As is my wont, I’m trying to take a 30,000ft view of Lotusphere on the final day, and as usual, it’s really difficult whilst still here on site in the hustle and bustle of the event.
However, whilst a debrief takes time, and a full review of the week will follow after I get back to the UK, there is definitely a theme that I will take away from this week.
A new Lotus has begun to emerge…
A Lotus that:
- is assured of its place in the market, ready to compete head on with all the social/collaboration/appdev vendors, not just Microsoft
- is confident of its future, within the market, within IBM and under the new leadership of Alistair Rennie
- embraces and holds dear the rich history of Notes and Domino, and is definitive about its place in the brave new world of integrated always-on real-time social collaboration
- realises that Google Wave is a game-changer, and is ready to step up and face it head-on
- is becoming a greater influence on IBM as a whole, both through the industry focus on social collaboration in 2010 and beyond, and because of the continued stature of the previous 5 Lotus GMs
- continues to learn the significance of social media (blogs, Twitter and much more)
- fully recognises the importance of the Lotus community and the special (perhaps unique) relationship that Lotus software has with its user and partner base
- that now has one defined vision for all its products to work towards over the next few years – none of the other vendors has anything close right now.
For me this Lotusphere has been a little short on ‘Wow’ – no new products and a low-key OGS mean that is inevitable.
However, at least from where I sit on Thursday morning, that isn’t a big deal. Lotusphere is a very very special few days every year, and I would not miss it for the world. However, back in the real world, this isn’t important.
What matters is that Lotus is composed, mature and ready to deal with the coming years. Lotusphere 2010 has shown me that the new Lotus is all of that.
