Over the course of the last few days here in San Francisco at Sugarcon 2012 I have had some interesting discussions around IBM, integration points, IBM SmartCloud and of course Lotus Notes and Domino.
What you probably know is there has been a few integration points for SugarCRM that have included a Lotus Notes plugin for the Notes client from the iEnterprise acquisition and the LotusLive plugin to SugarCRM itself to share meetings and files.
SugarCRM and IBM have shown the integration of IBM Connections into SugarCRM. and it's pretty sweet too, even if it isn't quite ready for GA(ETA Q3). The basic principle of the integration was put together over a few weeks and was aimed at procviding a bridge between SugarCRM and the IBM Connections environment. Built-in to the SugarCRM side is a connector where you set up your logins and locations and then you have the communities and members to be listed inside SugarCRM.
A great job was done to get the business card settings to work so you can click straight over to the Connections sections like wikis, blogs, profiles, communities and activities, etc.
This may be a huge boost for SugarCRM as they strive to reach more Enterprises. Given the size of most IBM Connections installations, this may be an opportunity for Business Partners to make a huge play with their customers.
The flip side is not so great. IBM Connections is overkill to SugarCRM's bread and butter customers of the under 25 user organizations. IBM SmartCloud Engage, a slightly reduced version of IBM Connections, but one wholly based in The Cloud should be a good play if it gets packaged or bundled together at some point in the future. This is my guess at what we may see down the road. I missed the IBM session that outlined some more details.
IBM Sametime looks to be the next product to find it's way. Most likely due to Yammer being built-in to Salesforce.com. Naturally an organization can also use an online version or on premise version of Sametime but today there is no integration inside SugarCRM.
IBM Business Partners, you may want to start brushing up on SugarCRM. We have been a SugarCRM Silver Business Partner for the last year and a half and happy to discuss it with any of you.
The Art of Troubleshooting...The Video
Tue, May 7th 2013 1:00p Keith Brooks Live from IBM Impact in Las Vegas this was recorded April 30, 2013.
If you want the slides, they are here.
Thank you to Ryan for setting the Ignite talks up and Daphne for letting me know about it.
It was fun, 20 slides that automatically roll over every 15 seconds for a 5 minute talk. [read] Keywords: ibm
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What if Darth Vader won?
Sat, May 4th 2013 9:00p Keith Brooks May the Fourth Be with You!
Ever wonder what it would be like if Darth Vader won?
Could Darth Vader have won instead of the Rebels? Could it be that a strong network of Sith Lords could control the masses through social media efforts using The Force? These may be strong words, young Padawan.
There is an amusing Twitter account I follow called @DeathStarPR that brings my point forward. What if social media was used as an insidious effort to gain the upper hand against the Rebels? W [read] Keywords: connections
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I'm an IBM Champion Video
Wed, May 1st 2013 2:20p Keith Brooks The video from the IBM Impact keynote this morning that has all of the IBM Websphere Champions who could make it to the video shoot.
See me and my friends do a "I'm an IBMer" type commercial.
Thanks to Daphne and Justin for editing and making it all happen. [read] Keywords: ibm
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Day 2 of Impact 2013
Wed, May 1st 2013 10:40a Keith Brooks So what did I do on Day 2 of Impact? Today was The World in Motion.
Business calls most of the morning, bad wifi upstairs, bad wifi in OGS and the exhibit hall. A frustrating problem because if you needed 30,000 IP addresses or so, what would you do?
Duh, grab a Z series! Okay not exactly but it is a problem which should have been addressed Sunday.
Which brings me to what I did Tuesday, meetings, interviews, an ignite speech and a session I did with 3 other IBM Champions and a night cap [read] Keywords: ibm
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My Impact Ignite Slides "The Art of Troubleshooting"
Tue, Apr 30th 2013 3:10p Keith Brooks I gave my ignite talk today and when the video or you tube is released will post it as well.
Here are the slides from slideshare.
The Art of Troubleshooting from Keith Brooks [read] Keywords:
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Opening Day...of Impact 2013
Tue, Apr 30th 2013 11:40a Keith Brooks Today started out like every other day, you know phone ringing at 5am and 6 and 7. Went to meet frineds for breakfast and then went over to the OGS where Champions had prime real estate. 4th row center.
Today was Business in Motion day.
Opening was a drum set and horn section that were quite good and then the star attraction a white Ford took the stage and proceeded to talk to us all.
Just kidding, the car said nothing, didn't even start, but Robert Leblanc came out along with a Ford exe [read] Keywords: ibm
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My First Impact Conference
Mon, Apr 29th 2013 11:00a Keith Brooks As a long time
Lotusphere person, I am reminded of Bruce Springsteen after he played, and
won, the Academy Award in 1994 for his
song the Streets of Philadelphia and said this "And thank you all for inviting
me to your party."
I came out to
Impact not sure what to expect. At times Websphere is my friend and at times a
hard companion, but I found a great community of people here so far that rival
my friends in the Lotus/ICS world.
My journey to
Impact 2013 held in Las Vegas at the Vene [read] Keywords: ibm
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Blogging Time: Why it Matters
Thu, Apr 25th 2013 1:20p Keith Brooks My latest post over at the Social Business Insights Blog has been published.
What is it that makes people read one of my blog posts? I write two
primary blogs and guest write on at least three others, but then people
say to me, “You have way too much time on your hands”—presumably because
they feel I am just sitting here writing these blog posts for eight
hours a day.
Sorry to disappoint you all but I only spend seven hours a day writing them. Kidding, just kidding. For mor [read] Keywords: connections
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Going to Impact2013? Here's My Schedule
Thu, Apr 25th 2013 9:50a Keith Brooks This will be my first time attending Impact2013 and I look forward to finding out all the great things that I have taken for granted at Lotusphere and Connect over the years and now see how it all translates to my Impact2013 experience.
There is so many sessions, but there are also so many more pieces of the puzzle at this conference. I think the app showed over 900 sessions. This page will get edited up until Sunday evening with any updates.
I will most likely be in the Social Playground [read] Keywords: ibm
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Google Hangout CRM Discussion Recording
Thu, Apr 18th 2013 9:30a Keith Brooks The IBM Midmarket Hangout I did around SugarCRM and CRM in general highlighted not just details from SugarCRM and Sugarcon but also customer adoption and marketing automation discussions.
The Google+ Hangout was recorded and here it is. [read] Keywords: ibm
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