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Rockteam will be heading to Orlando, FL on January 26 - 31 for IBM's premier conference on social business technology, IBM Connect 2013! I invite you to join the team and connect in real-time! Today is the last day to take advantage of the early bird pricing at $2,095.00 per person.  

Click here to access the registration page.

Today IBM leads the industry in delivering robust enterprise collaboration software that empowers people to connect, collaborate, and innovate while optimizing the way they work. Register for this one hour webinar to hear special guest speaker Ed Brill's unplugged perspective on why IBM is the industry leader for Collaboration Solutions today and why IBM will continue to be the industry leader in 2013 and beyond. Ed Brill is responsible for product portfolio management and strategy for IBM Collaboration Solutions including messaging, collaborative applications, productivity, and social communications. Audience This one hour webinar is aimed at decision makers responsible for Messaging & Collaboration, Unified Communications, Social software, Mobile software and Online Collaboration Services, line of business leaders, IT managers and analysts. Cost This webinar is offered free of charge. When: 12/18/2012, 12PM CST (1 Hour)

Date: Thursday, November 8, 2012  Time: 2:00 PM EST 

I'll be a panel speaker for IBM SmartCloud with North American SaaS Leader Ted Brufke and Lisa Lucadamo Jerrett, Offering Manager for SmartCloud for Social Business. Here's what we will be focusing on: 

A recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute found that “social technologies, when used within and across enterprises, have the potential to raise the productivity of the high skill knowledge workers that are critical to performance and growth in the 21st century by 20 to 25 percent.”1  Are you taking full advantage of the enterprise social cloud technologies available in today's marketplace to increase your company's productivity? Is your organization working smarter or harder?  In this webcast, you'll learn how to activate your workforce using enterprise social cloud collaboration tools to:

Improve productivity and unleash innovation by transcending traditional boundaries to connect employees, partners and customer regardless of time or location. 

Help individuals be their most effective in their work by bringing together talent and content at the right times and place to support better, faster solutions to business opportunities. 

Deploy the right combination of on-premises, cloud-based, and mobile capabilities to help your organization be successful.

1(The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies, McKinsey Global Institute, July 2012) 

We have failed yet another one.  On Tuesday, September 18th, 13-year-old Joshuah Delos Santos took his own life.  Martha Angelica Gonzales wrote this about her cousin,  Joshuah:

Imagine being 13 and thinking about ending your life because you are being bullied… No one to turn to because you feel like speaking out will fuel the fire.  So you hide from everyone and mask it with a smile because you don’t want to make it a big deal.  Then, the day comes where you can’t take anymore and have that moment’s courage to end all the pain and suffering inside of you.

That day came.  The morning of September 18, 2012, my cousin Joshuah Allen Delos Santos decided to end his life because he was being bullied.

Please have a heart and make a difference by raising awareness about Bullying before it’s too late.  Josh did now show signs of being bullied.  Dont wait for the next victim to end their life because of bullies.  Stand up.  Speak out!

Joshuah must have endured some intense bullying, and probably for quite a while, to be pushed to the point of ending his life.  Several things really stand out, for me at least, about this tragedy:

Once again, the authorities swept the bullying element right off the table and under the carpet:  ”…police have not been able to find any evidence to corroborate those claims.

“There’s nothing in our investigation at this point in time that he was bullied at all,” said Nanticoke police Chief Bill Shulz in a phone interview Wednesday.”  As is the case far too often, there seems to be a rush-to-judgement to take the bullying element out of the picture.

According to everything I’ve read, Joshuah dealt with this all on his own.  He kept it in.  No one knew what he was going through.  That is, until Tuesday.

I don’t know what it’s going to take to compel the authorities, from the school administrators to the law enforcement agencies, to stop running from the reality of the menace of bullying.  Far too often I’ve reported cases of teen suicides where everyone close to the situation acknowledged that bullying was the culprit only to have the school officials and law enforcement agency in place at the time completely dismiss it.  Many schools, including Joshuah’s, now have zero-tolerance bullying policies on the books.  Yet, when we lose another teenager to suicide, and everyone close to the victim screams to the top of their lungs BULLYING, the authorities tuck their tails and run, quick to release “official” statements that bullying wasn’t involved.  Like Bill Shulz did in this case.

Zero tolerance is the perfect answer, and it looks great on paper.  It’s sounds even better to be able to tell the parents at the beginning of the new school year that, “yes, we have a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy on bullying.”  But, what does that mean?  What good is “zero-tolerance” when kids are still being bullied to the point of wanting to end their lives?  ”Zero-tolerance” is a great policy.  It looks and sounds great; however, this is real life.  And, in the real world, words without action are meaningless.  ”Zero-tolerance” could’ve, and probably would’ve, saved Joshuah Delos Santos’ life had it been enforced rather than just in theory.

Like many young suicide victims before him, Joshuah kept all of the torment in.  His sister, Nicole, said:  ”He was really good at hiding his feelings”.  Part of the pain that his family and friends will have to cope with for a long time to come is the fact that no one knew of his inner struggles.  But, in order for anyone to know, it is imperative for youngsters everywhere to understand that it is completely okay, even expected!, for them to speak up and speak out.  This has to be instilled at a very early age.  Speak up.  And, don’t stop speaking up until someone hears you!  I’m 100% convinced that it works.  It may not work 100% of the time.  However, if it works only 85% of the time, imagine the dramatic drop in bully-related suicides.

We must create a culture in where young people, like Joshuah, know in their heart of hearts that they can speak up and out, and there will be someone, anyone!, who will indeed listen and try to help.  In the homes.  In the schools.  Everywhere.  It’s has to happen if we’re ever going to see this devastating trend begin to reverse.  Indeed, the policy in place where Joshuah went to school can be very good:

The Greater Nanticoke Area School District, where Joshuah attended eighth grade, has a “zero tolerance” bullying policy and an anonymous “bullying report form” on the district website.

They have to have the confidence that talking about it, speaking up, speaking out will make a difference.  Too many of them are afraid that speaking up will only make things worse.  And, that’s our fault as adults.   We, as a society, are failing these young people miserably.  These suicides are very much preventable.  It’s imperative that we stop shaking our collective head, complaining about how bad this has gotten (which it has), and start taking strong, positive action to make this go away.  It’s not going to go away on its own.  It’s not going to go away with concerted effort.

Joshuah, rest in peace.  You can’t be tormented now.  And, to the family and friends Joshua Allen Delos Santos, my heart goes out to you.

*********************TALKING IS VITAL!  IT CAN SAVE LIVES!*********************

Suicide Prevention Lifeline

The Trevor Project

Befrienders

Enough is Enough: the blog page

Stopbullies Dedicated to Josh

ARMONK, N.Y. - 18 Jun 2012: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that for the third consecutive year, IDC ranked IBM number one in worldwide market share for enterprise social software.  According to IDC's analysis of 2011 revenue, IBM grew faster than its competitors and nearly two times faster than the overall market which grew approximately 40 percent.*

The growing popularity of social networking continues to explode, with more and more organizations looking for ways to adopt social business practices to integrate global teams, drive innovation, increase productivity and better reach customers and partners. 

According to IDC, the enterprise social platforms market is expected to reach $4.5 billion by 2016, representing growth of 43 percent over the next four years.* 

While this demand is on the rise, organizations are still looking for ways to embrace social capabilities to transform virtually every part of their business operations, from marketing to research innovation and human resources, but lack the tools to gain insight into the enormous stream of information and use it in a meaningful way.

"Social software is gaining in momentum in the enterprise," says Michael Fauscette, group vice president for IDC's Software Business Solutions Group. "Companies are seeing significant gain in productivity and increasing value from successfully deployed social software solutions including supporting ad hoc work by bringing people, data, content, and systems together in real time and making more effective critical business decisions by providing the 'right information' in the work context."

Today, more than 35 percent of Fortune 100 companies have adopted IBM's social software offerings including eight of the top 10 retailers and banks. IBM's social business software and services is unique combining social networking capabilities with analytics to help companies capture information and insights into dialogues from employees and customers and create interactions that translate into real value.

IBM's social networking platform, IBM Connections, allows for instant collaboration with one simple click and the ability to build social communities both inside and outside the organization to increase customer loyalty and speed business results. IBM Connections is available both on premise and in the cloud.

In the past year, new IBM Connections clients include Lowe's Home Improvement, Electrolux, TD Bank, Newly Weds Foods, Russell's Convenience stores, Bayer Material Science, The Ottawa Hospital, Premier  Healthcare Alliance, Earthwatch, and the law offices of LaVan & Neidenberg.

"The opportunities for organizations to adopt social business processes to connect people and speed innovation is limitless," said Alistair Rennie, general manager, social business, IBM. "A successful social business can break down the barriers to collaboration and transform the next-generation workforce, from device to delivery vehicle of your choice, to improve productivity and speed decision making."

For more information, visit www.ibm.com/socialbusiness.

It's been awhile folks! 2012 has turned out to be a crazy busy year but one full of opportunities and most importantly, growth. Last Friday, I attended my 2nd annual Chic-Fil-A Leadercast event hosted by the very nice folks at the Laurel, Delaware Wesleyan Church. Once again, thought leaders from around the world gather to share their experiences, their insights, and strategies to become a better leader and decision maker.

A standout segment of yesterdays simulcast was around collaborative leadership and organizational dynamics. What is collaborative leadership? It's self-explanatory isn't it? Leadership defined by the dynamics and contributions of his or her team. Meaning, lets solve our problems with the best each of us has to offer within our skill-set and talent where we discuss, collaboratively, the best possible outcome. Great leaders surround themselves with great team members. Those team members create, collectively, the best possible solutions and innovations that allows those leaders to make the best and most informed decisions, again, for the best possible outcome.

What I took away from that segment was how collaborative leadership wasn't about the technology, platform, or application of principles but how it started with people, first, whether in a conference room, coffee shop, or a commute to the office or a client. The way teams interact then stream those solutions collaboratively and leverage what is available to them via collaborative or social technologies. These platforms of communications enable actions at a much greater pace never before seen in almost real-time, especially when we are all geographically dispersed.  Instant messaging or chat, twitter, facebook, linkedin, IBM Connections, Jive, SocialText... all platforms driven by a simple concept that starts with people first, technology second. 

It's compelling to think that the old ways of communicating found in the concepts of collaborative leadership ring true today. Take into consideration the *way* we collaborate can be at a much greater speed given the technologies that are available today whether that is via a technology *cloud* or as something as basic and assumed as email.

Very nice article in our local paper published last week.  Thanks, Cape Gazette!

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The RockTeam, a local business, supports its clients' leverage of social software and the latest technology to increase productivity and profitability. In recognition of this success, IBM has granted The RockTeam Premier Partner status.

Through the Premier Partner program, IBM recognizes top performers who not only maintain excellent customer relationships but also remain up-to-date on teaching, technical and product information skills. Attaining the Premier Partner designation with IBM reflects the RockTeam’s ongoing commitment to partnering with IBM and providing client value through innovative solutions. Fewer than 8 percent of all IBM business partners have qualified for this special recognition.

Upon being granted Premier Partnership, Carlos Casas, CEO and IBM champion, said, “Becoming an IBM Premier Business Partner sends a strong message to our clients and the business community that The RockTeam is committed to our company’s growth and to maintaining the legacy of excellence that we began more than 30 years ago as Lotus/Domino experts. By providing smart social business solutions, we and our customers can corner the edge that smart technology provides to the risk-takers and the established business community. We will continue to work hard to ensure that this partnership with IBM remains strong and relevant.”

A new blog entry is way overdue! Since Lotusphere, we've been incredibly busy with new opportunities to help organizations get engaged with Social Business. For our first quarter in 2012, we are seeing a pipeline of growth that is nearly double from a year ago.  Very exciting! As a result, we are excited to share our experiences with you at an exciting event happening tomorrow at the Virden Center in Lewes, Delaware co-sponsored by RockTeam, IBM, and the Delaware Social Media Network.  The topic --> Social Media 101.  Yep, it's that simple.  The focus of the event is to provide a venue for our local residents of Southern Delaware a place to learn and collaborate with one another in this new era of social computing. We have a distinguished lineup of guest speakers who will share experiences, successes, challenges, and ways to engage their customers, partners, friends, employees digitally.

For more information, please visit http://sodel101.eventbrite.com/

For those that are coming, please stop me and introduce yourself.  I would love to chat. Members of the RockTeam and IBM will also be on-hand to answer questions. Some quick to-do's while you're at the event tomorrow:

Bring your business cards and share! 

Don't be shy. Let your voice be heard and engage the speakers and our staff!

Please fill out your evaluations. This is essential in making sure we hit our mark for you!

No question is a dumb question. Ask any and all questions. You are coming tomorrow to learn and share your experiences

Question for you to answer after the event: What does Social Media mean to you and your business?

Lotusphere 2012 is 8 days away from this post and I'm really excited to reconnect with you, our customers, partners, and peers in the IBM ICS community.  I'm also very honored to be speaking at three sessions at Lotusphere this year. Additionally, I'm exciting to be joined by two RockTeam Consultants - Rob Kirkland and Doug Morrison.  If you see any of us during the conference, please stop us and introduce yourselves... we would love to meet and talk with you!  Here's a short summary of the exciting sessions that I will be presenting at Lotusphere.  I certainly hope you can attend and participate in these really exciting and engaging sessions!

BDD302 - Transforming into a Social Business Partner for Messaging and Collaboration Partners | Sunday - January 15 - 10:15am - 11:15am | SW 7-10 | Speakers: Carlos Casas, Dennis Shafto (IBM)

This session is targeted for classic IBM Lotus Notes and Domino Business Partners. Dennis and I will cover the ways to take advantage of the new Social Business opportunity that is in front of us.  I will present some key points around what has made us successful sellers in the Notes Domino pillar and how we can translate those skills into the larger Social Business market that our customers are starting to evaluate and move towards.  I'll also share a couple customer wins as well as the strategies we use at the RockTeam to really leverage our IBM partnership for maximum value.  

BP304 - The Way of the Social Dragon, 10 Key Strategies for Building a Thriving Social Community in Your Organization | Dolphin Hem III | Speakers: Kathy Mandelstein, Carlos Casas

You are rolling out a social pilot in your organization, but have you addressed the cultural change in how the people in your organization work? Building a strong community is critical to internal adoption and the success of your social project. In this session you will learn 10 key strategies to launching a successful social community within your organization. The presenters will focus on the whys, the hows, and the value of building a community to speed adoption, transforming the way people work socially and open up effective communication at all levels of the company. You will learn about the social engagement model from an IBM social evangelist and IBM Champion and their keys recommendations for community adoption with real life examples from IBM, Business Partners and Customers who are well along the social business journey. Finally, attendees will learn best practices concepts behind community management and social media as well as the tools that help you be more effective.

What will your audience learn? 

1. Social Software is a a growing trend that is quickly transforming the enterprise market. For success in any social initiative to drive business value, technologists and decision-makers alike need to address not only the technology enablers but the cultural transformation and key concepts to build a strong social community.

2. In this session, we will take a first hand look at some of the social capabilities in IBM Collaboration Solutions including IBM Connections, IBM Unified Communication and IBM Lotus Notes Domino that socially enable the community to work more effectively. 

3. Learn what has worked for successful social adoption in all sizes of companies and tips on enabling your own organization to make this major cultural shift in the way you work.

BOF123 - The Art of User Adoption: Cultivating Learning Experiences to Drive Adoption for ICS and Lotus Software | Swan Toucan 1 - Tuesday, January 17 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM | Facilitators: Carlos Casas, Rob Kirkland, and Doug Morrison of RockTeam