News

Latest news from the Let’sConnect user group

19/052014

Sponsor Highlight: SugarCRM

News prague, soccnx, socialconnections, sponsors, sugarcrm by Wannes Rams

During the lead up to the Social Connections VI event in Prague in June, the team will be highlighting each of our valued sponsors in turn. We are delighted to have their support – without it we really couldn’t deliver this event and offer the completely no-fee attendance that we do.

Announcing a new sponsor for Social Connections VI. Our Budweiser level sponsor and sponsor of the speakers & sponsors reception: SugarCRM

SugarCRM enables businesses to create extraordinary customer relationships with the most innovative and affordable CRM solution in the market. Recognized by leading market analysts as a “visionary” company, Sugar is deployed by over 1.5 M individuals in 120 countries and 26 languages.

Sugar is positioned to fully unleash the promise of CRM with an innovative CRM system designed for every individual who engages with customers: sellers, marketers, customer support agents, receptionists, and executives. The company is delivering a completely transformed, individualized CRM user experience that is immersive, engaging, and intuitive. Sugar fuses the straightforward simplicity, mobility, and social aspects of a consumer app with the business process optimization of conventional CRM.

As IBM Global Alliance partner SugarCRM provides an integration in different IBM solutions like Collaboration, Cross Channel Marketing Optimization, Notes. By bringing together world-class computing platforms, software and services from IBM and SugarCRM, organizations in any industry are able to replace inflexible, closed, legacy CRM systems with a modern, open solution.

Visit SugarCRM’s website: www.sugarcrm.com

16/052014

Win a complementary place at Luis Suarez’s masterclass!

News competition, masterclass, soccnx by Wannes Rams

Luis Suarez will be delivering a full day masterclass, ‘From Adoption to Adaptation, From Enablement into Engagement’, on Wednesday, 18th of June! This workshop will be held the day after Social Connections VI at the same venue, the Hotel Ambassador in Prague.

This will be a really exciting day for all those whom chose to attend and I know Luis is really looking forward to it. Be sure and check out the event page for full details or if you want, just go ahead and register directly.

Now…to some exciting news about the masterclass. As we’ve done in the past, we are pleased to announce that we will be holding a raffle for the workshop! We will be raffling away the following for three lucky winners:

FREE attendance to the class [1 winner]
50% off attendance to the class [2 winners]

To enter, simply head over to Twitter and compose your best tweet explaining what you would hope to learn from attending the masterclass. And be sure to use the hashtag #soccnxMC in your tweet to be entered in the raffle. We will randomly select winners on June 1st, 2014! Enter as many times as you wish and good luck!

15/052014

Sponsor Highlight: Belsoft

News belsoft, prague, soccnx, socialconnections, sponsors by Wannes Rams

Announcing another returning sponsor for Social Connections VI. This event they return as a silver sponsor: Belsoft

Belsoft is an independent, innovative solution provider with more than 15 years experience in developing and implementing complex customized solutions for SMB and large-scale enterprises. The IBM Premier partner is headquartered in Zurich.

Software and Engineering from a Single Source:

We are continuosly increasing our know-how and successfully completed many projects mainly revolving around the topics of

Collaboration
Software Development
Infrastructure Solutions
Mobile Solutions
Education

We are happy to share our Know-how

Collaboration and sharing of information are part of our daily business. As frequent speakers at user group events, international conferences or Belsoft events, our specialists regularly share their know-how. Contact us at our sponsoring booth at the conference, we are looking forward to seeing you.

Visit Belsoft’s website: German / English
Follow us on Twitter and Slideshare

12/052014

Sponsor Highlight: Ephox

News ephox, prague, soccnx, socialconnections, sponsors by Wannes Rams

We are excited to announce yet another return sponsor for Social Connections, this event a gold sponsor: Ephox

Ephox is the global leader in content authoring and analytics, whose products and services are used by millions of developers from around the globe.

For years Ephox and IBM have collaborated to help enhance the content authoring experience. The Ephox editor, EditLive!, provides clients additional functionality and improves the functionality of the editor within IBM solutions such as Web Content Manager and Connections, making it simple for end users to create interesting, timely, accurate and compelling content consistently.

Earlier this year IBM expanded their license with Ephox to give IBM Connections and WCM users access to the enterprise-edition functionality of EditLive!, including clean copy and paste, image editing, track changes and more.

Recently, EditLive! has been made available for the XPages environment. A simple to deploy implementation of EditLive! not only brings significant benefits to those trying to modernize their Domino environment, but also offers a consistent user editing environment across IBM solutions.

To learn more about EditLive! for XPages, visit the Ephox website: www.ephox.com

05/052014

‘Pardon the Interruption’ at Social Connections VI

News prague, soccnx, socialconnections by Wannes Rams

Back by popular demand for the second time at Social Connections, the best borrowed session idea from IBM Connect: Pardon the Interruption (PTI): A fast paced Social Business panel discussion.

In this session, I (Brian O’Neill, an IBM Customer) will be joined on stage by an IBMer, one of the product managers of IBM Connections, (Luis Benitez) and an independent social business trusted advisor (Luis Suarez). We will have a lively, fast paced discussion on 12 to 14 IBM Connections and Social Business topics. We’ll have 3 minutes for each topic with 60 seconds for each one of us to answer. The very astute Stuart McIntyre will be our MC for the discussion, keep us in line and surely buzz us loudly if we go beyond our 60 seconds!

And the very best part of this session? The topics are set by YOU! Yes…that’s right, we will pick the topics based on what you submit via Twitter. To submit topics/ideas for us to discuss, tweet them using the #soccnxPTI hashtag. We’ll be monitoring this tag up to the week before the conference!

Who thinks they can come up with the toughest IBM Connections or Social Business questions…?

Submit your topics and join us on Tuesday afternoon, June 17th, at 3:55PM

30/042014

Sponsor Highlight: OnTime® (by IntraVision)

News ontime, prague, soccnx, socialconnections, sponsors by Wannes Rams

We are excited to announce another return sponsor for Social Connections, this event a silver sponsor: OnTime® (by IntraVision)

OnTime® Group Calendar for IBM Connections

At OnTime® we have always been focused on delivering the number 1 group calendaring solution to our clients, no matter where or in which context they work. Therefore it was obvious for us to introduce “Real Calendaring” into IBM’s social platform – IBM Connections.

OnTime® Group Calendar for IBM Connections joins the circle of full social coordination

Coordinate and schedule your meetings directly from IBM Connections.
Full group calendar functionality supporting dynamic project groups in IBM Connections Communities.
Search and find available help right now directly from your IBM Connections Communities.
Easy access to availability of colleagues from IBM Connections profiles.
Real Time information… everywhere.

And OnTime Group Calendar does so much more…

Supporting full coordination on Notes and Web.
Supporting full coordination while you are on the road.
Integrate all calendar data with your External Calendar solutions, for example your CRM system.
Bring different mail platforms together. Now both users in the cloud and on premise, from both IBM and Microsoft, can get the full overview and benefits.

Does this sound interesting?

We are social people, so come talk with us at the OnTime booth during the conference.

Can’t wait?

Try it online

Web interface – demo.ontimesuite.com/web
Mobile solution – demo.ontimesuite.com/mobile
Connections integration – showtime.ontimesuite.com

29/042014

Sponsor Highlight: oXy Online

News oxyonline, prague, soccnx, socialconnections, sponsors by Wannes Rams

We are proud to announce yet another new sponsor for Social Connections with a Bronze level sponsorship: oXy Online

oXy Online s.r.o. – Company Profile

oXy Online is a Czech company, which provides complex services in the area of e-commerce and company’s information technology systems. It entered the market in 2001.
It concentrates primarily on medium enterprises and corporations, which within the Czech Republic and most European countries cover basically all companies.
Outside of the commercial sphere oXy Online uses the Social Business concept and team cooperation also in the military environment and public administration.

From the Technology to Practical Usage of the Tools and the Concept

What is the oXy Online’s approach towards Social Business concept? The company is interested in the way the organization works from the point of view of their formal and most importantly informal processes. Not the technology, but the business needs are put into the centre of attention. The product itself and its installation aren’t by far as important as the methodology of its utilization and long-lasting concept of company development. oXy Online share their experiences and remarks on website www.socialweb.cz.

Social Business in Different than Multinational Companies

A lot of attention has been paid to the ways of implementing the Social Business concept in multinational companies. Many presentations, materials and case studies have been made on this topic. On the other hand possibilities, opportunities, contributions and ways of the implementation are often omitted by medium enterprises and national corporations, even though they account for 80% of all companies in the European market.
This gap is going to be filled by Michal Holoubek and Jan Valdman on July 17, 2014 at 11.55am – 12.25pm with a presentation on “IBM Connections in Small or Medium Enterprise? Sure!”

Visit oXy Online’s website: http://www.socialweb.cz/

28/042014

Sponsor Highlight: TIMETOACT Group

News prague, soccnx, socialconnections, sponsors, timetoact by Wannes Rams

We are excited to announce a returning gold-level sponsor for Social Connections who has sponsored several of our events: TIMETOACT GROUP

TIMETOACT GROUP & IBM Connections

We love IBM Connections and its potential for social business. As a full service partner TIMETOACT GROUP walks the social walk with our customers. During the whole time we help and assist our customers to find the best seeds, the most promising acres, efficient farmers and high quality fertilizer within their enterprise.

There is no question in our mind about the worth of the fruits of Social Business. But depending on the foundation and the maintenance there are significant differences in growth and quality of the harvest. Let us help you with our expertise and our simple to use extensions for IBM Connections to get the best out of your installment.

Web Content Management Extension (XCC) for IBM Connections
IBM Connections works perfectly for cases of personal and casual exchange of information and ideas. For the realization of a classic intranet homepage it is missing formal web content management functions as e.g. a conventional navigation and controllable news. With our easy to use custom homepage you can combine formal and casual information in one application and thereby take one big step into the direction of one social platform for your employees. Watch the following video and learn how to manage internal communications. (More information about XCC)

Connections Administration Toolkit (CAT)
Simplify the administration of IBM Connections with this easy to install and easy to use web interface tool. Complex multilevel administration commands can be done with just a single click, even by administrators without WebSphere background. Easily accelerate and automate administrative tasks and enhance the maintenance tasks for IBM Connections. Benefit from extremely lowered effort for training and maintenance. (More information about CAT)

About TIMETOACT GROUP

TIMETOACT GROUP provides professional services for IBM software and open standards. The group includes the companies edcom, BLUETRADE, CLOUDPILOTS, novaCapta, NOWSHARE, TIMETOACT and X-INTEGRATE. With more than 170 employees, TIMETOACT GROUP is one of the largest IBM Software Services providers in DACH. TIMETOACT GROUP is located in several locations in Germany and Switzerland.

Or visit our website: http://www.timetoact.de

16/042014

Sponsor Highlight: DNS a.s.

News prague, soccnx, sponsors by Wannes Rams

We are excited to announce a new gold-level sponsor for Social Connections: DNS a.s.

DNS is a value-added distributor (VAD) of IT technologies based in Prague, Czech Republic. DNS works with more than 30 global vendors however the distribution of IBM software and hardware products makes a significant portion of company turnover. DNS helps local resellers to be more successful in their business operations by various business development activities by providing sales, marketing and technical support, consultancy and advisory.

DNS is a big fan of IBM Collaboration Solutions and social business. It is a long-time sponsor of Czech Lotus user group called SUTOL (www.sutol.cz) and organizes various events, such as the annual “Get Social” conference (www.getsocial.cz @getsocial_cz). Last year DNS launched – perhaps as the first VAD – its social extranet (betterway.dns.cz) which is built with IBM Connections.

Besides, the only IBM champion for collaboration solutions in the country, Jan Valdman (@jan_valdman), works at DNS. Leveraging his skills and expertise DNS is successful enough to enable new resellers for IBM connections, help them with their first projects. Jan also partially works with end customer where he is engaged in several adoption projects.

If you consider to learn more about IBM Connections or even become a reseller, solution provider or managed services provider of the IBM social business platform, then DNS is the best place to start.

15/042014

TagItOn… Luis Suarez masterclass – ‘From Adoption to Adaptation, From Enablement into Engagement’

News adaptation, adoption, elsua, event, ibmcnx, masterclass, prague, soccnx, socialconnections by Wannes Rams

As many of you will be aware by now, Social Connections VI takes place on 16th/17th June in the beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic. The team have just announced the agenda and speakers for the event, and have been highlighting a number of our sponsors over the past couple of weeks. It is shaping up to be an ‘exceptional social experience’! 🙂

We know that many attendees, speakers and sponsors will be travelling from a distance to attend the event (we already have registrations from Russia, USA, the Gambia, Indonesia and Australia), and thus we want to deliver the most bang for their bucks (or perhaps Krug for their Koruna?)!

Therefore, once again, Social Connections has an option for an additional day’s content at this event. We call this ‘Tag It On‘ and this time we are thrilled to offer a true masterclass by one of the worldwide experts in Collaboration and Social Business, Luis Suarez!

Luis will be delivering a full-day workshop on Wednesday, 18th June at the same venue as Social Connections VI, the Hotel Ambassador in Prague.

“From Adoption to Adaptation, from Enablement into Engagement”

What if instead of “driving” adoption within your organisation, you could inspire and facilitate adaptation instead? What if you would have the means to re-define a new way of working with your fellow colleagues and peers through that very same adaptation to become a successful Socially Integrated Enterprise? What if that methodology, good practices, extensive expertise and know-how would all be at your fingertips, so you could apply it right away? What if you knew the nuts and bolts of getting your management and senior leadership teams all involved right from the start to help facilitate the final social business transformation you have always been looking for? Are you ready?

Come and join us on this one day masterclass to find out and learn how you can get the most out of your IBM Connections deployment to begin, or continue, that transformation journey into becoming a successful Social Business.

With a maximum capacity of 25, this session is going to be really focused, packed with value and offer tremendous opportunities to learn from both Luis and the other attendees’ experience.

Whether you are just getting started with your Social Business Adaptation Journey, or whether you are already a very well seasoned 2.0 knowledge worker, this workshop will provide you an opportunity to learn with other fellow practitioners through plenty of practical, hands-on advice, good practices, lots of hints and tips and, most importantly, all of the necessary knowledge resources available to date. It will help you as well to even break free from the email yoke: Outside of the Inbox

The early bird rate is just €349 (or €279 for non-profit and academic users) – this rate ends on 30th April so if you want to attend, now’s the time to register!

(If you’d prefer to pay by bank transfer or need a VAT invoice, please contact us directly.)

This is a real opportunity that is not to be missed. Since Luis left IBM just a few short months ago, this is the first time he has been able to share the breadth of his experience and knowledge to a wider audience. Book this Tag It On workshop alongside your free attendance at Social Connections VI and get the very best value from your travel.

We can’t wait to see you there!