Tag: ibm-champion

Posted on

Official list of IBM 2019 Champions

Although the IBM Champions were announced just before Christmas the official list has now been published.

Super proud to be included in this illustrious list again. I am in a handful of champs from the ICS brand that have been champions since the program started in 2011  for ICS.

The program selects Champions annually based on individual contributions that go beyond the scope of a person’s job, so that we can recognize and reward those who give so generously of their time, effort, and energy.

 

 

 

This will be the last year that ICS as a brand is part of the IBM Champion group as of course the software is moving over to HCL later this year. Hoping the guys over there do a similar thing as it has strengthened the community. It’s been a blast and I am looking forward to the future.

The full post and list can be seen here on the IBM Community Blog

 

Posted on

Connections adoption – full list of videos

Here are the full list of videos from the Connections adoption month campaign from IBM.

 

Video List

IBM Connections Tip #1 – Build your network
IBM Connections Tip #2 – Advertise your skills
IBM Connections Tip #3 – Update your status every day
IBM Connections Tip #4 – Bookmark in Connections
IBM Connections Tip #5 – Stop sending files in emails
IBM Connections Tip #6 – Stop doing work in emails!
IBM Connections Tip #7 – Co-create with Wikis!
IBM Connections Tip #8 – Create a self help forum
IBM Connections Tip #9 – Follow wisely!
IBM Connections Tip #10 – Check your activity stream daily
IBM Connections Tip #11 – Only create mission driven communities
IBM Connections Tip #12 – Lead by Example
 

Graphic List

Posted on

Connections Adoption Month – midway update

Connections Adoption Month – midway update

So we are half of the way though Connections Adoptions month (july 2018) and if you have been following the IBM_ICSsupport  twitter account, you will have noticed some videos and tips these have also been posted over on the Connections Cloud Collaboration blog.

These videos are between 1 and 2 mins each and are bite size chunks on the 12 Winning social habbits with IBM Connections. I have collated these videos into a list (which I will append with all of the videos once they are published) and any of the other social posts around this subject.

The videos are great ways of introducing users on how IBM Connections can help with their day to day tasks. Personally I spend a lot of time in IBM Connections, the internal BCC one, Customer Connections systems, IBM in the Cloud (NA and CE Connections Cloud), the ICON UK Cloud Connections – I use connections a lot! There are so many times that we have shown how doing some of these simple tasks can help make people more productive – there has been many “AHA!” moments 🙂

Grab the videos, share the images (in a number of langages) and get your users engaging .. 😀 If you think there are languages missing let us know and we can ask IBM to translate the graphics.

Happy collaborating

 

Video List

IBM Connections Tip #1 – Build your network
IBM Connections Tip #2 – Advertise your skills
IBM Connections Tip #3 – Update your status every day
IBM Connections Tip #4 – Bookmark in Connections
IBM Connections Tip #5 – Stop sending files in emails
IBM Connections Tip #6 – Stop doing work in emails!
IBM Connections Tip #7 – Co-create with Wikis!

 

Graphic List

Posted on

Engage is next week!

It has come around really quickly – it feels like only a few days ago that we were at Think or Social Connections 13, but It is that time of year again and Engage is almost upon us.

On Tuesday & Wednesday 22-23 May approx 400 people will be setting sail on the SS Rotterdam for Europe’s biggest ICS user group.

It is looking to be a packed agenda with 66 sessions + 19 round tables, 94 speakers, 42 champions presenting (and 60 present)!

 

Tim & I will be speaking on Wednesday (23rd) morning at 8am !! (thanks Theo) – Best practises for deploying Verse on Premise (VoP) – find out more on our BCC Events page.

 

Here is the amazing venue for the conference – more information can be found on the Engage page – hope to see you there 🙂

Posted on

GDPR and IBM Connections / Docs On-Prem

At IBM Think back in March, the Connections Offering Management team promised us some information to help with GDPR compliency. The Connections Cloud information has been available for a while and the On-Premises docuemtation was on the way.

Today my friend and fellow IBM Champion Roberto alerted me to the technotes that are available.

IBM Connections: http://bit.ly/cnxGDPR

IBM Docs: http://bit.ly/docsGDPR

There is a new section in each of the knowledgebases entitled Managing personal data in accordance with GDPR – see here for Connections and here for Docs (note the docs section mostly points to the Connections KB).

The technotes refer to a number of standard tasks that should be configured as part of the install and configuration process – such as using SSL for HTTP traffic, disabling anonymous access etc.

I am sure that this information will evolve as time goes on, but its a great start.

Posted on

Vegas Baby .. IBM Think 2018

After the gruelling 10 hour flight and the inevitable jet lag .. IBM Think has started.

Kicking off with Champion and Community day. This is the first time IBM have run a day like this tacked onto the main conference AND so far its amazing. A full run down will happen tomorrow but thank you IBM for this.

I am really looking forward to this week. Catching up with old friends .. making new friends and getting to know more IBM champions from different brands ..

Exciting times ahead 🙂

Posted on

You better Think!

Think 2018

It is early February .. and cold in the UK, normally we would be just returning or just preparing to go on the annual ICS exodus to Orlando for the beloved Lotusphere / Connect  conference ..but not this year. This year IBM have boldly gone –  in the way of the Starship Enterprise – to another world for their annual conference this year. BUT not just for us ICS people!

With a  potential 40,000+ attendees this year all the IBM standard conferences – Connect (Lotusphere as was), InterConnect, Amplify, Edge, Vision, World of Watson and PartnerWorld are all merged into what can only be described as a MEGA conference. IBM THINK! Which is in Las Vegas – which is as close to another world as we can get  🙂

Discover what the world is thinking at Think 2018, IBM’s first business event to go beyond IT conference, exploring cloud technology, data analytics & security.


Yes its going to be big, and that can be a little daunting, but I was pleased to see that Collaboration isn’t going to be swallowed in the sea of sessions, keynotes and events that are scheduled. Collaboration Solutions has its own Think Microsite which details sessions, keynotes and all the good stuff that we would expect at Connect or Lotusphere. There is even a handy PDF which details all the collaboration sessions at a glance with a key, making it super easy to find sessions that will interest you without having to wade through the hundreds that are scheduled. 

Also new for this year is the event site. Much better layout than we have seen in previous years, lots of quality information about the event and watson is embedded now to help you find sessions of interest and to make recomendations. HUGE improvement on previous years so thank you IBM for that.

The IBM Champions will have a big part in Think too, as its a mega conference covering all the software brands the IBM Champions will be mega too. There are now almost 650 IBM Champions world wide across the IBM portfolio and many will be at THINK. I am very much looking forward to getting to know some of the Champions from the other brands and see it as a fantastic opportunity.

 

Speaking at Think

If attending Think isn’t exciting enough …. I will also be speaking with my fellow IBM Champion and good friend Roberto Boccadoro. Our session will be covering troubleshooting IBM Connections 6 (and previous versions) and its supporting software and lightly touching on the new Pink technology.

 

A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Troubleshooting IBM Connections

Monday, 12:30 PM – 1:10 PM | Surf B | Session ID: 1409A

 

 

If you want to learn more about Connections Pink troubleshooting you need to be at fellow champion Nico Meisenzahl‘s session – as Nico will be taking you through all the new Pink feature troubleshooting in his amazing session:

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right—Troubleshooting IBM Connections

Monday, 10:30 AM – 11:10 AM | Surf B | Session ID: 1574A

 

Attenting Think? Would you like a discount

Want to attend Think and would like a discount – talk to an IBM Champion

 

I am SO excited about this new big conference – I will be reporting from Think, Tim and I will be hopefully be grabbing some interviews and soundbites for ICONUK – more info coming soon.

If you would like information on BCC’s products and services, be sure to catch up with Tim and I at Think – or schedule a meeting with us. See you there.

 

Posted on

IBM Champion and the Domino Jam

Friday the 12th of January was a busy day for me ..

Off to London for the face to face #Domino2025 Jam. I was slightly dubious, not really knowing what to expect but what a worth while experience it was. Approx 35 – 40 of us slip up into teams discussing and prioritising what we would like to see for IBM Domino App dev, mail, apps support and sametime for version 10 and beyond. The teams were split into a good mix of developers, administrators, users and managers and lots of interesting discussion was had, and they were not all ‘the usual suspects’. We talked about what we loved, what drove us crazy and a bunch of small things that could be resolved quickly. There were lots of different opinions and lots of very similar discussions.

The openess of it all was very refreshing, some of the IBM guys who have moved to HCL were there, the UK IBMers were their usual awesome selves (we do have some good ones – you know who you are 😉 ) – the fact there was so much positivity, energy and enthusiasm of it all – from a user of this software I am really looking forward to the roadmap and plans for the future. As an administrator (at least for the Sametime piece of this – as everyone knows I am not a Domino Admin) again there were some very good ideas around admin and the infrastructer that is required – some were quite radical at that .. all in all I am pumped, enthused, insert other excitable words here about it all ..

 

I know that has been a lot of critism about IBM for being slow, behind the curve, too little to late etc .. but I think (and really hope) that all of that is in the past. Things are going to be good. Actually no, things are going to be great .. the momentum has started – we are running downhill, lets not stop or there may be a pile up 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The word on the street is there is going to be lots of news at the IBM Think event in March – if you are thinking about heading to Think talk to me or another IBM Champion for a discount

 

 

 

 

 

Talking of IBM Champions, I also recieved an email Friday morning confirming that I was indeed an IBM Champion again this year.

For those of you who do not know what an IBM Champion is – IBM Champions demonstrate both expertise in and extraordinary support and advocacy for IBM technology, communities, and solutions. The IBM Champion program recognizes these innovative thought leaders in the technical community and rewards these contributions by amplifying their voice and increasing their sphere of influence. IBM Champions are enthusiasts and advocates: IT professionals, business leaders, developers, executives, educators, and influencers who support and mentor others to help them get the most out of IBM software, solutions, and services.  – you can find out more information here.

This is such a big deal for me, I am so honoured to be a part of this amazing group of people .. so thank you IBM , and thanks Libby who heads up the IBM Champion program across all the brands world wide and Alan who has the task of wrangling the collaboration solutions champions inbetween his day job (you legend).

What a great start to 2018 – I work with the most fantastic group of people at BCC, have lots to look forward to this year work wise and I have been elected as an IBM Champion again. Lets do this 😀

Posted on

Issues with IBM Connections 5 / 5.5 and Chrome 60

There is a known issue with Connections 5 CR4 and all versions of Connections 5.5 when using Chrome version 60.

It affects events not being displayed and errors relating to events in the UI. It has also been reported that comments can be affected also.

After multiple BP’s and Customers reported this IBM Support have come up with a fix very quickly.

The fix you need is IFLO92844 – currently it is only available from IBM support – not sure how long it will be until it is available on fix central.

Open a PMR with IBM and reference these 3 PMR numbers: 76364,082,000 – 76379,082,000 – 38309,756,000 and ask for IFLO92844. You will need to specify the Connections version and CR.

The fix updates the Common app and takes about 10 mins to deploy.

Thank you IBM Connections Support / Dev for resolving this so quickly

Posted on

6 years a Champion !!

I recieved an email yesterday – just before I joined a live stream to watch the IBM Champions for ICS be announced.

[blockquote align=center]

On behalf of IBM, it is my great pleasure to recognize you as a returning IBM Champion in 2017. Congratulations!

[/blockquote]

 

 

 

 

I am so honoured to be amongst a great group of champions again. I have been an ICS IBM Champion since the program began in 2011.

Being an IBM Champion is all about being part of a great extended  community, sharing knowledge, giving feed back and constructive critism and helping IBM with what ever they will let us help them with – from documentation to ideas about Connect.

In my 6 years of being an IBM Champion .. I have made some great friends and been introduced to some great IBMers (who I now class as great friends), helped influence some products, given a lot of honest feed back, and assited with my favourite thing – Documentation 🙂 It really has been a blast .. and I would still continue to do these things If I wasn’t a Champion 🙂

Being an IBM Champion doesn’t mean you have to be a *yes man/woman* – It just means you are passionate about what you do and have the right attitude – that doesn’t mean agreeing to everything, being constructive, giving feed back and ideas is part of being a champion which is why I love it.

 

So thank you once again IBM and especially to Amanda and Libby for everything they do for us Champions .. and I hope to be worthy of this title for the next year 🙂