IBM Creating An Army Of Evangelists

Instead of IBM admitting that open source is what cost them those 13,000 layoffs, sounds like they're just going to try to ram it down our throats even harder.

Tech Ping Please? Seems this is something many would want know in advance.

"FEEL THE HEALING POWER OF OS/2! CAN I GET AN AMEN?"

Original article that this article references:

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May 13, 2005

Can blogging boost IBM's revenues and reduce layoffs? The computer giant is about to find out as it prepares to launch a massive corporate blog initiative

By Tom Foremski for SiliconValleyWatcher

Early next week IBM will introduce the largest ever corporate blogging initiative in a bid to encourage any of its 130,000 staff to become online evangelists for the company.

The move comes on the heels of IBM's most recent quarterly financial report, which missed Wall Street expectations and led to announced layoffs of 15,000, with more than 13,000 of those lost jobs in Europe. The company hopes blogging could help stem further losses if it can galvanize employees into an army of online evangelists for IBM's products and technologies.

Employees will taught what blogging is, and they will be guided on what is appropriate blogging content. IBM has also set up a wiki, a simple technology that allows groups to collaborate on projects and share knowledge. Wikis are not as sophisticated as IBM's Notes collaborative software, but they are making significant inroads within corporate departments where they sometimes displace the use of the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

The goal is to help improve IBM's competitive position in key IT markets by having more of its tech gurus participating in online communities and discussions.

This type of evangelism through blogging can be extremely effective and potentially reduce advertising and marketing costs—a very large line item for most companies. Such savings could offset job cuts—the traditional way IBM and other tech companies reduce their costs.

The IBM blogging project is being run by Jim Finn, the former chief of communications at Oracle, and now number two in the corporate communications team at IBM. "We've got a lot of experts in their fields and we want to encourage them to become involved in blogging and online discussions," Mr Finn told SiliconValleyWatcher.

Leading the IBM troops into the blogosphere will be IBM's chief strategist, Irving Wladawsky-Berger, who will begin writing a blog. He is credited with persuading IBM to become an early advocate for Linux, and to cultivate relationships with the open-source developer community. This resulted in a significant competitive advantage for IBM because it reduced software development costs, and it hurt Microsoft, it's largest competitor.

Mr Wladawsky-Berger will author a blog but Mr Finn says readers might find less on tech and more on baseball — an interest that relates to his Cuban heritage.

IBM's blogging initiative includes the publication of interviews with staff who are already bloggers and are well recognized within their online communities, such as Catherine Helzerman. She says it has been good for her career. "Blogging has provided me with recognition within the company, and outside," says Ms Helzerman.

She said that Robert Scoble, a leading blogger at competitor Microsoft, recently posted a link on his blog Scobleizer to her site, which boosted her readership.

May 13, 2005 05:26 AM

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Loss of employment in the software industry could have a little to do with overhead reductions in other industries. Open source is a mixed bag. But if blogging is their strategy, more layoffs are coming.

Does that mean IBM customers have to tithe?

Employees will be taught what blogging is, and they will be guided on what is appropriate blogging content.

It'll never work. IBM is no fun. You watch, they'll send a bunch of guys in here wearing white shirts and ties, saying things like, "Good day, Sir."

Phrases like "You're a commie!" and "Put down the crack pipe, butt-boy" that the Microsoft shills use will never make it into the IBM Style Manual. They are just too stuffed-shirt to do battle with online thugs.

Personally this is a good thing for IBM. For someone to be an effective 'blogger' one has to have 'freedom' to speak their mind out side of their employer about their employer. If IBM is to be successful in getting their high quantity of tech staffers to do this, who work for a company that is very supportive of open source, open standards and best of breed solutions (e.g. 'coop-etition' with Microsoft, Oracle, etc.), the 'blogger' can't be subject to editorial scrutiny by his employer.

There were already many IBM'ers in the "blog-isphere" and many of those, hearing IBM's interest in it, are raising a lot of the above valid concerns within IBM along with IBM's interest in encouraging more external voices for the company. This active dialogue within the tech circles of IBM is all that this report is really about, i.e. not really any news.

Overall this is a good thing for IBM, IBM stockholders, IT in general, and open architectures. I think it's simply a news 'notice' of IBM taking an active education step forward to expand on their employee's already present activities in this area, as well as encouraging more to do same. Other tech companies probably are far ahead in this area, others will follow.

One 'sample'IBM employee blogger (Ed Brill) [blog]

"IBM Creating An Army Of Evangelists"

So, IBM wants all of it's employees to go home in the evening and spend a few hours online in an unpaid evangelization session for the company.

If the employees want to donate a few hours per day to their employer, I guess that it's their choice.

"Instead of IBM admitting that open source is what cost them those 13,000 layoffs, sounds like they're just going to try to ram it down our throats even harder."

Poor management and bureaucracy is what caused the layoffs. I spend half my time trying to answer requests from people whose only job is to dream up more forms or surveys for me to fill out. The other half of the time is filled with meetings where we talk about what the people who don't do any work want the people who do the work to do. I do the actual work on my own time.

I don't know Nick, I (and others here) that work for this big stuffed shirt company have been chasing commies for years!! And if you show me some 'butt boy' with a 'crack pipe' in his mouth, I will be just as vocal!! ;-)

<== Old IBM New ==>

What a bunch of morons. This was the subject of a Business Week cover story in which the writer urged companies to used blogs to their advantage.

When management reduced itself to whatever is trendy in this press, you know they are desperate.

BTW: IBM = I've Been Moved (out of a job).

Apple STILL S-cks!

"It'll never work. IBM is no fun. You watch, they'll send a bunch of guys in here wearing white shirts and ties, saying things like, "Good day, Sir."

Your concept of IBM employees is about twenty years out of date. The only time I've worn a suit is at my employment interview in 99'. The rule here in Boulder is business casual but everyone ignores it. We're talking seriously casual. Of course these are Uber-Nerds and are allowed a certain amount of latitude.

FEEL THE HEALING POWER OF OS/2! CAN I GET AN AMEN?

LOL, If I only had the talent to dream up something that funny.

But if blogging is their strategy, more layoffs are coming.

Probably not right away, that would be too big a hit to a stock that's already had a ~30% dive. Apparently they are too far down the open source path to turn back now, and are going to hit the afterburners instead. We could be seeing Linux ads at the Superbowl again, minus the lost-looking little boy. IBM is on the ropes and is going to come out swinging.

They can't do it with P.R. and advertising.

Ping. A few other IBM employees on the thread. You might want to pass this one along to hubby.

The goal is to help improve IBM's competitive position in key IT markets by having more of its tech gurus participating in online communities and discussions.

That might make Linux fanatics and advertisers happy, but I don't see how that will change the behavior of their customers. I kind of hope it wouldn't. Microsoft/Intel may have benefitted from big ad campaigns in the past, but that was only because what they were selling was the market (powerful consumer-level pc's and somewhat useful software) itself.

It'll never work. IBM is no fun. You watch, they'll send a bunch of guys in here wearing white shirts and ties, saying things like, "Good day, Sir."

IBM knows it needs to repair it's reputation, and downplay its association with the rabid free software guys, and will obviously send out their most cordial tech writers to spin their controversial message into the most positive light.

But most people aren't buying it these days, Apple and Dell are on the upswing and IBM and Red Hat dropping like a rock. While these fresh faces they'll surely be promoting may get them some airtime, not everyone is convinced this move from top-of-the-line hardware into pie-in-the-sky support is a good one for IBM. They can continue to preach that message all they want, but it is that very message that is leading to their downfall.