a growing network through IBM Global Entrepreneur, it looks like this budding startup is on right track!
IBM Partners in NYC!
Today we hosted a great set of partners down in NYC at the IBM Boardroom! And gave them a great tour of the IBM Library along with the rich history!
Check out these superb partners!
New role at IBM! Ecosystems on #Analytics, #socbiz , #Mobile, #Cloud & Big Data & Entrepreneurship
I am truly excited to be taking on a new role here at IBM! As General Manager of Ecosystems, ISVs and Entrepreneurs or our IDR group, I look forward to the opportunity to work with a wide range of talented and innovative business partners, clients and IBMers to help enhance IBM's position as a leader - fostering growth and success through influencer partnerships. I'm hitting the ground running. Here's a few areas I am focused on...
First, nurture our Startup partners so we can achieve more together! IBM's commitment to the entrepreneurial community is stronger than ever and will continue to grow, as evidenced by the success of the
IBM Global Entrepreneur Program
Since 2010, this program has helped launch more than 500 new businesses in key areas such as green energy, health care and transportation. How? By nurturing startups, bringing them into our 121,000-strong business partner ecosystem and helping them get their technologies ready for market. IBM's work with startup companies helps us build and strengthen new markets such as cloud, mobile and big data/analytics. It also extends our geographic reach -- for example, to companies like Sproxil in Africa.
Second, continue to grow the IBM SmartCamp initiative. Past SmartCamp participants have gone on to generate more than $90 million in VC/Angel funding following their work with IBM. With your help, I intend to deepen our commitment - focusing on nurturing and deepening our relationships with Startups so we can achieve broader success with more partners.
Finally, in an effort to spur ecosystem growth, we will focus deeper on our fundamentals: drive awareness to recruit new ecosystem partners; work closely with partners to enable our technologies with their solutions; and actively drive our go-to-market activities and sales engagements.
We will continue to focus on strategic initiatives, including Smarter Analytics, Social Business, Mobile and Cloud computing and our overall Big Data strategy. And we will show our partners and customers how they can use IBM expertise and resources to drive results through our "Learn - Build - Sell" model:
Learn: Understand the benefits we offer our partners and increase their technical and business expertise
Build: Differentiate partner solutions using our resources, and collaborate with leading technical experts
Sell: Expand the ecosystem network and drive demand for joint solutions
With our combined energy, innovation and expertise, I'm confident we can make it happen.
Time to get moving and I'd love to hear from each of you on how I can assist!
Safety is a great Social Business Use Case!
Happy Monday! Today's Social Business Coffee Break is featuring a surprise use case --- Safety. I love this one as it does have high ROI in reduced worker's compensation but the ROI I love is saving employees from injury.
Take a listen!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zTS5uh2RFI&feature=youtu.be]
Social Media Tip of the Week – 3 Social Media sins you should avoid
Social media is a great way to connect and work with people. But don’t make these mistakes in the business world of Social Media:
1. Not responding to messages, post, tweets or comments (-> Social Media means communication!)
2. Sharing every little thing you do or like (-> not everything is for the public world to see)
3. Using every Social Media site ever invented (-> not every platform is relevant and useful for everybody)
Join me July 31st on GET BOLD for Social Business!
Today, everyone is talking about social. You hear about politicians, movie stars, and everyone in between talking about social, using social with Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.
But you’re a business. What does all this mean to you?
Sure, your business has a website, and it probably has a social media executive responsible for posting and /or monitoring comments about your company that might be posted on Twitter or Facebook by customers. But ask yourself….is your company a social business company? Are you leveraging social to be more customer-driven? Are your employees engaged with social in their jobs? Are you really utilizing the tools and techniques that social offers to improve your business and take advantage of opportunities for growth?
Join me on Wednesday, July 31, on the Victory Circle Radio hour as I talk about my book, “Get Bold”, in which I provide a framework for social. www.victorycircles.com/radio-show
I’ll also share some case studies of companies who have successfully used social technology to connect with customers, helping them create communities and experiences they need. According to a recent study, some 60% of customers use social media to discover new brands and products; 46% of customers use it to strongly influence their purchase decisions; and 40% check social media before making purchase decisions. Your customers are already connecting and talking about your brand. Are you connecting with them so they can become brand advocates? I’ll share examples of customers who have successfully used social technologies to listen to and respond to their customers.
Becoming a social business is about more than simply building a social network. It’s about offering information and services that your customers and partners need. There are companies who have successfully used social technologies and offered meaningful services to their customers, while gaining critical feedback from the customers. It’s about collecting and understanding the data that’s available on the various networks. About 81% of purchasers get product purchase advice from social networks. You need to know who is saying what, and know how to tap into the conversation.
Today, it’s an economic reality that social is here to stay. According to an IBM study, during the next 5 years, 95% of standout organizations will focus on getting closer to the customer. Join me on Victory Circle Radio on July 31 and hear how my social framework can help you become a social business.
Top ROI Use Cases for Social!
Happy Monday! The next few weeks we are covering the top 6 Social business use cases that drive the best ROI.
Have a listen and tell me your thoughts!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5epAj8FN16E&feature=youtu.be]
5 Year Anniversary for the Women's Toolbox! Why that is important to you!
I was able to catch up with Janet Powers, the CEO of the Women's Toolbox on the help she provides on social business to women Worldwide!
Here's our summary and check out her new focuses!!!
Sketch videos: http://ebusinessgreetings.com
Promotion of member blogs: http://womenstoolbox.com/2013/07/09/add-my-rss-feed
1. Janet, tell us what drove you to start the Women's Toolbox?
I never dreamed of starting a business, I dreamed about starting an on line community for women in business that mirrored the support system I had thanks to my family, friends and colleagues. So many people I knew from my days in corporate America had moved away from their core support group and they didn't have someone to sit across the kitchen table with and discuss the things that mattered most to them. I wanted to create an on line community, a neighborhood, that allowed all women to share their expertise in the hopes that their experience and knowledge would help another woman's journey a little easier, help her succeed in business and life.
2. What is the Women's Toolbox and how does it relate to Social?
The Women's Toolbox is the premier destination on line for women in business to find the information, resources and support they need to succeed. Named by MORE Magazine as one of the best websites for women to polish your professional skills, sharpen your business skills and get your name out there, our tagline is "within you lies the ability to do anything, Find It".
The Women's Toolbox built an engaged, social community long before all the research proved that social builds engagement and increases loyalty, productivity and revenue. We believe that to build a successful social business, you must change the way you engage with an audience. Engagement is not about the most eyeballs, it is about the best listeners. You must provide something every day that interests them, you must help your audience succeed PLUS truly believe that they have value to your organization and are important to your long term success. That has been our mantra in building the Women's Toolbox and it works...not everyone is your target audience, don't try to be everything to everyone, be engaging with the audience that matters and they will be your best listeners.
3. Give us your biggest AHA moment from the Women's Toolbox work.
I have had three AH HA moments the past five years:
First was the realization that my instincts were right...People want to be part of a community. People thrive in groups. People want to belong. In today's world, so many feel like they are all alone and that makes even small challenges scary.
Second was the understanding that the steps, strategies and knowledge to successfully grow a career and grow a business were very related. Whether you are marketing yourself or your business, you need to understand the basics and the best practices related to growth, marketing, pr, social media, money, sales and so much more.
Last, and by no means least, was learning how many people do things the hard way because they are afraid of technology or don't understand what it can do to save them time and money. I hear so many people say they don't understand technology or that they are tech challenged - and my response is always - technology is not hard, change is hard. If adopting new technology was hard, millions of people would not be using social media nor would they be playing words with friends and candy crush on their mobile devices. I think it is our responsibility as women in technology to help those who think they are tech challenged to understand the possibilities for them and their business related to new technology.
We must be committed to using words they can relate to not just industry terms when describing what technology can do. For example, those comfortable with technology talk about being in the cloud...well if you are not up to date on the terminology, you are not likely to ask what the cloud is for two reasons - one you don't want to sound out of date and two, you don't have time to learn something new right now. Instead think how many more people would embrace cloud technology if it was explained in words and concepts everyone already understands...gmail is email in the cloud - people understand that concept.
4. How does this help woman in the social world? Can you give me a example!
This is an excerpt from my about page:
The Women’s Toolbox is a natural outgrowth of its founder’s combined life experience. She started the company following a successful corporate career at Fidelity Investments, where she served as Vice President of Program Management. There she served as a liaison between its business and technology departments, sourcing and building technology solutions to solve the business problems of Fidelity’s internal and external customers. She was also part of a team that brought new products and services to the market.
Earlier in her career, she worked for a global non-profit delivering health programs to expand opportunities for women and families. There she was responsible for educating the group’s regional representatives on how to use technology to run and report on local initiatives. Traveling internationally to deliver onsite training, she witnessed the challenges women face in developing countries.
Today, Janet Powers have melded the two, helping women leverage technology for economic growth. She comes to the table with a solid understand of the women’s market and a personal, deep felt commitment to its long term success. She actively participates in major women’s conferences and philanthropic efforts that support women across the globe.
Here is an example:
Using the Women's Toolbox knowledge of major media's need for experts for their stories and willingness to accept user generated content for their websites, we created 15+ webinars using the IBM Smart Cloud tool to teach women in business how to expand their reach and readership to their blog by submitting content to major media sites for publication.
The results of this initiative can best be described in this testimonial from one of our members:
I love the Women’s Toolbox for so many reasons! I have my articles posted here regularly because of the high quality leads that are generated for my business…I’ve been featured on Yahoo.com, More.com and have gained clients. It’s like my secret weapon for national exposure, visibility and credibility. — Meredith Liepelt, President of Rich Life Marketing, www.richlifemarketing.com
5. What's your vision for the next phase or next 5 years of the Women's Toolbox?
Three BIG and BOLD goals for the next five years:
1. Provide access and training on how women in business can leverage technology to make life easier.
2. Empower women in business to be seen, be heard and be well in the workplace, marketplace and community.
3. Engage an international audience of women in business to understand we are more the same than we are different.
In summary, our vision is to connect women across the globe (international audience) who blog (be seen) get more exposure to their articles and expertise (be heard) by publishing their blogs on the Women's Toolbox using their RSS feeds (leverage technology to make life easier) thus saving them time and energy (be well).
5 Seconds of Engagement
5 seconds of engagement ! Wow! Why? Because research shows that you have just 5 seconds to engage a customer before they decide to go to the competition
To turn customers into advocates you need to provide an experience that is compelling, relevant, empower and consistent.
If you succeed you, like some of our customers, can achieve increased revenue, increased effectiveness in outbound marketing , and increased customer satisfaction.
Childrens Medical Center Dallas is a great example!
They embedded social services in with personalized patient information to create a supportive and informative self service capability to transform their overall patient care process. If patients come and get the relevant information they need, in a rich media experience they expect, then the digital experiences the medical center provides demonstrates that the staff knows their patients and what they need. They retain their "patients" for 5 seconds!!!
This provided an increase in sales and reduction in costs. Convincing ROI.
Again the ROI of the exceptional digital experience is striking in how it can accelerate business processes and support more responsive and personalized customer relationships.
Deliver a compelling experience to a employees and customer however they want to engage with you – tablet, smart phone, web-browser – thanks to responsive design out of the box.
An similar example is from the Netherlands with Omron!
Omron provides access to experts and expertise through integrated social capabilities to create a social portal. This brings all the information and expertise around a specific customer to one place for easy access. The intranet provides the employee with the same consistent (on any device), compelling (rich with graphics and media), relevant (providing them with only the resources and processes they need) and empowering! Empowered Omron employees are more confident with and responsive to customers and can build the kind of trusted relationships that sustains greater customer loyalty.
5 seconds of engagement that matters!!
Elements of a Social Platform
I get alot of questions on the elements of a Social Business Platform.
Our view is that you need 4 capabilities:
Social Networking, Social Analytics, Social Integration, and Social Content
Today I will share key Social Networking capabilities!
Profiles - Find the people you need based on their expertise projects and responsibilites based on the information on the person like certifications, background, and other key information. The profile has information that helps you socially find expertise, open up communications, and keep your networks informed.
Communities - Create, find join and work with Communities of people who share a common interest, responsibility or area of expertise.
Bookmarks - Save, organise, and share bookmarks. Discover bookmarks that have been qualified by others with similar interests and expertise.
Blogs enable you to present your ideas, get feedback from others, learn from the expertise and experience of others who Blog! Usually videos and other rich media make this more adoptable!
Activities: Organize your work, plan next steps, and easily tap into your expanding professional network to help you execute your everyday deliverables faster.
File - Upload and share any type of file with colleagues and communities. Store versions and view downloads comments and ratings.
WIKIS - Wiki spaces for individuals, groups and communities to co-author pages. View changes across pages, ratings and comments.
Forums - Ask questions brainstorm ideas, and leverage the expertise of the people in your organization.
Recognition Badges, Levels - Encourage sustained user adoption, educate and reward users for engaging and contributing.