I use either Notes or Symphony for all of my business doc needs and I'm a firm believer that Symphony is a good investment for IBM and for users. The big problem I see for the product is that it seems to be marginalized by the reviewers. Look at this review by Infoworld which looks at the ongoing battle between Microsoft Office and Google Apps - not a mention of Symphony anywhere in the article.
I know that the current Google/Microsoft war for Apps and OS is sexier than the (yawn) ongoing IBM/Microsoft 100 Years War over email but use awareness is the name of today's game and IBM marketing needs to work harder and smarter to stay in the battle. Maybe if IBM followed Google's lead and provided a competitor to Windows and then put some marketing dollars behind it...
COUGHLotusFoundationsServerCOUGH...
No, I'm just dreaming...
Yes... I know about the 'Lotus Knows' campaign. That's a different type of marketing investment compared to getting the Symphony name into these product-specific reviews done by industry analysts.
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4 comments:
I agree, Graham. IBM Lotus has many amazing products that the worlds does not know about.
I cringe each time I see the Smarter Planet ads. They are fine ads but they do not leave the customer with a specific product they can attach to a pain point.
When I see a Microsoft ad for Sharepoint, I am not confused which product thy are selling. neither are my customers. They all kno and understand that SharePoint will solve ALL of their problems because Microsoft Marketinhas educated them thus.
LotusKnows is an excellent start but it needs to get tied to specific PRODUCT solutions, IMO, so that customers can think "if only I had Lotus [Product Name] I would be able to ..."
Eric,
I agree with you. Lotus Knows was a start but it still a branding no different than the IBM marketing in the past. There needs to be direct product ads specifically on how businesses benefit from Domino, Quickr, Sametime, and Symphony
Hi Graham,
You're right, but while ever IBM Australia refuses to do Lotus Marketing in Australia, it is going to be very difficult. The brand has faded and will continue to and nobody at IBM (who can do something about it) appears to give a stuff.
Symphony/2
N'uff Said!
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