About
Hi ! My name is Luis Suarez and I am a Knowledge Manager, Community Builder & Social Computing Evangelist in the IBM Software Group division. I have now been working for IBM for a bit over 11 years, the last 9 of those as a full time employee. Throughout all that time I have developed a passion for everything related to Knowledge Management (i.e. Learning & Knowledge, or Knowledge Sharing, whatever you would prefer to call it). That would include quite a few things that, as you may have noticed already, are part of the theme(s) I will be talking about here in my weblog: Collaboration (Specially remote collaboration), Expertise Location, Content Management, Communities and Community Building -whether we are talking about physical or virtual / online communities (Communities of Practice, of Interest, of Purpose, etc.), (e)Learning, Online Facilitation, Knowledge and Learning Tools, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, etc. In short, almost everything that has got to do with knowledge sharing and collaboration. But with a twist.
I am what some people would be calling a Knowledge Worker. And, as you can imagine, that is also my job inside IBM. I am working in the IBM Software Group, within the Social Software Programmes & Enablement, and my main responsibilities are to help accelerate the adoption of social software within the enterprise, specially within the (Tech) Sales force and, as a result, to the entire IBM, by providing extensive education, training, coaching, mentoring, shadowing, support, facilitation, awareness and enabling knowledge workers to explore the opportunities of social computing and social computing tools to help enhance their own productivity while sharing their knowledge and collaborating with other knowledge workers.
I am also co-leading a community of Social Computing Ambassadors or Evangelists, called BlueIQ Ambassadors, from across the organisation, business units, geographies and timezones, whose main mission is to help spread the message around Enterprise 2.0 across the enterprise by creating and distributing plenty of enablement materials as well as arranging education sessions like clinics, lunch & learns, meetings / workshops with customers and, of course, 1:1 coaching & facilitation sessions.
I have been maintaining an Intranet weblog since December 2003 and got started with my Internet weblog, elsua, on October 2005. At the same time, and, just recently, I also have got a second Internet weblog hosted over at ITtoolbox, called elsua : The Knowledge Management Blog Thinking Outside the Inbox. Previous to my working in IBM, I have been travelling quite a bit, after finishing my degree, all over Europe having visited and lived in a few European countries: Portugal, France, Belgium, UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, along with the US, Canada and Mexico. So, as you can see, one of my other passions is travelling and meeting other people. Learn more about their culture, their language, their customs, traditions, etc. I enjoy as well reading a good book and listening to some good music, specially New Age or from the good old 80s.
And, above all, I love the place where I have been living for the last four and a half years: Gran Canaria!
@Tom, catching up with the messages and blog comments mentioned above. It looks like LI keeps misbehaving big time and everything, which is why I always use my private personal email for the sign-up process to avoid such problems. Not sure whether you are using Google Plus as well, but that could well be another medium we can interact on, including privately. For the time being, check your Inbox!
Luis,
I don’t trust Google with privacy either. They’ve been dinged twice by the FTC, and their published policy is atrocious. Privacy policies should be on one page with user options to deselect any parts they don’t want to agree to.
Back to an outsider’s solution to real-world problems, in 1999, I invented paperless ticketing with digital resales/transfers in the subscribed sporting/entertainment events secondary market controlled by illegal ticket scalpers. To understand how my 1999 invention was a “disruptive innovation,” you should read “The Master Switch” by Columbia law professor Tim Wu. He has written an historical account of disruptive (game-changing) vs sustaining (minor improvements) innovation in the communication, information and entertainment industries starting with Western Union’s hard-wired telegraph, and how disruptive innovations spawn new companies that eventually attempt to monopolize the information and communication industries (today, Google, Apple, Amazon?), a process that Professor Wu calls “the Cycle.” (See also, The Innovator’s Dilemma, When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail, by Professor Clayton Christensen). Significantly, what you identify as “thinking outside the inbox” on your website, Professor Wu describes as the outsider’s perspective, that is, a person from outside the industry who invents solutions to real-world problems.
In 1997, I was an outsider to the sports ticketing industry, a sports fan and a lawyer by day. I had paid a colleague the $45 face value for 4 tickets to take my family to a sold-out Florida Panthers hockey game in Miami. On our way into the hockey arena, I saw ticket scalpers selling tickets for 2 to 3 times the ticket’s face value and a little boy crying as he walked away from the box office it had sold out of the affordable general admission tickets.
I was expecting a jam-packed arena for the hockey game. It was jam-packed, but only in the upper level. The lower level, consisting of mostly season ticket holders, was about 70% full. I was shocked and couldn’t understand how people could waste so much money while a dad and his crying kid were turned away from the arena because it was “sold out.” It was at that moment that I thought to myself, if today’s technology enabled us to swipe a credit card at an ATM to get cash out of our checking account in a matter of a few seconds, why can’t season tickets be managed digitally with instantaneous fan access (season ticket holder or transferee) at an ATM-like turnstile activated by a credit card swipe and dispensing a post-entry paper ticket with seating information.
This bugged me for the rest of the year, so I began researching the “no-show” problem for season-ticketed pro sports and determined that my initial thought was in fact the solution to the problem. All that had to be done was to remove the paper ticket from the admission process, maintain admission rights on a server controlled by the team (hence AdmissionControl.com), and provide season ticket holders with an Internet-accessed computer system to manage their season tickets digitally in real time, to include free transfers to family, friends, colleagues, business clients etc, free donations (e.g.Big Brothers/Sisters organizations, military veterans, firefighters police etc.,) and team/venue approved resales to the public. To me, this was a win-win solution for everyone except the ticket scalpers.
In my next installment, I will discuss how I went from being a disinterested observer in 1997, to an entrepreneur in 1998 and 1999 because, in the words of Dr. John, “if I don’t do it, you know somebody else will.”
Hello! I’ve been following your blog for some time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Humble Texas! Just wanted to say keep up the good work!
Dear Luis,
Other than to say Hi, I write to let you know about an new app -which is also related to your position on e-mail use.
I´m referring to eRank® -The Effectiveness E-mail Processing App.SM
Your Dec. 2011 participation on The New York Time´s Room for Debate on The Corporate E-mail Use was very interesting and extremely related to what eRank has to offer. Among other things, I believe eRank delivers to what you said then: “Figure out how to make smarter use of it”. Let me explain:
– What: eRank is the effectiveness feature that was missing in e-mail processing. It was designed to help users concentrate on the e-mails that come first.
– How: eRank empowers the Sender to label his e-mails with priority levels with an expected time of response for each. By doing so, the recipient not only gets his messages labeled, but also classified.
– Why: What makes eRank stand out are three things: Its vision is based on “us”; its structure rests on a shared language; and its solution is simple, but powerful.
More importantly, eRank 1.0 is the result of a decade-strong, proven, best business practice turned into embeded software.
It has just been launched globally on the App Store. Starting December 17th 2012 users can download it and you´re invited to take a sneak peak.
You´re welcome to watch a demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzVyzewtrTQ
Your vision on the matter inspired us and gave us a broader view for the design of the software.
I appreciate your time and hope to meet you some day.
Kind regards,
Joe Castrovera
http://www.erank.pro | @eRank_
EMAIL SUBJECT: Gran Canaria Business Week 2013
Luis Suarez
Date: December 27, 2012
Hello Luis,
Greetings!
We are happy to invite you to the upcoming Gran Canaria Business Week 2013 conference with the theme “Internet Business and Social Media” — produced by SiVivaEspana.com, with more than 100 000 Facebook fans for Spain and Gran Canaria. The event will be held at various places in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria this January 1-4. 2013. This is an all English business conference in Meloneras and Las Palmas, mainly focused on internet business and social media opportunities.
Media people are given media pass to cover the event. Perhaps you would like to be a part of the very first annual business conference in Gran Canaria which will be held on the first week of January every year.
We look forward to hearing from you soon. Happy holidays!
Best Regards,
Mary Grace E. Lim
VA SiVivaEspaña.com
P.S.
Visit these websites for more information.
http://www.gcbusinessweek.com
http://www.facebook.com/events/554828837865995/?fref=ts
Go over the 2013 program here:
http://www.gcbusinessweek.com/flyer07.pdf
I am the assistant of Hans Johansen, the producer of Gran Canaria Business Week. Let me know if you would want to be in contact with Hans directly.
Hi Mary, thanks ever so much for dropping by and for the information details, along with the kind invitation! It’s *greatly* appreciated! The event “Gran Canaria Business Week 2013 Conference” *does* sound very good, indeed! I would be truly delighted to participate in the event as a media / blogger, as I have done in multiple other various different events, but alas during those days that the conference will be taking place I will be on holidays myself and I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it this time around since I have already got other plans along the way, as you can imagine. If only I would have known earlier on…
However, I’m trying to see if I can shift them around and perhaps make it to the main event on Thursday or Friday, either of those days, in Las Palmas de G.C. although I can’t guarantee it at the moment. Mary, what would be the best way of getting in touch with either you or Hans himself to confirm beginning of next week whether I can make it or not, and, if not, I would still want to get together to meet up face to face for a coffee or a drink and talk some more about Gran Canaria Business Week, since I’m very interested in the overall event and superb initiative. Can you please do let me know what would be the best way to arrange that F2F meetup? Like I said, I will try to shift things around over here and perhaps make it to the event rather on Thursday or Friday next week, but no guarantees. Will be in touch to confirm whether I can shift things around!
Thanks a lot, once again, for the kind invite and look forward to meeting you both as some point!
Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year, too!
Hi Luis!
My best friend is Spanish and lost his job as a civil engineer two years ago in the economic crisis. I’m a corporate writer who hates her job and is feeling totally frustrated. We live in London.
We’ve been inspired by you and others like you, to start up an online business, take a chance on living our dreams and move to the Canary Islands.
So thanks, for the inspiration, positivity and encouragement your blog gives. I’ll see you in the Canaries
Hi Sarah! Awww, thanks much for dropping by and for sharing that very kind and warm feedback commentary. Really sorry about your best friend losing his job, but I am sure things will be all right pretty soon! And reading you are on your way over here I am sure they will! No doubt!
I am sure you will be all right, but, either way, if you would need any further help while settling down over here, with any kind of advice, please do let me know. I will be more than happy to help any which way to help you folks move along quickly! If you are using Twitter, feel free to reach out to me at @elsua and we can keep in touch that way, perhaps even meet up F2F over time!
Let me know how I can help and all the best with the move and the new adventure about to begin! Exciting times, indeed!
Thanks again for the lovely feedback on the blog and have a good one! Hope to see you both soon!
Hello, I was on [www.elsua.net/2013/01/08/social-business-in-2013-an-opportunity-open-business/] and I saw a lot of great resources about starting a business. I wanted to share an article I helped create that is a non-promotional guide on what to expect when starting a business.
You can see it here: http://www.factoring.net/education/starting-your-own-business/
Let me know your thoughts and feel free to contact me. If you have any recommendations or suggests let me know and I can implement them.
Thanks
Hi Martin, I guess it’s always better to respond later than never into a blog conversation, right? Well, that’s probably one of main reasons as to why I enjoy blogging quite a bit that conversations can resurface over time. And even more when I have finally had a chance to look into the link you have shared above and it surely is some pretty good, solid advice on how people can get started with their own business! And you are right, along with Open Business as part of the mix there are plenty of really good tips out there in that article to benefit. Thanks a bunch for sharing it along over here. I am sure it will be helpful to a bunch of people over here reading along!
Thanks again!
Hi Luis,
My name is Veerle and I am a writer for the MaxBerber blog, which is a blog about the global nomadic lifestyle. The reason for starting this blog is that I work for a company called HotelsAhead, and we develop new hotel concepts around a specific target audience. We are currently developing an extended stay hotel around the global nomadic workforce and we grew so fond of this lifestyle that we wanted to share experiences, news and information on it at our blog. I have been following your website and reading your stories and am very interested about hearing more about your global nomadic lifestyle.
You seem like a rare breed of global nomad, one that works for a large company and travels much for work – that’s very interesting and I’d love to hear more!
I was wondering if I could steal 10 minutes of your time to ask you some questions over Skype (or you can of course fill out some of my questions if you have little time) and of course also promote your website in this interview.
Hoping to hear from you soon!
Best regards,
Veerle Donders
Hi Veerle, thanks a lot for dropping by and for the heads up! How fascinating and how delightful to read about some of the really cool things you guys are doing with that nomadic lifestyle a bunch of us have been doing for a little while now already. I would be delighted to go through that interview with you over in Skype and everything, but I’m going to have to ask you for a few days before I can do it, since my agenda is already fully booked up till mid-next week… Would it be ok with you to perhaps get together on May 2nd or 3rd and have that Skype call?
If so, leave a follow-up response over here and I will contact you right afterwards to confirm date / time and exchange Skype IDs. Thanks ever so much for the wonderful opportunity and really look forward to it!
Thanks again!
Hi Luis,
Thanks for your quick and positive response! Next week May 3rd sound perfect to me
I’m happy you are as excited about this as I am!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Veerle
Hi Veerle! Terrific! What time on May 3rd? Would early in the morning EDT, or early afternoon, work better for you? Let me know and I will confirm it with you and block my calendar right away. Thanks!!
Hi Luis! Great, yes I think that would be perfect! How about 9.00 am EDT?
My skype name is: veerledonders, looking forward to skyping with you!
Cheers!
Hi Veerle! Fantastic! I have just reached out to you on Skype requesting to connect our IDs there and I will be looking forward to speaking with you on May 3rd at 9am EDT… Thanks again for the opportunity! Have a good one!
To up your visibility within IBM, Google, FaceBook, Twitter, …
You must expand your audience. You talk about
talking with others. Do you have any ideas how
IBM can actually learn something from Google+,
FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter and make me, an IBM Retiree and internet maven happy?
How can IBM use social media to make extremely happy customers — thereby earning trust. Trust will eventually translate to profit, but until trust is earned, a company cannot expect to succeed.
There is no profit motive in capitalism. It is all about earning trust from customers. Address that with your social media studies and you will succeed and be loved by IBM, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Twitter, …
IBM and Microsoft never wanted to deal with individuals — me or you. They look for business relationships. That is OK, but when the world is turning to individual relationships through Google+, FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest,
Instagram,… IBM, Microsoft, HP and other’s only
interested in business relationships must simply wait. That’s what IBM did in the 1990′s under Gerstner. That’s what HP is doing now. That’s what Microsoft is doing now.
Gerstner did very much more. He moved IBM out
of non-profitable businesses. He retired and chose Palmisano (SERVICES!!!) to lead and Sam
did wonderfully. Sam proved that growth is
not necessary to succeed.
Ooops, sorry to pontificate.
History of IBM is interesting, wouldn’t you say?
If you have watched IBM’s entry into the “cloud”
you will understand why it does not understand people — only businesses.
Hi Ed, thanks for that extended feedback commentary and for the lovely and insightful trip down the memory lane. It’s greatly appreciated and I am sure the readers of this section of the blog would appreciate it tremendously. So thanks for that!
Have you ever heard of any of these initiatives by any chance: Digital IBMer, IBM SELECT or IBM Voices? Please do let me know if you haven’t as I may be able to share some additional reading on each of them. Those are *just* some of the various initiatives from the company to help IBMers how, in order to be successful, productive and effective at what they do, they need to build, nurture and construct their online digital footprints by being capable of demonstrating their thought leadership, expertise and extended experience interacting with customers and business partners to help solve their business problems.
Ginni Rometty, who I am sure you already know who she is, just recently stated “Engaged employees, they drive the client experience, and that in turn drives your business results, in that order” and that’s what it is all about. Happy Employees = Happy Customers.
That’s where building everlasting trustworthy personal relationships become the key towards those engaged employees interacting with customers. That’s the main premise behind Digital IBMer, IBM SELECT and IBM Voices, amongst others.
It’s a journey, a long one, too! But one that’s worth it. One that I have already been involved with myself for the 12 years and still having a strong sense I am only reading the tip of the iceberg from the true potential. And why I am still there doing my part to change how things may have worked in the past, because there isn’t a guarantee that they would continue to work like that in the future.
Definitely, my father’s IBM is not my IBM, today’s, and that’s what excites me the most to keep pushing the limits till we eventually complete that Open Business journey.
Do let me know how I can be of further help, Ed. I will be more than happy to help out where I possibly can.
Thanks again for your time and for the good feedback. Appreciated.