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So, what the heck is IBM Smart Market?

by Bilal Jaffery on May 11, 2009 · Comments

in IBM,social media,web 2.0

IBM Smart Market

I’ll be honest with you — when my good friend and a fellow collegue Teri Michigan, introduced me to IBM Smart Market concept last year, I was impressed and a bit doubtful as well. I thought it sounded little too good to be true. The concept called for a business marketplace which could be as easy to use as amazon.com or Apple’s iPhone app store.  I honestly didn’t think that the site could mimic the great usability factor which is often witnessed in consumer oriented sites like amazon.com or Apple’s App store. C’mon, a business marketplace that is as easy to use as a consumer commerce site? You have got to be kidding..

To my surprise, I was proven wrong. The marketplace is online and wow, even my grandmother can use it. But before we get really excited, I wasn’t fully satisfied with initial number of applications that are offered right now.  When I went back to the IBM Smart Market team, I was *assured* that they are being added all the time (as applications get approved etc). Another little pet peeve, unlike amazon.com, commerce is not 100% online yet, (possibly due to technical requirements/customization) – but a link where IBM can contact the application vendor to get in touch with the customer. This would be tracked accordingly to ensure quality experience. However, I do believe that this process will be further streamlined in the near future.

According to Smart Market site ,

IBM Smart Business is a new, easier way for small and midsize organizations to find, buy and manage all of the applications they need to run a smarter business.

The marketplace allows ISVs to publish their applications for the platform, and customers will have the assurance that everything available will work, from the start — without any compatiblity problems. In other words, there is no need to figure out what will work or what will not work with your system, everything on the site is guaranteed to work on the Smart Market business platform a.k.a Smart Cube. The Cube includes all kinds of software (operating system, database, systems management software etc).

I am also impressed with the implementation of the community powered rating system, much like iPhone Store, Amazon and others, which allows you to rate the best applications as well. Good work Smart Market Team. Kudos!

In the mean time, check out the IBM Technical White Paper . In conclusion, I was wrong and it is very much aligned with the idealogy that follows the Lotus Foundations platform — simple, easy and efficient. Take the tour today!

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Tagged as: IBM, lotus foundations, small business market, smart cube, smart market, smarter planet, smb, SME

  • Awesome, now we have two grandmothers who are interested in ERP systems. Volume discounts?

    On a serious note, yes, my apologies for not linking to the smart cube initiative.

    Check out this neat little flash presentation.

    http://www.ibm.com/smartmarket/us/en/about/howw...
  • next time my grandmother asks me where to get an ERP system running on a Smart Cube I will send her straight to the IBM smart market.
    Shouldn't you tell people what a Smart Cube is? I had never heard of one until today. I think from the description it is the nom-du-jour of the AS/400 but I am not really sure.
  • just a bad name, appstore is used and IBM couldn't come up with something memorable for normal every day people?
    And wait, when the Smart marketing experiment ends within a year, will this get renamed too?
    I went to see what is on offer to 1-49 person companies and what do I see leading, Quickbooks.
    Because IBM owns it? So if we are selling just anything out there, why is this site necessary?
    then see this for collab(smartcube) offerring.
    http://www.ibm.com/smartmarket/us/en/_/N-bZgZ1z...

    A bit way overboard for a 1-49 person company no?
    I can buy or build servers for under $3,000, who are you kidding that will pay another $10K for a server, even if it is an as/400.
  • Michelle Rehak
    Keith
    Appreciate the comments. I am going to check out the listing you mentioned because it does seem a little overboard for a 1 - 49 employee company.
    The server you mentioned is not just a server. It comes with software that allows you to recive software downloads automatically, security is maintained by IBM and since it is always connected you can do daily back ups and IBM provides tech support for the application, middleware and the hardware. The base price of the Cube is just over $4700.
  • Michelle,

    So for the full price do they get a lifetime of IBM maintenance and support? Not likely.
    So if the box only costs $4,700 and the license are a few hundred that means IBM wants 1,000 a month roughly to maintain the server?
    Not a bad price perhaps but the customer will still be paying for IT support staff which means in essence this is another expense and I don't see a small company doing this.
    Of course, IBM is a very large company and there are places this works.
  • David Zhang
    Good discussion! you are getting closer to the key value of IBM Smart Business. It's the simplicity, not just the application search on IBM Smart Market, but also the simplicity of manging the overall environment and technical support. Whenever you have a problem, always use IBM Smart Market as the first contact point to find support, including Cube, application. That will lower both the IT resource and IT skill requirement for the technical support for these Small and Medium Business.

    Our market reseach has shown "solution integration", "simplicity" and "low cost" are the top priorities for SMB application market. IBM Smart Buisness is moving into that direction to leave the SMB clients to use the right application to manage and grow their business, not to worry about IT operation and support..

    The Smart Cube comes with 1 year warranty for all the hardware and software elements. Additional support service can be purchased after that. New subscription model is also being explored.

    Again, very good feedback.. let's keep this going for this new business.
  • On the home page I hovered over Product Category and selected CRM.

    The first three listings that come up are definitely focused on CRM, but the rest do not seem to have anything to do with it. So, IMHO it's not really all that Smart.

    According to Wikipedia a market is something through which "persons trade, and goods and services are exchanged", but as noted above, you can't actually buy the product. So, IMHO it's not really a Market.
  • Michelle Rehak
    Thanks for the feedback - will take your comments to heart when we update the site.
  • I visited the site. I love the concept. Liked the simple interface and the experience - especially the simplicity. How refreshing.

    I decided I would like to get eProductivity listed in the catalog. Spent 3 min to find the business partner link - but I did find it. Clicked and....

    It took me to PartnerWorld.

    Unfortunately, my PartnerWorld account has not worked properly in ages. Fortunately, I have folks from IBM looking into it and I hope to have a solution in the coming weeks.

    So much for simplicity.

    Seriously, though, I see this as a positive step from IBM. I look forward to seeing how they will market it.
  • Thanks for the comments, I did mention that I didn't like the fact that IBM tells the vendor to call the customer.

    Feedback is always appreciated, I'll be sending this out to the teams.
  • "The concept called for a business marketplace which could be as easy to use as amazon.com or Apple’s iPhone app store."

    Wrong.

    "Thank you!

    We have received your message.

    We're excited to create an IBM Smart Business integrated solution for you that includes XXXXXXXXXXXXX.

    We'll be in touch with you shortly using the contact information you provided to discuss additional details"

    Try again.
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