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UKLUG and the future of the Lotus Brand
June 2011
Time Technology have been one of the regular sponsors of UKLUG and ILUG for a number of years and this year was no different as we setup our stand at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. We were showing the market leading web based document and process management solution, DOCOVA, which as always, proved a popular point of interest for attendees.
However, right from the opening session, it was apparent that things have changed at IBM with respect to the Lotus brand. IBM’s Ted Stanton stood up to kick the session off and almost didn’t mention the Lotus word. Twitter was alive with grumbling as attendees moaned about the lack of demos and a constant reference to Sharepoint. Whereas previous UKLUG’s opening sessions have been demo heavy with lots of news about up and coming Lotus enhancements and products, this session was pointedly different . Social, Social, Social was the message and then when asked about the Lotus brand, we were told that IBM were undergoing a rebranding exercise to bring all software brands under the one name.
Anyone working with the IBM Lotus team, will have noted that the Lotus brand has disappeared from their e-mail signatures, replaced by various forms of “IBM Collaboration Solutions”. IBM’s annual Lotusphere Comes to You (LCTY) events were re-branded to “Get Social” and Business Partners were not invited to have stands.
So, changes are afoot in the world of Lotus. We can cuss and moan about the way in which the Lotus product set has been kicked around within IBM, but that will not change the reality. Notes/Domino is still a fantastic platform for Mail and Collaborative Applications. Many businesses have invested in this platform, and have no intention of abandoning the investment, particularly at a time when the advent of the Cloud is likely to change the landscape over the next 5 years.
As a dedicated Lotus Business Partner, obviously we are disappointed with the way in which Notes/Domino has been eroded in the market place, but fundamentally, we welcome this change of approach by IBM. For a number of years now, IBM have struggled to know how to handle the go-to-market approach for their Collaboration products (Connections, Quickr, Sametime etc) when dumped in the same brand as Notes/Domino. We are now starting to see a clear separation. Whether IBM keep the Lotus brand or not, Time Technology will certainly not be dropping it. For Notes/Domino houses, it will always be known as Lotus and we intend to insure that these businesses have access to the skills they need to run their business on this great platform in the years to come.
As for future UKLUG/ILUG events, it’s very clear that IBM will be relying increasingly on Business Partners to provide forums for the traditional Lotus community. Time Technology will remain a strong supporter of such initiatives.
Watch this space!
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Call us on 01483 863000
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