Honest advice from a successful IBM partner!

Earlier this week I hosted one of our ISV Leadership Forum events at our IBM Innovation Center in Silicon Valley.  As part of the event we covered how partners can best leverage all of IBM investments in Smarter Cities, Smarter Analytics and Cloud Computing. Special thanks to all our partners who attended! As often occurs, the highlight of the event was when we had a partner share their experiences and advice in these areas for other’s to learn from.

This week we were thrilled to have Meghan Keough, VP of Marketing and Product Management at SignalDemand join us. If you don’t know SignalDemand — check them out, they have a very cool solution that leverages big data and predictive analytics to provide insights and optimization for commodity based value chains. Said simply – they help clients drive higher profit margins through better pricing, supply and volume decisions.

When Meghan spoke and was asked what advice she would give to other partners who want to work with IBM – she gave three tips:

1.  Adopt IBM Software where it makes sense for your business as an ISV. IBM has a ton of solutions that you can embed or leverage in your own company’s software solution, and you should take advantage of what IBM has to offer.
2. Get working on joint sales right away and bring some deals to the table. The quickest way to get the partnership going is to bring some deals to IBM and put some joint wins on the board. In doing so, IBM quickly engaged and began bringing SignalDemand into key opportunities that IBM was uncovering.
3. Be patient and keep working across IBM — once you get the gearbox working it’s a huge engine. Megan pointed out that IBM goes to market in three ways – by industry, by product/solution, and by “big plays.” Getting connected to leaders and sellers in all these areas helps drive success — and you have to keep working it given how large IBM is in the market. While it might take awhile, it pays off once you get the engine running!

I always love great advice from a partner that is honest and direct. Thanks Meghan for helping our partners learn how to be even more successful!

Memphis Police: Using Analytics to Fight Crime Before it Happens! A Solution from IBM and ESRI

The #1 question I am asked whenever I’m traveling for IBM is this – we love the Smarter Planet strategy from IBM, so can you give us some more examples of clients and partners that are getting smarter?

So going forward I’m going to make a much stronger effort to publish here on my blog the many, many examples I see every day all around the world.

Today’s is from the USA – good ole Memphis, TN – the country music capital of the world!

Memphis Police: Using Analytics to Fight Crime Before it Happens!

A Solution from IBM and ESRI

By following crime trends, Memphis Police can address, and event prevent, new ones.

What if you could better protect the public by stopping crime before it happens?
The Memphis Police Department gains unprecedented insight into where unlawful activity is most likely to occur, gaining a strategic advantage and transforming it ability to catch and convict criminals.

What was the situation?
In the city Memphis, violent crime was increasing at a rate of 2.5 percent, citizens were growing concerned and the police department faced frozen or shrinking budgets. Not only were resources stretched thin, but officers also spent hours in the office searching for crime-related information buried in spreadsheets and paper files. Without a more innovative way to increase the overall effectiveness of the department, officials struggled to predict, track, and respond swiftly to unfolding crime, and optimize limited resources and funds.

What makes it smarter?
If you are criminal, Memphis is not the place to be. This forward-thinking police department dramatically decreased criminal activity and increased conviction rates when it implemented an analytics solution with predictive modeling capabilities provided by IBM and our partner ESRI.  Now the department has unparalleled insight and visibility into criminal activity and crime trends as they are happening. Police have gained a huge advantage; specifically, the ability to identify and predict future crime hot spots. As such, the department can change tactics and redirect patrol resources as needed, to prevent crimes before they happen and catch more criminals in the act. For example, by identifying an increase in burglaries in a particular neighborhood, the department can—on short notice—dispatch officers to that area, on a particular day, at specific times. The solution also helps the department identify factors that may contribute to future crimes, such as abandoned housing.

What are the real business results?

• Reduced serious crime by 30 percent
• Reduced violent crime by 15 percent
• Increased conviction rates fourfold, from 16 percent to nearly 70 percent
• Realized 863 percent return on investment paid back in 2.7 months, with an average annual benefit of USD7,205,501

See the full story here