What inspires IBM Fellows to build the future? In their own words:
Related:
The World Is Our Laboratory: IBM Research
Follow IBM Research on Twitter: @IBMResearch
Meet the Class of 2013: Eight new Fellows join a distinguished tradition of
excellence and innovation
IBM President Thomas J. Watson Sr placing trans-Atlantic call in 1927
The theme for May 2013 is ‘Emerging Trends’
When one thinks about emerging trends in business operations, it’s easy to forget that things that we take for granted today were once considered new and innovative. Traditionally, IBM has been an early adopter of any practice that would improve business efficiency.
For example, when AT&T inaugurated the first trans-Atlantic radiophone service between the United States and Europe on January 7th, 1927, IBM was one of the very first companies to place a call that day, relaying a message from our New York offices to our London operations.
In a letter to employees published in Business Machines, IBM’s primary internal publication, IBM President Thomas J. Watson Sr., wrote that this was “an unusual opportunity to be again among the pioneers in the utilization of a new and meritorious time-, labor- and money-saving device. Our appreciation of this new method of trans-Atlantic communication has two contributing causes—the fact that we always welcome, and are among the first to adopt, appliances which aid business, and the fact that our worldwide business in fifty-four different countries of the earth often demands a rapid exchange of messages.”
A focus on continuous improvement is not a modern trend – it’s an IBM cultural trait!
by Paul Lasewicz,
IBM Corporate Archivist
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IBM recently won a video-making contest by teaming with MOFILM, an organization that helps enable film-makers to create videos for big brands and social causes. Participants were charged with creating films that showcased the customer in context. Entries were voted on, via Twitter, by the audience at the Smarter Commerce Global Summit Nashville.
And the winner is…cookies! Check out the winning IBM video on how Smarter Commerce is working in the world. Here’s a hint: it’s all about the right approach:
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Related:
Conversations: Your Customer in Context
Smarter Commerce Global Summit
- Posted by Regan Kelly. Part of our May 2013 theme on emerging trends.
IBM has announced that Xiu.com, one of China’s leading online retailers of overseas luxury brands, grew its daily sales by 10 times using IBM software for Smarter Commerce to analyze Big Data, offering customers a personalized shopping experience and increased product selection. IBM customized a solution for Xiu.com that provides the online retailer a centralized, real-time view of customer and product data from across the company. With the new platform, Xiu.com can analyze data to provide its customers with customized interactions based on their habits and preferences.
“IBM Smarter Commerce technology helped Xiu.com drive unprecedented growth in our customer base as well as the diversity of products we offer the millions of shoppers we are now able to serve,” said Wei Wenqi, Vice President of Technology at Xiu.com.Xiu.com can now collect and analyze significant amounts of data that show how traffic is coming to Xiu.com, which referral sources bring the most profitable customers as well as insights around customer behaviors while shopping. Read more.
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Related:
IBM Unveils Breakthrough Software to Exploit Big Data (TheNation.com)
- Posted by Regan Kelly. Part of our May 2013 theme of emerging trends.
George Makovic
Need a statistical sherpa to help you navigate the mountains of Big Data? Though predictive analytics can be a daunting discipline, companies who have adopted Predictive Analytics can see higher profitability than their competitors, says George Makovic, Senior Development Manager, IBM Business Analytics.
In his guest post at Business Analytics Blog, learn what you need to know about useful statistical analysis and data mining. Read more.
And coming up: don’t miss the IBM Business Analytics Virtual Launch event June 11 and see how IBM’s new analytics solution will make big data more accessible and serve as a catalyst to propagate the use of advanced analytics throughout the enterprise.
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How has the rise of Big Data affected your business? Let us know in the Leave a Reply field – share your story!
- Posted by Regan Kelly. Part of our May 2013 theme of emerging trends.
Strategic sourcing decisions can have an impact on your financial results. And not only that, but the new IBM Center for Applied Insights (CAI) study also reveals shifts in partnering strategies.
Are YOU still outsourcing the way you did five years ago? Get the study here to learn more.
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Related:
Download the infographic (.PDF)
The IBM Center for Applied Insights
- Posted by Regan Kelly
Ready to make a difference? Then join the other exceptional women making a difference at IBM.
Are you looking for a new challenge with a progressive organization that values and rewards collaboration, innovation and creativity? If you’re ready to focus on today’s most exciting technologies — like Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud — then you can make a difference at IBM.
Today, women represent approximately 30 percent of IBM employees worldwide. And more than 22% of our global executive population is made up of women, two-thirds of whom are working mothers. Women have been contributing to the advancement of information technology for almost as long as the company has been in existence – are you ready to join them?
Why Work at IBM?
Ready to see what’s available and apply? See Job Opportunities for Women in Technology.
More:
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Check out these hot IBM jobs today!
- Posted by Regan Kelly and Julie Yamamoto
By now, you’ve probably seen the landmark IBM achievement that is “A Boy and His Atom” – the world’s smallest film – that was made by moving atoms with a Scanning Tunneling Microscope.
See the movie that holds the Guinness World Records™ record for the World’s Smallest Stop-Motion Film:
In this article from smartplanet.com, IBM Research Scientist Andreas Heinrich, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA, ties it all together by explaining what Big Data has to do with tiny atoms and the world’s tiniest film.
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Related:
Video: A Boy and His Atom: How It Was Made
Greater IBM, what did you think of this IBM Expertise article, part of our May series on emerging trends? Let us know in the Leave a Reply field below.
- Posted by Regan Kelly
City Forward, a free IBM-sponsored website that city leaders and the general public can use to compare and consolidate multiple data sources for cities around the world, has won the 2013 Corporate Social Responsibility “Webby Award” from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS).
Project manager Gina Cardosi
At Citizen IBM, Certified Project Manager Gina Cardosi (who worked on City Forward) writes about the genesis of the project, its use of open big data, and why City Forward is critical to this era of mobile computing, cloud computing, data analytics and the global socialization of information. Read more.
Related:
Watson will now be taking your calls: the IBM Jeopardy!-winning supercomputer is getting a job in customer service.
IBM has unveiled the IBM Watson Engagement Advisor, which uses cloud-delivered mobile and online chat technology to assist customers anytime and anywhere. (Jon Simon/Feature Photo Service for IBM)
The IBM Watson team is pleased to announce the IBM Watson Engagement Advisor, designed to revolutionize how companies and their customers interact with each other over the lifetime of their relationships.
The IBM Watson Engagement Advisor is a smart assistant whose services can be used in many industries, especially those that receive many customer service calls, including retailing, banking, insurance and telecommunications. It will help customer service agents and customers get the answers to their questions via an “Ask Watson” feature available through mobile devices, online chat sessions, email, and other means.
The Watson Engagement Advisor will be able to quickly address customers’ questions, offer advice to guide purchasing decisions, and troubleshoot problems. In other words, when you need customer service, you might soon be interacting with Watson.
Read more on this new era of computing.
More:
Video: Announcing the IBM Watson Engagement Advisor
.PDF: IBM Watson Engagement Advisor – Transforming the way people and organizations interact over the lifetime of their relationship
For more insights on this story, please visit the Smarter Planet Blog
Learn more about Smarter Commerce
Join the conversation about Watson by including the hashtag #ibmwatson
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- Posted by Regan Kelly
