March 17th, 2005
Unmatched Application Development Platform
Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending
a conference where the closing speakers were Michael Morizio, President
of IBM Business Partner E
Solutions Corporation and
Randy George from the Major League Baseball World Series Champion Boston
Red Sox IT department. They spoke to the audience about how the Notes
application ScoutAdvisor
has helped several MLB teams access and analyze the abundance of data around
current and future players. We're not talking just simple statistics
here like batting average or strike outs. The application tracks
EVERYTHING about players including results of psychological tests, heath
and fitness, I wouldn't be surprised if they knew what TV show players
watch and on what day!
Both Michael and Randy spoke about how Notes security, replication, off-line
support, rapid application development, and the ability to extremely customize
applications make Notes/Domino an indispensable and unmatched platform
for building collaborative applications. That's right... APPLICATIONS.
Their presentation was not about email at all. Michael even
mentioned potential plans for Notes/Domino
7 and how they will be able
to provide more advanced searching by taking advantage of DB2, as well
as using the new native Web Services.
IBM also has it's own Sports Solutions Department, and they create a similar
application called PROS,
that is in use by 10 MLB teams. That means combined, the two solutions
power almost every team in the MLB! IBM's Sports Solutions Department
has also created Notes/Domino based applications for the NBA and NHL, PGA,
and many more organizations.
Any of you that know me understand that I am clearly one of the world's
biggest Domino fans, but I have to admit that listening to a talk like
this refreshed my love for the product even more. I wish every IT
manager and every CTO, in every company around the world understood the
power of Lotus Notes/Domino. I honestly can't imagine how a single
company, from a one person shop to the world's largest enterprise could
not benefit in some way from using Notes and Domino. Whether it is
HelpDesk, CRM, discussions forums, player scouting, or anything else where
people need to affectively and securely share data, IBM Lotus Notes/Domino
has no equal.
Even this blog is powered by Notes/Domino! The possibilities are
endless, so the more you use Notes/Domino, the greater your return on investment
(ROI). Remember, total cost of ownership can only be lowered so
much, but ROI has no upper limit.
Last year I recorded a webcast
that helps explain some of the potential of Lotus Notes/Domino, but even
that just scratches the surface. One of the best ways to see what
Notes/Domino can really do is to contact one of the many extremely talented
IBM
Business Partners in your
area. Invite them to come talk to your company about what Notes/Domino
can due for you. They will be able to get much more specific regarding
your individual needs than IBM's generic marketing material can. Finally,
make sure to read (and share) some of the fantastic examples of Notes/Domino
applications highlighted in the IBM
success stories.
Spread the word, Domino rocks!
