Sylvie Spalmacin-Roma, Vice President, Smarter Cities, IBM Europe
By Sylvie Spalmacin-Roma
If you run over a pothole or perhaps a train is delayed on your morning commute, what do you do? It’s unlikely that you would pick up the phone to call the city to report it or attend a meeting on the topic being held by your local government. The more likely scenario is that you would take to social media to mention the location of the pothole or express your frustration with the delay.
Today’s citizens can be seen as engaged but in a very different manner. Twitter, Facebook and other social channels serve as a 24/7 town hall meeting for an increasing number of us digitally connected citizens. Social listening and analysis can be a valuable tool for cities.
People are passionate about their commute. Love it or hate it, we have much to say about it. The most recent IBM Social Sentiment Index looks at sentiment in traffic around several European cities in France, Netherlands, Spain and Germany. Continue Reading »
Wayne Balta, Vice President, Environmental Affairs and Product Safety, IBM
By Wayne Balta
IBM yesterday was recognized for its supply chain leadership by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The company was presented with a 2013 Climate Leadership Award in Washington, D.C. by the EPA, the Association of Climate Change Officers, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, and The Climate Registry.
The award cited IBM for our ambitious emissions reduction goals, and for being at the leading edge of setting requirements for suppliers to measure, disclose and reduce their operational greenhouse gas emissions..
IBM takes environmental leadership very seriously, because it’s essential to building a smarter planet. In the area of supply chain, the company is committed to doing business with environmentally responsible suppliers. Continue Reading »
Typhoon Sanba. Credit: NASA
Last September, when Typhoon Sanba smashed into the Korean peninsula, it packed winds so strong that they sent rocks flying through the air like missiles and caused massive power outages.
“Hwangsa” storms, carrying dense clouds of yellow dust from China’s Gobi Desert that are sometimes loaded with heavy metals and carcinogens, sweep across the peninsula from West to East.
Menaced by such destructive weather phenomena, South Korea is upgrading its national weather information system with the goal of understanding weather patterns better and predicting better the location and ferocity of weather events. The upgrade being installed by the Korean Meteorological Administration increases the agency’s data storage capacity by nearly 1000% to 9.3 petabytes, making it Korea’s most capable storage system. IBM provides the storage hardware and software. Continue Reading »
Ade Shannon, CEO, LabelSneak
By Ade Shannon
Interest in Big Data has reached new heights for many small companies as they attempt to capture information to glean insights from the ongoing conversations on social channels such as Facebook, twitter and consumer blogs.
Businesses large and small face the challenge of vying for consumers who look around and research extensively for the right deal before they buy. And when they do make a buying decision, they express their views and talk about it to everyone – instantly. They blog about it, they post reviews, they want to be heard, they want dialog. They also will loudly change brands and loyalties if crossed. In short, consumers are increasingly influencers, informed, expressive and networked shoppers who have evolved into “networks of intelligence” and a key voice for a brand. Continue Reading »
George Murray, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Sterling Jewelers Inc.
By George Murray
Today’s retail environment is witnessing the convergence of competition and innovation evidenced by the growing trend in “show-rooming.” Every company is looking for ways to make the consumer’s omni-channel shopping experience more convenient, and while the keys to achieving this are fairly universal the journey to integrating them in a relevant way is not.
At Sterling Jewelers, we launched ecommerce for our Kay® Jewelers and Jared® the Galleria of Jewelry brands as an additional means of meeting our customers’ evolving needs. Since the introduction of our online platform, we have worked to develop a true digital eco-system, which is focused on how a shopper experiences, interacts with and ultimately purchases our products. Continue Reading »
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Jeffrey Nichols, IBM Research Staff Member
By Richard Silberman, Writer/Researcher, IBM Communications
Jeffrey Nichols is putting a new twist on Twitter that could change the way businesses use social media to identify, engage and market to customers.
“What we actually see from Twitter is just the tip of the information iceberg,” said Nichols, who manages the social media and crowd research team at IBM Research in Almaden, Calif. “Below every tweet there’s a lot more information that people have that they’re not sharing.”
Determined to extract hidden information from social media, Nichols is developing strategies to ask questions directly of targeted strangers over Twitter. The crux of Nichols work is to move from the ubiquitous reactive approach to social media, where marketers follow and respond to what people are saying, to a proactive model where they can reach out to individuals to collect specific information. Continue Reading »
Robert LeBlanc, Senior Vice President, IBM Software Group
By Robert LeBlanc
The era of the mobile enterprise has officially arrived. Half of American workers are now using smart devices for work as well as personal usage. The use of those devices is now at a critical mass and its just the beginning.
Yet Gartner, a leading information technology research and advisory company, says few organizations plan and manage mobility with a truly strategic or proactive approach. They’re mostly reactive and tactical.
For enterprises, mobility shouldn’t be about the device. Instead, it needs to be about figuring out what an organization can do differently and better now that its employees and customers use mobile technologies so frequently at work and in their private lives, and access processes and data anywhere and anytime. (IBM today announced a new generation of mobile enterprise technologies that are based on this point of view.) Continue Reading »
Dr. Lora Ramunno, Canada Research Chair in Computational Nanophotonics and Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Ottawa
By Dr. Lora Ramunno
The study of the interaction between light and matter on the nanoscale (a nanometre is about one billionth of a metre) is revolutionizing many areas of science and technology. Powerful applications can be designed, for example, to capture real time images of live cells, tissues and biological processes or to help manufacture extremely small devices that can be used in diverse areas including telecommunications, computation and biotechnology.
These applications hold the potential to significantly improve early detection of disease or provide a better understanding of biological processes at a cellular level, as well as to identify hidden insights that can help companies move into newer and smarter manufacturing in the high technology market. Continue Reading »
Ethan McCarty, Director of Enterprise Social Strategy and Programs, IBM
By Ethan McCarty
The common view in the business world is that social media is simply a fun tool for checking in with friends and family – something that I, and millions of others, enjoy every day. However, this perception sells social media short and ultimately prevents many businesses from harnessing its true potential.
The fact is that the possibilities of social media go well beyond casual use of Facebook and Pinterest. Its power and influence extend beyond a simple tweet or a pin.
Social media is a force for organizational change and business value. A recent IBM survey found that more companies are tapping into the power of social business. Almost half of the companies surveyed increased their social business investments in 2012.
Companies with the foresight and know-how to apply it thoughtfully, and with rigor, will be the big winners. A great example is social media’s ability to spur the convergence of brand and culture. It encourages people to integrate their personal and professional personae in ways that lead to new and valuable ideas and work – for the individuals and their organizations. Continue Reading »
Anthony Marshall, Program Director, Global CEO Study, IBM
By Anthony Marshall
As organizations grow more interconnected, business – and business models – are changing. Every two years we ask CEOs and public sector leaders worldwide to share their views on the future. In 2012 we also refreshed the Global Student Study and surveyed members of the millennial generation who as future leaders, customers, and citizens, will be driving change for tomorrow and beyond.
The 2012 Global Student Study, “Connected Generation: Perspectives from tomorrow’s leaders in a digital world,” surveyed more than 3,400 college and university students worldwide to better understand their opinions, beliefs and aspirations. We asked students some of the same questions we posed to CEOs in IBM’s 2012 CEO study, Leading Through Connections. Continue Reading »
