In addition to the “Get Social. Do Business” message from Lotusphere, one of the main areas of focus was the new IBM Collaboration Solutions family. The focus of the demos and the new terminology has changed the debate to be less about products and platforms and more about providing solutions to business issues. The demos were not demonstrating what’s new in Lotus Domino or Connections or Portal or Cognos, but how the IBM Collaboration Solutions portfolio solved real problems. Effectively this was the next step on the road from the Project Vulcan vision, which from a UI standpoint aimed to create a consistent user experience and blur the boundaries between where one product ended and another began. The positioning seems to be more about how can the IBM Collaboration Solutions portfolio solve business issues rather than marketing individual product brands that appeals to C-level IT specialists. Considering the negative connotations of the Lotus Notes name, that seems a sensible approach for its future, to concentrate less on technology and more on business issues. It also appears to side-step the debate of Lotus Domino vs Websphere Portal. Again, that is no bad thing.
In the months leading up to Lotusphere another buzz-phrase was gaining vogue – Exceptional Web Experience. However, rather than being inclusive, like IBM Collaboration Solutions, the term appeared to be exclusive to Websphere Portal. It was a term which did not include any technological or platform identifier, but the use of the term was becoming intrinsically linked with Websphere Portal, not the Lotus side of the IBM Collaboration Solutions family. Lotusphere seemed to ease my concerns somewhat, as Exceptional Web Experience and Exceptional Work Experience seemed to be used platform-agnostically.
But then last week I saw a call for abstracts for an Exceptional Web Experience conference. Products were named, but no Lotus products. It seems the message to the public is that not all of the IBM Collaboration Solutions family can provide Exceptional Web Experience. But those of us who used the lsonline private site heard a different message. So which is the message IBM wants the non-technology savvy public to hear? I would hope and I am sure it is the latter, that all of the IBM Collaboration Solutions family can provide an Exceptional Web Experience. If implemented properly, I firmly believe that is the case. But is that message being broadcast clearly by all involved? In the hands of the unscrupulous, the terminology could be used to mislead business individuals on technology decisions. And by using non-techy terminology the audience is clearly those individuals who are more likely to require technological advice.
I hope that my view is incorrectly coloured by the perception that Lotus Domino is the runt of the litter, that IBM Wepshere Portal is the prodigal son who receives all the favour from its parents. It’s a perception that I would hope has been exaggerated among the Yellowverse in comparison to the reality. But while such emotive terms as Exceptional Web Experience are proudly trumpeted in the same breath as an exclusive product set of the IBM COllaboration Solutions family, I fear it is a perception that will continue and may expand beyond the Yellowverse into public consciousness.
