Oliver Siodmak's Rants & Raves

This quick video summarizes all the reasons why I believe we all need to speak up against PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).

As I said in a Twitter post earlier this morning, I believe companies and individuals have the right to protect their intellectual property. We just need to find a way to do it without interfering with the basic foundations of the Internet, and my individual rights to access information.

Please watch the video and voice your support!

According to IBM … “It’s no longer a BtoB or BtoC relationship. It’s PtoP”

via IBM – Social business overview.

Once considered a lagger when it comes to providing enterprise ready tools and services, IBM is now one of several leading consulting services firms who are looking to rapidly get in front of the Social Media curve. As with their push in the Business Process Management (BPM) space over the past two years, they are quickly providing offerings; combination of services, software, tools and assets, designed to help an organization operationalize their use of social media.

IBM joins companies like Infosys who have been providing comprehensive solutions for engaging with consumers, influence their purchase decisions and provide post-purchase assistance online. While the marketing organizations with many companies are looking for ways to harness the power of social media to improve their brand online, product and sales teams are looking for more effective ways to deepen engagement with customers to both foster innovation as well as monetize the interaction. To do this effectively the platform must have the ability to spans multiple channels and provides a seamless experience across web browsers, mobile devices and tablets.

Customer will soon realize however that an application or SaaS solution that provides a series of API’s to Twitter, Facebook and the growing number of social networks is not sufficient. To effectively implement a comprehensive social media strategy, an company must also address the organization impacts these tools will have on existing business processes and operating procedures. Communication to customers which was once limited to only a small group within the organization is now in the hands of a larger number of employees. Business must come to grips with the reality that hundreds of employees will have the ability to engage with customers through these platforms. Education programs and clear editorial guidelines will need to be established to ensure “the right” message is maintained across the organization. Additionally, social media like most online transactions happen 24 hours a day,7 days a week. The traditional, “we’ll get back to you in 48 hours” is a recipe for failure for a business looking to conduct a larger portion of their business via online channels.

It will be interesting to see how IBM and others address this challenge over the next 2 years.

To Steve Jobs,

Of the millions of people in the world who in some way have touched me – you will alway be someone whom without you ever knowing it has had a tremendous positive impact on my life and my career.  Through your vision, drive and unwillingness to compromise you have inspired me.  Through the products you developed at Apple you showed me that it is OK to lead instead of follow. To think differently and to want more from yourself and those around you.  You demonstrated through your example that if you believe in what you are doing and continue to encourage yourself and others to keep trying, you can accomplish great things!  I will always look upon your contribution to the human race and raw strength from your example.

Thank you Steve for being an inspiration to us all.

Sincerely,

Oliver Siodmak

I don’t usually expect companies to response when I post a comment about their service on Twitter, Facebook or other social networking site.  Hell, I often can’t get a company to respond when I post a message to them directly on their Customer Service web pages or email addresses.  Hertz how ever does a good job of monitoring Twitter and addressing comments (both positive and negative).

In the past when I have had problems with a vehicle they have directed me to the right support option and when I post positive comments (like above) they say thank you.  I respect an organization that makes an effort to “hear” what their customers are saying.

That helps build customer loyalty.

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I am happy to announce that Apple has just approved the latest update to the Fox Sports Mobile app.  This is the 3rd App release IBM has delivered for FOX.  It includes:

• Performance enhancements: 3x speed improvements over WiFi & 3G from the previous release
• Soccer: News, Scores & Schedules (by League), Video, & Standings
• MMA/Boxing: News & Video
• Motorsports: News (F1 & IRL)
• Nascar: Leaderboard, Race Details, (including Lineup, Live Race, Track info), Schedule, Drivers Index, The Chase
• Article sharing via Facebook
• Manual refresh button for news and scores
• Over 50 bug fixes

The IBM and FOX teams worked very closely together to significantly improve the app’s performance.  Additionally we have provided additional visual queues to notify the user when the app was unable to download content updates from FoxSports.com.

In addition to performance enhancements and bug fix we now have (say it with me) SOCCER!  That’s right — we now have News, Scores, Schedules, Video & Standings content for SOCCER.  Motor and Nascar fans will also be happy to learn that their content also available in this release.

A special thank you goes out to my development team: Greg Crisp and Mike Jones for their continued hard work and dedication to the project!

As always, I would encourage all of you to download the app and post your comments and rating in the App Store.  The more reviews we receive the better.  Also — please share the App link (http://itunes.com/foxsportsapp) with as many family, friends and colleagues as you know.

The release should be available for you to update on your iPhone or iPad before EOD today.