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Lotusphere 2010: Conference underway

So Lotusphere is finally underways - well sort of anyway. Officially it wont start until tomorrow morning but Business Development Day, JumpStarts and Bootcamp still feels like we're of. And we're of to a good start. The energy feels right and it feels like it's going to be a good Lotusphere. As Alistair Rennie said this morning in the BDD OGS: "Lotus knows sleep is for February!" That has to be the quote of the day of not for the week. Oh and knowing that Alistair thinks himself handy with a chainsaw!! :-)

Besides that I was happy to hear that Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino will also go into controlled distribution in 2010 meaning that you have to be certified to sell it. I find that a very good, although bold move by IBM. This is a decision that will help us tremendously in our business. Having to be certified (both technically and sales wise) means that you cannot simply sell licenses without delivering value. That's great and wise move that will benefit both the partner community and the customers.

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Posted by Mikkel Flindt Heisterberg on 17 January 2010 21:46:50 CET #


Avatar: Thomas Lang
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Re: Lotusphere 2010: Conference underway

Comment from Thomas Lang on 17 January 2010 23:38:27 CET #
Some might say it helps, other's might say it doesn't help, that only certified partners are allowed to sell Notes and Domino. This means that really small partners aren't able to sell licenses any more. I can't see how this might be helpfull.
Avatar: Mikkel Heisterberg
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Re: Lotusphere 2010: Conference underway

Comment from Mikkel Heisterberg on 18 January 2010 05:04:16 CET #
I see your point but it guards against the companies just "pushing licenses" and not adding value. I used to have a really small company and yes for those it will be a problem. But then again - I think it's better than the alternative.
Avatar: Graham Dodge
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Re: Lotusphere 2010: Conference underway

Comment from Graham Dodge on 18 January 2010 09:57:20 CET #
It's really not a problem for small IT consulting companies.

We've had that certification requirement in place in Australia since September and the only ones that are seriously screaming are the large 'System Integrators' who want to capture the entire client's IT budget (ie Hardware + MS stuff + Domino + Websphere + Rational + Tivoli + everything else ) without actually investing in the skill sets to support  all of the software they sell. Most of the smaller players (myself included) think its wonderful idea because we are already seriously specialized in Domino and keep our Domino certifications current as part of the cost of doing business.
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Avatar: Heiko Voigt
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Re: Lotusphere 2010: Conference underway

Comment from Heiko Voigt on 21 January 2010 09:33:30 CET #
The problem with this are not certifications - we took the tests, they're easy for almost anyone who deals with Domino. The long tail is, that everything is linked to your revenue - you have to sell a certain ammount auf licenses through SVI (and increase it each year) - no problem in year one but that might bite a lot of small partners in the next years to come... .
Avatar: Graham Dodge
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Re: Lotusphere 2010: Conference underway

Comment from Graham Dodge on 21 January 2010 22:46:08 CET #

We have the same requirement here in Australia.

I believe IBM will back off on this one since any Business Partner can have a bad year and the Blogosphere would crucify IBM if it started kicking out business partners for not fulfilling a 'quota'. I had a great year last year (>$100,000 in new licences) but that was a 'one-off' deal and there's no way I will repeat that volume (+10%) of new licences in 2010.

I'm not worried...

Eveybody will have a variation on that problem so IBM will need to rethink their strategy


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