Just a little tease on how to place proper product spin.

Lets play a game... We all know that IDS's problems aren't in the product development team. But in how the product is being positioned and presented to the industry, their customers,press/analysts and of course IBM's very own S&D team. So lets tease Jerry and his crew (Cathy and Bernie) and suggest, a much better market position statement. Sure we all want to say "Keep IDS in the LUW aka "Distributed" world, and place DB2 on the mainframe and AS/400 aka I series. While we know that will never happen, it is still a very viable option and one that IBM should consider. (And of course, support those customers who are already on DB2 in LUW world.) -- Just Kidding. IBM would never do this. Serge would lose his job and be forced to work for Oracle or Microsoft... 8-0 :-) But lets get serious, yes, even Gumby can get serious... ;-): I believe it was Bernie who did the IDS "whitepaper" interview which did a horrendous of product positioning. HEY IBM, HERE"S A FREE CLUE. THE NEXT TIME YOU'RE ASKED THIS QUESTION... CONSIDER THIS AS YOUR ANSWER...: A: "We [IBM] believe that we're in an excellent position because we have two thoroughbred racehorses in our stable. Through the Informix acquisition, we have acquired not only talented engineers and developers, but also a product that has an incredibly loyal fan base. That fan base exists because IDS is an easy to maintain, performance beast, well suited for embedded solutions, OLTP solutions, and datamarts. Through their acquistion of Illustra, they also have extensibility that will allow them to adapt to "web 2.0" type applications, along with the high end custom solutions that some of our customers need. Contrast this to DB2 whose lineage comes from the Mainframe. Well suited for handling large volumes of data and large data warehouses. Products like SAP have been specifically tuned for DB2. So when we look at the customers' needs, we can supply an engine that can meet their diverse requirements. From one end of the spectrum, we have IDS. The other, DB2. Together, our product base covers *all* of the customers' needs...." Q: "What about product overlap?" A: "We [IBM] believe that the overlap is actually a good thing. Both products adhere to the DRDA standard, so that our DRDA compliant tools will work with either database. These databases can work well within environments together and compliment each other. No other company can do this. Product overlap also gives a customer choice. If they've started with IDS and they are comfortable with IDS, they can stay with IDS. The say is true of DB2. IBM is working to keep both products in parity when they can. Technology is shared between both engines. " -=- I think you get the point. No bashing of either product. Each product receives equal footing. Now here's the Game. Its your job to poke holes in these statements. As you poke a hole, then find a counter argument that defends this position. The more you do this, the stronger the argument becomes. With respect to the sales force... That's a different story. And that is something I'd be happy to work on with IBM. Sales critters speak a differnt language. ;-) HTH But hey! What do I know? Its not like I took IBM's solution selling methodology training, and even 3 years out still remember it. Its not like I don't mentor my wife's junior sales reps on how to apply this to their industry. And its not like I was ever placed in a situation where I had to calm customers down and do damage control or spin control because the sales reps sold them a song and promise, leaving IM Services to pick up the pieces and bail them out. (Right K. Painter? ;-) I'm just a Java, Python, C/C++, Objective C kind of guy. :-P But its time to get Groovy Baby! -G _________________________________________________________________ Use video conversation to talk face-to-face with Windows Live Messenger. http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/connect_your_way.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_messenger_video_042008

> Its not like I don't mentor my wife's junior sales reps on how to apply this to their industry. Oh, and I am sure they fully appreciate it.

Ian Michael Gumby wrote: > Lets play a game... > > We all know that IDS's problems aren't in the product development team. > But in how the product is being positioned and presented to the > industry, their customers,press/analysts and of course IBM's very own > S&D team. So lets tease Jerry and his crew (Cathy and Bernie) and > suggest, a much better market position statement. > Why bother. > Sure we all want to say "Keep IDS in the LUW aka "Distributed" world, > and place DB2 on the mainframe and AS/400 aka I series. While we know > that will never happen, it is still a very viable option and one that > IBM should consider. What makes you think anyone gives a shit. > (And of course, support those customers who are already on DB2 in LUW > world.) -- Just Kidding. IBM would never do this. Serge would lose his > job and be forced to work for Oracle or Microsoft... 8-0 :-) > > But lets get serious, yes, even Gumby can get serious... ;-): > > I believe it was Bernie who did the IDS "whitepaper" interview which did > a horrendous of product positioning. > HEY IBM, HERE"S A FREE CLUE. THE NEXT TIME YOU'RE ASKED THIS QUESTION... > CONSIDER THIS AS YOUR ANSWER...: > > A: "We [IBM] believe that we're in an excellent position because we have > two thoroughbred racehorses in our stable. Through the Informix > acquisition, we have acquired not only talented engineers and > developers, but also a product that has an incredibly loyal fan base. > That fan base exists because IDS is an easy to maintain, performance > beast, well suited for embedded solutions, OLTP solutions, and > datamarts. Through their acquistion of Illustra, they also have > extensibility that will allow them to adapt to "web 2.0" type > applications, along with the high end custom solutions that some of our > customers need. Contrast this to DB2 whose lineage comes from the > Mainframe. Well suited for handling large volumes of data and large data > warehouses. Products like SAP have been specifically tuned for DB2. > > So when we look at the customers' needs, we can supply an engine that > can meet their diverse requirements. From one end of the spectrum, we > have IDS. The other, DB2. Together, our product base covers *all* of the > customers' needs...." > > Q: "What about product overlap?" > A: "We [IBM] believe that the overlap is actually a good thing. Both > products adhere to the DRDA standard, so that our DRDA compliant tools > will work with either database. These databases can work well within > environments together and compliment each other. No other company can do > this. Product overlap also gives a customer choice. If they've started > with IDS and they are comfortable with IDS, they can stay with IDS. The > say is true of DB2. IBM is working to keep both products in parity when > they can. Technology is shared between both engines. " > > > -=- > > I think you get the point. No bashing of either product. Each product > receives equal footing. > So you're saying the marketing department is filled with cocksucking sychophants. > > Now here's the Game. > Its your job to poke holes in these statements. > As you poke a hole, then find a counter argument that defends this position. > The more you do this, the stronger the argument becomes. > Q: What is the sound of one hand clapping? A: A Slap in the face. > With respect to the sales force... That's a different story. > And that is something I'd be happy to work on with IBM. Sales critters > speak a differnt language. ;-) > > Sun is moving to Ubuntu. What does that tell you? An invincible company that has totally lost its way. They'd never go x86, never go Linux, never go open source, never open-source-java, the list goes on. Now they do all of the above, trying to find relevance. They can't even give away Solaris, nobody cares. What else do they have? They have to buy companies because they lost their way. Soon IBM will cease to be relevant. It's coming. Microsoft, invincible. Now comes Vista, a total, gargantuan flop. It doesn't take much imagination to see where things can go when people get arrogant and think they can't fall. IBM will be next. It's coming, get ready for it. Informix went thru it once, deja vu all over again. It doesn't take much imagination to see Apple's iPhone in a little bit larger size, as a fully blowed out laptop. Totally capitalizing on the market. I am eagerly looking forward to IBM hitting the wall. It's coming. Get ready. -ID-