The Tech Connection

Dave Jacob at Lotusphere 2012

 by Dave Jacob 

After most of a week of listening to the push for how social media and mobile applications will affect your life, I started looking for examples that mean something to me. It didn’t take long.

The first instance occurred at the conference. One of the sessions on security was cancelled by IBM legal 30 minutes before the session. Of course, those interested started tweeting and a small cancellation turned into a cause – #occupypelican - the room for the session. Social in action. I was in already in another session so I couldn’t go see what happened first hand but I bet the session was held and the room was probably full of those interested in the topic but also those who wanted to see how IBM handled the push back. If you were one of the tweeters or attended, post your impressions on the blog. I’m curious as to what really happened.

The next instance is an observation as the Super Bowl approaches and the ad campaigns gear up in earnest. Ads are now being pre-posted on YouTube and other media sites and are being spread by interested parties (like me) and are changing the way ads are sold. There is the initial development of the ad and eventual playing of the ad at the Super Bowl, but the real value comes later in the after market. Couple this with comments, blogs and other electronic distribution and you begin to see the potential power of social.Of course, these ads are also meant to be seen on your smart phone, iPhone and lots of other devices. Google “Old Spice super bowl ads” and look for the athlete who loses his mind (or wait for the super bowl ads).

This viral marketing approach is changing how we all do business and presents incredible opportunities for those of us who try and figure out how to bring these systems to market.

 by Ruth Jarvis

In case you’re buried beneath a rock, ignoring all forms of social media including twitter hashtags, Facebook profiles, LinkedIn updates, and technology based new outlets, Lotusphere this year is pushing Social Business. It’s on signs, badges, videos, and napkins, allowing very few to ignore the statement at the annual Lotus event much to the chagrin of technical based developers and admins hoping to see the latest in the Lotus brand but great for LOB decision makers.

Day one started with Business Development Day (BDD) a full day of sessions, jumpstarts, and discussions for the IBM Business Partner community. Of course, we wanted to jump in and see what the brand has in store for various product bases but most important for us, IBM Web Experience Factory (formerly Portlet Factory). While it didn’t make much discussion during the BDD it did come up as part of the Web Experience Suite and the Intranet Suite discussion at the Opening General Session (OGS).

Speaking of the OGS, what were the big suprises? It started with the viral rock band OK Go, playing live with their fun and low-budget music videos, followed by a special and inspirational special guest, Michael J. Fox discussing how social networking effected how he was able to learn, update, and build a community around Parkinson’s Disease (PD). The last surprises were based on content, in fact for most of the conference, this long standing technical based event has slowly morphed into a joint technical and business conference. This year you could feel it more then ever, as the first hour of the OGS didn’t contain any mention of “Lotus”, “Notes”, or “Domino,” replaced instead by terminology like “social”, “mobile”, and “marketing.”

OK GO at ls12 OGS

MIchael J Fox at ls12 OGS

Notes/Domino Next

I will leave it to my technical Davalen peers to update you on what is happening in the tech-world of the brand as they are much better suited to do such, but I will provide some of my favorite shots from the event thus far, including new shots of my wonderful team: Len Barker, Managing Partner, Dave Jacob, Managing Partner, and my fellow female co-worker, Deborah Corcoran, Resource Deployment Manager.

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 by Deborah Corcoran

Yes, this year at Lotusphere I am actively recruiting independent consultants who want to jump start their career in 2012 by working on cutting edge IBM projects! I will be looking for WEF Developers, WebSphere Portal Administrators, Architects and Developers, plus DB2 folks, and Domino gurus!

As Dave Jacob blogged previously…“what a difference a year makes….The  growth of contracting opportunities in the WEF space and other IBM software technoligies,  has enabled us to become a Tier 1 provider directly to IBM/ISSL”…

So, be sure to stop by the Davalen booth # 312,  I look forward to discussing the opportunities with you, hearing about your skills sets, and your availability to make a great career move in 2012.

Don’t forget, Davalen  authored the WEF Top Gun training materials for IBM, so we will also train you in the technology and keep your career moving forward.

Dave Jacob

by Dave Jacob

What a difference a year makes. Last year at Lotusphere 2011, Davalen was touting the career path move for Domino developers to Web Experience Factory (WEF) and now that move has taken over our business!

We doubled our development staff in this space and continue to train and contract with former Domino developers. We have seen major adoption of WEF by major corporations in the US and abroad and continue to win new engagements and add staff. With IBM’s move to adopt WEF as one of the preferred portal and web application development tools, we see continued major growth this year. This growth has enabled us to become a Tier 1 provider directly to IBM /ISSL and insure additional penetration in this market.

Stop by our booth #312 in the Showcase to discuss how this may be a good career move for you to become a Davalen employee or contractor. Yes, we are hiring and we authored the WEF Top Gun training materials for IBM, so we will also train you in the technology and keep your career moving forward.

Information on where to find us can be find on our Lotusphere 2012 event page.

Dave Jacob

 by Dave Jacob, Managing Partner, WebSphere Practice 

My learning experience about business intelligence and computer systems took a turn for the better last weekend. It was my wife, Kathy, who enlightened me and while the solution involves no technology yet, it should. Last weekend Kathy and I were doing our weekend errands. We were at the national drugstore chain, CVS, in our neighborhood and among the things we were buying were a particular nationally branded dental floss product. Unfortunately, CVS wasn’t carrying this brand so after some discussion we knew we would be making another trip, this time to their competitor who did carry this product.

At the CVS checkout counter, Kathy told the store clerk about this issue necessitating a visit to a competitor’s store. The clerk mentioned that there was a store generic brand that competed with the national brand. Kathy explained that she had used the CVS brand of this product before but felt it was an inferior brand that often broke. The clerk was very courteous and apologized, rung up the items we had purchased, and moved on to the next person in line.

What a lost opportunity for CVS!

Here is what CVS should have learned:

1. Customer thinks store brand product is unacceptable.
2. Customer mentioned a product that CVS should consider carrying.
3. Customer will go a competitor for this product.

None of this information by itself is a big deal but what if others feel the same way and never says anything. This could be a lost opportunity for a new product that may sell and more importantly, how could I keep a customer from going to a direct competitor.

What’s the point?

1. The most important contact with the customer in most cases is the cashier who is neither empowered nor enabled to collect strategic information for CVS.
2. How could CVS fix this problem?
   1. At a minimum, the cashier should have a way to quickly collect the basic information or have some way for the customer to easily report what they believe.
   2. There should probably be some incentive for the customer to provide the information
   3. Information could be collected via paper questionnaire or quick electronic means
   4. There should be some follow-up action to solve the competitive problem or at least address it to make sure the customer returns. If I have to go to the competitor anyway, why not fill my prescription, etc at the same time.

So what about technology?

Customers are spending significant dollars on business intelligence on their web site to discover buying patterns, click-thru choices, etc. but nothing on the customers in the store!

It is clear to me that this is an opportunity to be addressed. CVS uses technology to offer free coupons and discounts for the things that customers buy, but what about the things they don’t buy?

I can envision technology at the point of sale or credit card transaction as simple as was there anything you wanted to buy but didn’t and why? May I contact you to understand better for a future coupon or discount? Would you be willing to go to our website and describe your situation for a discount, coupon, etc. Provide a suggestion card with web address and some future benefit.

Finally, neither Kathy or I are unhappy with CVS and will return but when we need our specific branded product, we will buy this and other things we need at Drugstore B to save a trip. I’m sure that this situation is not unique to CVS, just an example of how we sometimes spend so much time being tech savvy that we miss the opportunity that direct customer contact can provide.

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This article is from our monthly resource e-Newsletter. Did you miss it in your inbox? Visit our eNewsletter archives for past editions or if you want to receive our monthly newsletter automatically, simply write to Ruth Jarvis and request to be added to our E-Newsletter list. Thank you!

Dave Jacob

by  Dave Jacob, Managing Partner, WebSphere Practice

If the purpose of a business is to maximize profit, then there are only two ways to accomplish this -

1. Increase profit
2. Decrease expense

So how do we go about this and what does that have to do with an Exceptional Web Experience?

The insurance industry is a good example. Insurance is sold through agents who maintain the client relationship. Historically, the agent has had to deal with multiple parts of the insurance company to service their client, one group for underwriting, another for billing, another for investments and so on. And over time the insured will have many questions about their policy and coverage, such as “do I have enough insurance and how has my investment performed?”

The agent typically answers these questions after calling the appropriate insurance personnel.

Enter the Exceptional Web Experience. 

 What if the agent could access the information directly from the web without requiring direct insurance company contact? More importantly, could the agent view all client activity in one web application, navigating seamlessly from one part of the insurance company to another. Phone calls and insurance staff interaction are reduced under this model thereby saving money so the agent can have a direct and meaningful dialog with the client about their entire portfolio while they are on the phone. This customer centric approach enhances client satisfaction, or experience, as many questions are answered quickly, and the agent has a chance to review their current portfolio and offer other products and services that they may now need. At the same time the insurance agent is uncovering direct up-sell opportunities, and customer retention programs, should the need arise.

For this approach to be a reality, the agent has to be able to easily and quickly find the required information.

IBM WebSphere Portal provides the platform for just such a solution.

This Exceptional Web Experience will be discussed in Orlando at IBM’s Exceptional Web Experience Conference under session heading:  BUS-S07 “Experiences and Best Practices from Integrating and Implementing a Intranet Portal at Unitrin/Kemper Insurance.”

Please come prepared to ask questions to our client about their experience with Davalen and IBM solutions as a means to better customer satisfaction through powerful web portals.

More details to come: Davalen to present session with client at IBM Exceptional Web Experience 2011

BUS-S07 Experiences and Best Practices from Integrating and Implementing a Intranet Portal at Unitrin/Kemper Insurance

Presenters:

Daniel Jaffa, Application Architect, UNITRIN Services Group

Dave Jacob, Managing Partner, Davalen

Kemper Insurance, a Unitrin company, is a nationally recognized Property & Casualty Insurance firm selling a variety of Comprehensive Insurance products through independent agents. Customer interaction for independent insurance agents is an imperative aspect of the Kemper business model as they represent the sales and customer relation arm of the business. Historically, the independent agents had close relationships with Kemper personnel to check on the status of policies, renewals, and servicing additional insurance requirements in order to satisfy the needs and requests of clients. Attend this session to understand the business drivers and implementation details as Kemper developed a new portal based agency system using IBM WebSphere Portal version 6.1.5. The solution services include Rating Application, Billing Application, Claim Inquiry, Enterprise Content Management (IBM Filenet, IBM Content Manager, IBM Content Manager OnDemand). The team will share experiences designing a solution that provided increased reusability of application services across not only Kemper’s infrastructure but by all of Unitrin Personal lines of Business.

See how the results provide Kemper’s agents improved access to key information and data, resulting in improved customer service and client retention. Understand the details, lessons learned and plans for future expansion to support their business goals.

Dave Jacob

by Dave Jacob, Managing Partner, WebSphere Practice

A fascinating book was recommended to me by the CIO of Global Partners, Ken Piddington entitled, “World Class IT: Why Businesses Succeed When IT Triumphs” by Peter High. The book reinforces a concept that is central to the mission of Davalen – it’s that information technology vendors must understand the businesses they support for both you and the enterprise to succeed. When Davalen began in 1993, we were so sure of this idea that we trademarked this concept as: “We speak business. We understand technology.”

The IT department should not be a cost center reacting to a myriad of requests but a strategic partner in the business that offers solutions using the toolkit they have available, i.e. their software. As Davalen has grown, we found IBM to have the most comprehensive toolkit, which allowed us to recommend the best business value to our clients.

Getting the most out of your IBM software starts with understanding the business need and how it will increase revenue or reduce cost. These metrics are not always apparent but starting with this mindset helps IT become part of the solution and not a bottleneck. Priorities are set as an organization with clear measurements of the software impact on the business.

Early in my career, I was on a design team that automated claims processing for the Medicare B program. In every case, we doubled the IT budget of the organization – try that in your company. However, the business case was compelling because we automated much of the claims process and reduced the overall business cost by 50 percent.

Much of my time currently is spent managing the WebSphere Portal and WebSphere Portlet Factory practice at Davalen. We have found that once we go through the business analysis and define the appropriate processes to automate, that Portlet Factory cuts our development time by 60 percent or more so we can get to the solution more quickly.

Using the IBM tools available and with our deep understanding that IT supports the business processes, Davalen is in a unique position to help your business get the most from your IBM investment.