RE: [Interlug] Re: iSeries marketing request at Common Lug Luncheon (fwd) -- MIDRANGE-L

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Gerald Kern wrote:
>Yeah - what he (EMG) said...
>
>Once again IBM'rs, I repeat, unless the marketing is visible, nothing will
>change. We need to see iSeries ads every Monday morning in the WSJ, and
>every week in Computerworld. It's that simple. We don't need to follow the
>iSeries Nation website - we're already believers, and the public doesn't
>even know that website exists so unless you lead them to become inquisitive
>you are again, as stated, preaching to the choir and ignoring your target
>audience.
>
>Regards, Jerry Kern
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: interlug-admin@midrange.com [mailto:interlug-admin@midrange.com]On
>Behalf Of EMG Associates
>Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2001 9:17 PM
>To: interlug@midrange.com
>Subject: Re: [Interlug] Re: iSeries marketing request at Common Lug
>Luncheon (fwd)
>
>
>     For some time, I have been following the discussion thread regarding
>LUG's, Common, the iSeries and the iSeries Nation.  I feel the need to jump
>in from the sidelines.
>
>     I have been involved with IBM computers for more years than I can count.
>I used S/32, S/34, S/38 and AS/400's for years.  The product line changed,
>my skill set changed along with the entire computer industry.  However, in
>all that time I never doubted my ability to earn a living in the IBM
>midrange arena.
>
>     That is not the current case.
>
>     At the present time, I help clients identify software solutions that
>usually are replacing existing legacy systems.    Clients are migrating from
>their AS/400s.  Clients and potential clients won't even discuss the
>iSeries.  We have all heard the stories about the perception that the
>iSeries has.  Let me tell you,   It's true.  I can present 3 - 4 potential
>application software solutions to a client.  In the last two years, I have
>been able to get only 1client to consider the AS/400 platform. In that case
>it was an upgrade from JDE World to One World.  The preferred option has
>generally been to identify an application that runs on Oracle, in either an
>NT or Sun environment.
>
>     The people I deal with are not the cutting edge, hot-shot programmers.
>I deal with non technical corporate management and business line management.
>These non-technical executives read the Wall Street Journal ads. They read
>about scalability from the PC level to the large server.  It is Sun that
>they are reading about, not IBM.
>
>     Is there anything out there that is going for us, that gives me hope?
>NO
>
>     It surely is not the iSeries Nation.  In polite terms, it is preaching
>to the choir.
>
>     Do we have aggressive hard hitting IBM marketing of the operating system
>we all know and love?
>     Do we have case studies, in major non-technical advertisements that show
>the iSeries strengths in comparison to other product lines?
>     The answers are NO. Not now and probably never in the future.
>
>     I always fall back to a simple question.  Why?  If I saw a bureaucrat
>marketing like IBM, I would ask if it was incompetence or stupidity that was
>being displayed.  I then would ponder which would be worse.
>
>     I have too much respect for IBM to think that either of these answers
>fit.  Maybe the answer is that IBM is achieving the results it desires and
>anticipates.  This conclusion may be hard for some of us to accept.
>However, if you start from the premise that IBM is first and foremost a
>profit making business this premise is easily accepted.  In the last decade,
>even with its ups and downs, IBM has survived and grown.
>
>     Need more be said.
>
>
>Mark Grimley
>Board Member WAM
>
>
>
>
>
>  Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2001 09:03:18 -0600
> > From: Anne Lucas <alucas@us.ibm.com>
> > Reply-To: interlug@midrange.com
> > To: Gerald Kern <gkern@buckeye-express.com>, interlug@midrange.com
> > Subject: [Interlug] Re: iSeries marketing request at Common Lug Luncheon
> >
> > Jerry, thanks for your note..... the one thing I really love about this
> > community is this great passion for the AS/400 and iSeries!  I understand
> > we're the only product line in the industry with this type of customer
> > passion..... hmmmmm.    Keep an eye on our iSeries Nation site .. .it's
> > changing daily!
> >                http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries
> >
> > Here are some of the things we've done from May through September about
> > iSeries marketing and advertising.... note that marketing is not just
> > advertising.
> >    radio ads jointly done with Websphere ran in Atlanta, Dallas and
>Chicago
> >    stepped up press beyond midrange community
> >    participation in trade shows that we have not participated in before,
> >    i.e., Linuxworld
> >    exec speakers at ISV conferences (JDE, SSA, Infinium, NEWS/400, The 400
> >    Group)
> >    electronic campaign designer tool provided to bus partners for their
> >    campaigns
> >    exchange your exchange ad - in placed this week  (you can download the
> >    ad from
> >
>http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/domino/inotes/access10.html
> >    eServer "Heist" commercial - aired during US Open, World Series
> >    local user groups exec speakers (NorthEast, Toronto, Nashville, Long
> >    Island)
> >    IT and WallStreet analyst briefings leading to great reports from IDC,
> >    Gartner, Robert Francsis
> >    new case studies published  --- approx 8 new ones in August alone
> >    have diseminated thousands of copies to "I can do it" to non-customers,
> >    large systems integrators and current customers
> >    announcement education, lunch and learns, customer ebriefings by the
> >    "bunches"
> >
> > See this url for iSeries press links:   iSeries Press home:
> > http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/news/
> >
> > BTW,  two guys who are doing a wonderful job writing letters to those who
> > write for major magazines .... this is so effective coming from the
> > customer directly to the non-iSeries magazines....  these guys write and
> > ask why they didn't mention iSeries and then proceed to explain what they
> > missed in the article.  The results are articles coming out in
> > InformationWeek and ComputerWorld in the next month or two .....  The
> > magazine writers don't listen to IBM, because we're not objective .....
> > they will listen to you .... <grin>.... they don't realize you aren't
> > objective, either!
> >
> > Regarding the commercial comment,  our research and customer input tells
>us
> > that customers think IBM is stuffy.   These are image commercials ----
> > Jerry, it is about changing IBM's image.    The image is;   thought
> > leadership for all aspects of IT and ease of doing business with.
> >
> > I know this doesn't answer all the questions ... but hopefully it helps.
> > Thanks!
> >
> > ***********
> > Have a great day!
> > The difference between mediocrity and greatness is a vision.
> >
> > Anne C. Lucas,
> > Project Executive, IBM eServer Mid-Market Servers Marketing
> > 205/823-4831  T/L 537-9968,
> > eFax:  603-687-8053,800/223-3907 Pager
> >
> > Admin Assist:   Alice Sebastiano Telephone:  (914) 642-4109, tie line
> > 224-4109 Fax:  (914) 642-6976, tie line 224-6976
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >                     "Gerald Kern"
> >                     <gkern@buckeye-ex       To:     Anne
>Lucas/Birmingham/IBM@IBMUS
> >                     press.com>              cc:
> >                                             Subject:     iSeries marketing
>request at Common Lug Luncheon
> >                     11/06/2001 07:44
> >                     AM
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Anne,
> >
> > Attached you will find the amended text of the emails from the former
> > president of NWOMUG (NorthWest Ohio Midrange Users Group) regarding the
> > decision by her company to abandon the iSeries platform for Unix. You had
> > asked me to forward them to you along with her contact information. This
> > was
> > as we were both leaving the luncheon.
> >
> > Also during the Lug Luncheon in Minneapolis, you were soliciting for ideas
> > on how IBM can better market the iSeries. Forgive me if comments in this
> > email this sound a bit blunt, or rambling, but rest assured I understand
> > you
> > are only one person at IBM, and my comments are not directed towards you
> > but
> > towards the people responsible for marketing (and the lack of it).
> >
> > First off, at each LUG Luncheon I've attended over the last three years,
> > you
> > repeat the request for ideas of how to market this system. If IBM doesn't
> > believe in the system (evidenced by the lack of marketing) how can you
> > expect your customers to believe in it? That is why customers abandon the
> > platform. If IBM won't "sell" it, why then would anyone want to buy it?
> >
> > I'd like to re-iterate the point I made at the luncheon, that in New
> > Orleans
> > last spring Buell Duncan said that we could expect to see a major
>marketing
> > campaign for iSeries. As I said at the luncheon, I saw one ad in
> > Computerworld, and nothing else. In this light IBM's marketing efforts
> > haven't changed at all and as I'm sure you've heard at Common in the past,
> > the slogan, "It's The Marketing". Hopefully you can start a
>'squeaky-wheel'
> > syndrome.
> >
> > Another point I'd like to submit regarding IBM's marketing strategy, those
> > 'blue bar' TV commercials to me are blatantly arrogant. To me they make
> > your
> > customers look like a bunch of idiots. It seems that the marketing
>strategy
> > is to show a group of corporate people gathered together who point fingers
> > and/or don't have a clue about what their needs are. And then IBM  tells
>us
> > "We Are So Ready for IBM". Why would we want IBM, if we don't know what we
> > want? Using that logic tells your customers to blindly follow IBM's lead -
> > why should I be that loyal when IBM isn't even loyal to iSeries? I feel
> > this
> > sounds like a vague description, but please, IBM needs to focus on reality
> > and not that 'vision thing'. I know IBM can solve problems, but you need
>to
> > sell the steak and not the sizzle. Codernauts? Please - those are cheesier
> > than Velveeta..... I don't understand for the life of me how a company
>with
> > so much talent can use sitcom mentality when so much is at stake.
> >
> > Now the commercial I'd like to see, in 30 seconds, would be one where the
> > situation revolves around a system administrator going to the CFO (of a
> > multinational Fortune 100) on Monday morning to explain that a hard drive
> > crashed on the server over the weekend. The CFO looks terrified and asks
> > how
> > long it will take to get the system back up, and whether any data was
>lost.
> > The system administrator says "Relax, we're already up." The CFO says "How
> > can that be?" The system administrator replies "We use iSeries, and the
> > drives were mirrored, and the system called and reported the problem to
>IBM
> > and they were here to replace the drive on Saturday. IBM replaced the
>drive
> > and we didn't even need to re-boot." Then during the fade, a voice says,
> > for
> > more info on the only system that has never had a virus, has never been
> > hacked, has the scalability of a supercomputer (starting at around $10K),
> > can do web serving, supports java, support Notes, Domino & Linux, runs NT
> > natively, supports real programming languages like SQL, Cobol, RPG, C and
> > has the best database bar none, along with the lowest Overall Total Cost
>of
> > Ownership,AND a bunch of users more loyal than Apple users, that can be
> > backed up with one command to one tape... call 1-800-IBM-SERV (or whatever
> > the number of the day is). Also, it wouldn't hurt to mention that 90+%? of
> > Fortune 500 companies use iSeries.
> >
> > Finally, on a personal note, last Christmas I was laid off as a consultant
> > for a local IBM business partner. It took me three months to find a
> > position
> > (for which I was overqualified and underpaid) on the iSeries platform.
> > Fortunately, I've since found a better position, but am again hearing
> > rumblings of the possibility that the platform will be dumped for, yes, an
> > non IBM platform. My company, has no real techies at the top, (I work for
>a
> > medical facility), and all the decision makers hear is what they hear on
> > the
> > golf course (and they discuss what the ad's say during the Sunday morning
> > news and weekend sports shows - especially the golf tournaments - they all
> > watch golf - hint - hint - this is where the above commercial should be
> > aired, not just once but ad nauseum). They don't know what an iSeries is
> > and
> > only know that the AS/400 is old technology - why? Because it's not
> > marketed - and without marketing there is no visibility. After all, if it
> > was new technology, IBM would surely market it. (That's what those who
> > don't
> > know anything about iSeries or computers in general tend to think.)
> >
> > If IBM won't start marketing specific platforms to the public in general
>to
> > get the word out that the iSeries does web serving, does support java,
>does
> > support NT, does GUI and Visual Basic, and can be backed up with one
> > command
> > to one tape, there will be no future for iSeries. It's really that simple,
> > advertising sells, and if you don't believe that just look at what it's
> > done
> > for Microsoft. Their (MS) products are junk compared to iSeries. But if
>IBM
> > can't see that, it proves my point. If IBM won't even sell its best
>product
> > then you need to stop asking the user group for ideas on how to market the
> > product. You can tell your boss I said so.
> >
> > Regards, Jerry Kern
> > IBM Certified AS/400 RPG Developer,
> > 15+ year veteran of the industry,
> > Past President & Current Director of NWOMUG.
> >
> > gkern@buckeye-express.com
> >
> > (See attached file: Nwomug Email.txt)
> >
>
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Glenn Ericson
Ph. (718)898-9805
<mailto:Glenn-Ericson@att.net>mailto:Glenn-Ericson@att.net
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