Inbox, Meet IBM Verse

Gmail recently launched a new app. They called it Inbox. It is by invitation only at this moment as they are testing this app. Google wanted to reimagine the new way people will look at their mail. I tried this app. If you have use Mailbox app before, a company which was later acquired by Dropbox, Google's Inbox is just like Mailbox. The idea is that to treat your mailbox like a giant To-Do list. Mails that you have actioned on can be mark completed. Mails that you need to follow up can be swiped and set a future date so it will remind you. Very simplistic and very nice.

But, is this really imagining a new way to work? A new disruption to emails? Time will tell.

Today, IBM launched a new mail service. It was codename IBM Mail Next but now there is a new name. It is called IBM Verse!

What are we announcing?

IBM Verse is a cloud-based, analytics-driven approach to enterprise email designed for today's social, mobile and data-driven workplace. IBM Verse uses built-in analytics to intelligently surface an employee's most critical actions based on preferences and behavior, bringing together multiple collaboration tools including in-box, calendar, social networks, chats, online meetings and documents.

What's different about IBM Verse?

This is unique to competitive offerings that continue to take an in-box, document-centric view of the world. We're focused squarely on helping employees organize, prioritize and execute work quickly and effectively with deep social integration, lightning fast search, analytics and mobile availability for iOS and Android. IBM Verse is enterprise email redesigned for the new era of computing. 

Forget the official mumbo jumbo worthy only as an official announcement.

IBM Verse brings a new, very clean, super compact interface. The objective is to remove your inbox clutter. Simplistic is the way to go. The other idea is that the email will learn your habit and help you get things done faster.

It is cloud base email and it sits on top of our popular public cloud, SoftLayer. What is cool is that when you look at your email and with a click of a button, you can find out details of people who sent you email. Very useful when you are going to meet a client and the client cc a few people to join the meeting, people you don't know - and using IBM Verse, you will be able to find more details through the analytics of social media, Linked In, twitter, etc.

You can instantly chat with people or share files - and through file sharing, you are actually sharing a link to the file stored in the cloud (ala Dropbox), not actually sending megabytes of files. And this helps reduce email size.

I think the best way is to view a video of IBM Verse

Appnovator in The Star

The IBM Appnovator Challenge is a contest that we run in University, to encourage students to build a solution to make the planet a better place - for example, a better water management system, traffic management system or to make our city a much pleasant place to live in. And this year, 5 students from various Universities, participated and built mobile solutions running on IBM Bluemix. Read on:

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Education/2014/11/16/Application-challenge/

IBM Announces Program for Cloud Startups

IBM and startup? IBM for entrepreneurs in Malaysia? Are you kidding me? Seriously? You guys?

That's the type of reaction I had when I went to one of the premier entrepreneur association in Malaysia 4 years ago to speak about our program for startup. I still remember the incredulous look I received from the committee in the room. They just don't understand what an enterprise focus company like IBM can play in the entrepreneur space. One comment was that IBM software license would have already out priced the application price of the entrepreneur.

At that time, my answer was that the cloud revolution would have made us relevant. They agreed but they still don't see it. Admittedly, 4 years ago, our cloud offerings were not as obvious to the start up space as of today. So, I don't blame them for their disbelief.

But they were still supportive; they were willing to listen and support and provide linkages to their entrepreneur databases.

Now, after a series of relentless activities and programs with the start up space, we have made a dent in the ecosystem. Since my last conversation with this committee, IBM have launched 3 IBM Smart Camps in this region, had a track in last year's Global Entrepreneur Summit (GES) in KLCC, made many collaborations with MDeC, MTDC, MaGIC, TeAM, startupmalaysia.org, Cradle, Angels Den , CREST, etc, I think we had a believer.

In fact, in 2013, a Malaysia startup called TMC Sistem Sdn Bhd went to the finals in Silicon Valley with their solution that detect soil movement to prevent landslide. During this journey, they were featured in Fast Company, a premier startup magazine/website and more importantly, they had a call from a mining company in South Africa who are interested in how their solution can help safety in mining industry. On top of that, when they speak in one of our Malaysia events, they were also contacted by one of the government-linked agency to do a proposal of their solution. These type of opportunities can only be possible through IBM and we helped entrepreneur open doors to our enterprise clients.

And this year, Ginni announced that IBM strategy moving forward is around Cloud, Data and System of Engagements. With the acquisition of SoftLayer last year and the launch of IBM Bluemix, it is an exciting days for entrepreneurs and startups indeed.

And yesterday, we made another announcement. I will let this blurb said it all:

"our new program dedicated to the growth and success of startups. The IBM Global Entrepreneur Program for Cloud Startups has the resources startups need, including free software, exposure to a worldwide technical community, and more. Please take a moment to check out this infographic to learn more about this program and how you can take part.

View the infographic at: https://ibm.biz/ibmgepcs"

Key takeaway:

$120K credit for our cloud services!!

Programmatic linkage for entrepreneurs to enterprise accounts

Access to 43 IBM Innovation Centers WW for technical assistance!

Free software for development use.

Check out the announcement! Let's see how we can collaborate further!!