Unlock the Business Value of Your Information
Monday morning's Grand Opening Session set the stage for a powerful week ahead. Over 7,200 attendees from 70 countries worldwide packed the Mandalay Bay Events Center, where they were greeted with the sounds of a live rock band. Actor and comedian Martin Short, Master of Ceremonies entertained and energized the audience with a stint of political humor, in addition to belting lyrics from his favorite songs and conducting re-enactments from his most popular movies "Father of the Bride" and "The Three Amigos." Of course, he sought help from audience members, corralling a few customers to join him on stage as the 3 amigos!
Keynotes delivered by senior IBM executives Steve Mills, Jon Iwata and Ambuj Goyal, discussed the advantages of the information agenda approach. Customers, business partners, analysts and press gained knowledge of how Information On Demand unlocks the business value of information for competitive advantage. Ambuj Goyal highlighted IBM's success since the inception of Information On Demand since 2006. Steve Mills spoke about how IBM addresses the issues of risk, opportunity, and optimization with offerings that enable clients to understand what's happening in their business and why it's happening with trusted information.
Monday's session also included a client panel with Commerzbank, AmerisourceBergen and NYC's Office of Health and Human Services - hosted by IBM Senior Vice President, Jon Iwata. Each client reinforced the need for organizations to transform trusted information into a strategic asset. Khamlal Bherwani of NYC's OHHS stated, "It's critical to have the right information, at the right time, for the right people to make the right decisions". Shay Reid, Vice President of Operations for AmerisourceBergen stated, “Our focus demands that trusted information flows across the entire supply chain. Our work with IBM industry experts and IBM software products is helping to accelerate the delivery of our vision." And Jon Iwata closed the panel session with a poignant comment that "The world is increasingly becoming more instrumented, more interconnected, and as a result more intelligent. We are acutely aware of the imperative for the world to work with better information."
New IOD Community 'went viral' at IOD 2008!
The IOD 2008 Global Conference Community page was launched and in just minutes into the start of IOD 2008, bloggers were chatting on Twitter.
Top Analyst Quotes from Monday
"IOD is a solutions conference of the very best sort; one that provides customers the knowledge, tools and products they require to overcome common and profound business challenges."
- Charles King, Pund-IT
"IBM is doing an excellent job presenting the "umbrella" of IOD and all its components. One of those key components is IBM's business partners, and they are showing their amazing breadth and depth of capabilities."
- Judith Hurwitz, Hurwitz & Associates
Press Announcements
Five major press releases occurred on Monday. At the Information On Demand 2008 press conference, Nancy Pearson discussed IBM's efforts to advance its cross-company initiative around Information On Demand and information agenda. Initial news coverage from the conference appeared in the New York Times, eWeek, InformationWeek and several other key publications. Announcements were further highlighted in dedicated keynotes hosted by respective segment vice presidents and general managers.
View IBM's press releases from Monday: