My affair with IBM

Four years ago I joined IBM :-) It may not sound like a long time ago to some of you but for a young person in an emerging country like Romania, it is. And I never thought I will make it, which must have helped: seeing your present job as your last one and keeps you doing your best.

So about four years ago, on a Friday I had my last interview with my first manager and while he was writing a note to HR asking them to hire me I got to pick a date when to start. I said 7th...thought it would be a nice anniversary present for my boyfriend and a date easy to remember...my lucky number :-) ( yes, people think at all kind of stuff during interviews:D). So 7th is was, a very cold and rainy day with me not being able to enter the IBM building...I so would have left and went back to bed, but I stayed and the job turned out to be so exciting that I kept coming early every day.
Then my manager left to his home country and I thought that was it. Gotta find a new job, again. But then I realized on my own skin that networking rules, I got an assignment with IBM Germany. Moved to Hannover to talk about our Global Delivery capabilities and had what I thought it was the BEST YEAR...or year and a half of my life. Such a great experience, such nice colleagues and such a nice country to explore during weekends. Danke, Deutschland!

Again I thought that was it, assignment was ending and I didn't have a job in Romania to come back to. But all the people I have worked with, my mentor Chris, my friends at IBM, really made it happen. I got the coolest job ever, then one I had today and I even got to work from Romania at a time when my family was badly needing me. It just couldn't get better :D

But it did, and it did every single day: the job is awesome but the people I work with are more than extraordinary. I enjoy planning& executing all kind of things with them, love connecting with all corners of the world, traveling to so many countries and collaborating in some global programs. Must thank my Liz for this opportunity and the fact that I never felt like I don't want to go to work on a Monday morning :-) (yes it is Sunday 8am now:D).

And it still got better. I have more friends than I could ever hope for (and I'm not talking about +400 Facebook friends). I have been really blessed to meet people who touched my life in all the countries I have been to or have worked with virtually or not, so many nice, brilliant and inspiring people. Friends I have spent vacations with, friends I am planning to take on a tour of my country someday, friends who I hope I will see very very soon :-)

I love the feeling of "it can't get better than this", especially now that I know it will. Can't wait for year #5 and see where this journey will take me!!! Thank you all, dear IBMers!

IBM ranks #1 for social software

Did you hear that?
IDC just ranked IBM as the worldwide marketshare leader in the Social Platform market based on total software revenue for 2009 . Cool huh?

The IDC report states that worldwide revenue for the social platforms market was $369.7 million in 2009, representing growth of more than 55 percent.

IBM's portfolio of social computing, mashups and Web 2.0 technologies, includes blogs, communities, profiles, activities, shared bookmarks and more.

According to IDC, the social platforms market includes IBM Lotus Connections (which I LOOOOOVE) as well as the cloud based offering, LotusLive Connections.

IBM Lotus Connections is software that empowers business professionals to develop, nurture and remain in contact with a network of their colleagues; respond quickly to business opportunities by calling upon expertise in their network; and discuss and refine new creative ideas with communities of coworkers, partners and customers.

LotusLive Connections is an innovative set of Web-based collaboration services combined with social networking capabilities. LotusLive Connections features include file sharing, business instant messaging, activity management and networking.

Over 35% of Fortune 100 companies have adopted IBM's social software offerings. IBM Lotus Connections clients include Berlitz International Inc., Sogeti, Digital China Holdings Limited, and Rheinmetall AG.

Also check this cool video on THE MAN who should have used Lotus Connections :-)

Proud.

Blue Church

Something that seemed perfect for this blue blog :-) While in Bratislava Slovakia, I discover this beautiful church: the blue chruch

Let's meet in Web.Alive

Did you hear about web.alive? Is a very cool platform which easily enables virtual collaboration. And I mean it: easily! For novices: it's a "smaller" version of Second Life (meaning is not that big, no islands, no teleporting and no flying :-)), very easy to access and use and that has very nice features when it comes to uploading presentations, projecting videos, webpages etc. Which is more than Cool!

Ran several events at IBM's Virtual Analytics Center (which you can always visit)and it was great. Even leaders enjoyed who easy it was to enter it, loved the virtual world like aspect, the by default use of VOIP and what else.....me wearing the nice Indian Sari? :-)

Check the video below to see some of the features and how it can be used for brainstorming, learning, meeting or even replacing the traditional team calls ;-)



So what you say? Let me give you a tour and let's meet there ;-)
Let me know here or @silviaemilia in twitter! See you there!

People in Global Delivery

Was checking some updates and found a cute page. N Was nice to see some colleagues from IBM talking about a career in a Global Delivery Center (GDC) and even nicer to see what they have in common. Even someone from my country, Romania :-)

• Ramakrishna, India Global Delivery Center: Project Manager - Business Intelligence and Performance Management
• Paul, Eastern Europe Global Delivery Center, Romania: Java Developer
• Zhang, China Global Delivery Center: BOT Delivery and Operation Manager
• Claire, Global Delivery Center, Philippines: Sector Leader, IBM Global Business Services

Sawubona

I just returned from a very inspiring trip in South Africa, Johannesburg, the gorgeous country as big as all Western Europe and inhabited by almost 40mil people. Must admit I never stayed for a week at any of my delivery centers so I also got more time to spend with the people and enjoy the city.

First I got impressed by the IBM location. You can see it's so green, with a lake, colorful fishes, rare birds and lovely flowers (guess I would work from outside the building all day long :-)). Absolutely the nicest IBM campus I've seen so far.

Second I learned that there is no sense of emergency - JUST NOW actually means SOMETIMES SOON :-) which is pretty cool you must admit.

3: fruits and fruity juices everywhere, for such a fan like me was paradise :-)

4:everything is green in this city, even just a city, you can hear birds singing and see the stars in the night, seemed I was in vacation every evening! Gorgeous place!

5. Went to Rhino& Lion park and saw lots of animals in their natural habitat. Pretty impressive and I enjoyed it very much!

6. Warm people: must admit I was pretty afraid after coming from Amsterdam and thinking Dutch people left their fingertips on Africa :-) but 10.000 miles distance did their job very well. Would like to think that I did make a few new friends!Also loved the fact that everyone has a predecessor somewhere outside South Africa, felt very very multicultural!

7. Ate here a couple of times, pretty nice Italian restaurant www.luigis.co.za. In case you go there DO take the lasagna and the panna cotta :-) Delicious!

8. Last but not least (although I could go on forever), a vibrant city expecting the Football World Cup. What else can I say: GOOOO BRAZIIIIIILLLL !

A Decade of Smarter

Great involvement from IBM's CEO, Sam Palmisano, addressing business and civic leaders at Chatham House in London this week. He described how forward-thinking leaders in business, government and civil society around the world are capturing the potential of smarter systems to achieve economic growth, near-term efficiency, sustainable development and societal progress. Read more here