| May 8, 2018
Why I am excited about the HCL-IBM Partnership
Hello, let me introduce myself…
My name is Bryce Connors and I joined a small software company named Unica Corporation on April 3, 2000. I have been a part of “Unica” since that date. When Unica was acquired by IBM in 2010, I became an IBMer and the Unica products became known as IBM Marketing Software. On September 1, 2017, I joined HCL as part of the HCL/IBM Partnership for the IBM Marketing Software offerings – including the Campaign, Interact, Contact Optimization and Marketing Operations modules. For the past 18 years, I have been involved in services delivery for the Marketing Software Suite (formally, known as Unica). I’ve been so involved at and with Unica, that one of my Unica colleagues nicknamed me the “Mayor of Unica”.
My name is Bryce Connors and I joined a small software company named Unica Corporation on April 3, 2000. I have been a part of “Unica” since that date. When Unica was acquired by IBM in 2010, I became an IBMer and the Unica products became known as IBM Marketing Software. On September 1, 2017, I joined HCL as part of the HCL/IBM Partnership for the IBM Marketing Software offerings – including the Campaign, Interact, Contact Optimization and Marketing Operations modules. For the past 18 years, I have been involved in services delivery for the Marketing Software Suite (formally, known as Unica). I’ve been so involved at and with Unica, that one of my Unica colleagues nicknamed me the “Mayor of Unica”.
I started with Unica as a Business Solutions Consultant, helping marketers become productive end-users of the software – Campaign was the only module at that time. From there I managed Unica services engagements, first as a Project Manager and later as an Engagement Manager. I have been a Practice Leader of the Unica services practice at IBM and have that same role today at HCL. During this time, I’ve not only seen my career grow but that of others; both my colleagues and those at customers as well.
I’m very excited and proud to be at HCL and part of the HCL/IBM Partnership for the Marketing Software Suite. I have witnessed first hand the early benefits of the partnership and am excited to be part of the team that will help fulfill the benefits of this partnership for our existing and future customers.
HCL/IBM Partnership for IBM Marketing Software
Using the above slide, let me review the key highlights and share my first-hand perspective.
01 – IBM and HCL have entered into a 15+ year Intellectual Property (IP) partnership. HCL has set up a new division called HCL Products and Platforms.
a) 15 years is “long-term” – how many of us have committed to what we will be doing professionally for that long?
b) HCL’s Products and Platforms division started almost 3 years ago with two ex- IBMers and no “products”, now there are over 1,500 of us (including me) in this fast-growing HCL division and over 40 “products”!
c) HCL has a track record of making these partnerships with IBM work to benefit the customers/end-users of the software products and the team focused on the Marketing Software Suite is benefiting from the experience of the teams that came before us.
02 – IBM will continue to sell the IBM products through the IBM channel. HCL is responsible for development and support.
a) Yes, IBM still sells the product and as customers of IBM, you get the full benefits of being an IBM customer.
b) The entire Marketing Software Suite development team and level 2 & 3 support team joined HCL when I did.
c) IBM and HCL jointly develop the product roadmap (see 05 below).
a) Yes, IBM still sells the product and as customers of IBM, you get the full benefits of being an IBM customer.
b) The entire Marketing Software Suite development team and level 2 & 3 support team joined HCL when I did.
c) IBM and HCL jointly develop the product roadmap (see 05 below).
03 – All of the IBM development and support engineers will be joining HCL. Customers will continue to have access to the expertise of the labs.
a) The level 2 technical support engineers you have worked with over the years (both at Unica and IBM) are all here at HCL.
b) The level 2 support team continues to work with the level 3 support team to resolve issues and create patches/maintenance release – both teams are part of HCL.
c) The engineering team is at HCL and HCL is adding new engineers to deliver on the current and future product roadmaps.
a) The level 2 technical support engineers you have worked with over the years (both at Unica and IBM) are all here at HCL.
b) The level 2 support team continues to work with the level 3 support team to resolve issues and create patches/maintenance release – both teams are part of HCL.
c) The engineering team is at HCL and HCL is adding new engineers to deliver on the current and future product roadmaps.
04 – HCL has a Client Advocacy team building on IBM’s Lab Advocate program. This is a ‘hypercare’ approach to customer relationships.
a) The HCL ‘hypercare’ approach delivers a high-touch, highly interactive approach to relationships to provide the greatest value and service to customers through strong connections to our product experts.
b) HCL Client Advocates are members of our Support and Engineering Teams with broad Knowledge of the Marketing Software Suite products. They will work directly with your IBM account teams to ensure you are leveraging the value of your Marketing Software investment.
c) HCL Client Advocates proactively interact with customers provide a cohesive and collaborative approach to the client relationship, including interactions with development, support and offering management teams.
05 – HCL will be accelerating the product roadmaps and delivering new features and functionality.
a) The HCL and IBM Product Management teams have been busy collaborating on the product roadmaps for Campaign, Interact, Contact Optimization and Marketing Operations.
b) HCL and IBM have been jointly presenting the updated product roadmap since the Regional User Groups held last fall.
c) HCL and IBM have been working together to add previously submitted customer enhancements to the product roadmaps.
06 – HCL will be refreshing Lab Services offerings to provide customers higher ROI and faster time to value.
a) We are focusing on being more prescriptive and incorporating our collective experience into our implementation methodology.
b) For customers already in production with the Marketing Software Suite, we offer upgrade packages and application check-ups.
c) As part of the broader HCL, we have access to HCL teams that can provide managed service execution for both inbound and outbound campaigns.
a) The HCL ‘hypercare’ approach delivers a high-touch, highly interactive approach to relationships to provide the greatest value and service to customers through strong connections to our product experts.
b) HCL Client Advocates are members of our Support and Engineering Teams with broad Knowledge of the Marketing Software Suite products. They will work directly with your IBM account teams to ensure you are leveraging the value of your Marketing Software investment.
c) HCL Client Advocates proactively interact with customers provide a cohesive and collaborative approach to the client relationship, including interactions with development, support and offering management teams.
05 – HCL will be accelerating the product roadmaps and delivering new features and functionality.
a) The HCL and IBM Product Management teams have been busy collaborating on the product roadmaps for Campaign, Interact, Contact Optimization and Marketing Operations.
b) HCL and IBM have been jointly presenting the updated product roadmap since the Regional User Groups held last fall.
c) HCL and IBM have been working together to add previously submitted customer enhancements to the product roadmaps.
06 – HCL will be refreshing Lab Services offerings to provide customers higher ROI and faster time to value.
a) We are focusing on being more prescriptive and incorporating our collective experience into our implementation methodology.
b) For customers already in production with the Marketing Software Suite, we offer upgrade packages and application check-ups.
c) As part of the broader HCL, we have access to HCL teams that can provide managed service execution for both inbound and outbound campaigns.
Next Steps:
As I pen this blog entry, we are getting ready to release v11 of Campaign, Interact, Contact Optimization and Marketing Operations. We are also looking to future releases and planning including additional functionality to make the Marketing Software Suite even better! So, I encourage you to return to this site often and to become a part of the conversation. Submit enhancement requests via technical support, speak to the product managers and Client Advocates – we are all excited about the future and look forward to working with you!
As I pen this blog entry, we are getting ready to release v11 of Campaign, Interact, Contact Optimization and Marketing Operations. We are also looking to future releases and planning including additional functionality to make the Marketing Software Suite even better! So, I encourage you to return to this site often and to become a part of the conversation. Submit enhancement requests via technical support, speak to the product managers and Client Advocates – we are all excited about the future and look forward to working with you!
Bryce Connors
General Manager, Products & Platforms
General Manager, Products & Platforms
Marketing Platform, Campaign, Interact, Marketing Operations, Contact Optimization, and Opportunity Detect are trademarks of IBM Corporation, in at least one jurisdiction, and are used under license.
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Marketing & Commerce | June 10, 2019
Find out how your Feedbacks Can Influence the Next Release – TechConnect Sessions are Back!
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Marketing & Commerce | July 3, 2018
Stay Tuned – V11 Highlights
Before the 'WHAT’S NEW IN MARKETING SOFTWARE V11' webinar, I wanted to give you heads up for what’s coming in this release. V11 has been a very exciting release for IBM Marketing Software (IMS). This is the first release delivered by HCL Products and Platforms. This will be officially announced on 31st of May, however, GDPR toolkits are already available for existing customers. We are adding more support to the platforms with GSKIT, Sun JDK 1.8, Oracle 12.2 database client, Adobe Acrobat DC in Marketing Operations and Cognos v11. Suitewide Use the new Tool/ sample scripts which allow users to delete customers’ personal data from the application system tables so they comply with the new GDPR EU regulations that come into force on 25th May 2018 Reduce the service disruption when upgrading your marketing software suite using the new Fast Upgrade approach, a new installation and migration process will allow you to move from any supported version to version 11 in one step Campaign Understand your Campaign performance with Watson Assistant, use natural language to interact with Watson to discover how your Campaigns are performing. Access Cloudera data sources using the Impala ODBC Driver version 2.5.40 to improve the performance of working with big data. Using the latest version of the UBX Toolkit allow users to publish and subscribe to audiences from Campaign making integration with 3rd parties seamless. Integrate your offers easily with 3rd parties using the new REST APIs, link your offers to the content and send your offers to your email provider. Customers using WCA for SMS can now use the SMS response a customer sends back to build follow up activity. When using User Variables in the Extract process they are now copied to the template to reuse them across...
Marketing & Commerce | June 12, 2018
What’s New in Marketing Software v11 (formerly Unica)
Version 11.0 of the IBM Marketing Software (formerly Unica) is being released in June. Join us to hear about the changes we are making as part of HCL. Learn how you can interact with Watson to understand your Campaigns using natural language. See how you can use coverage analysis in the Interact simulator to understand how your campaigns will perform over time. Find out how we are helping you to be GDPR compliant. Register now!Speaker: Claire Timlin Product Manager IBM Marketing Software HCL Products & Platforms Date and Time: Tuesday, July 10, 2018 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM EDT Registration URL: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5385363263972478210 Marketing Platform, Campaign, Interact, Marketing Operations, Contact Optimization, and Opportunity Detect are trademarks of IBM Corporation, in at least one jurisdiction, and are used under license.
Hi there just wanted to give you a quick heads up.
The text in your content seem to be running off the screen in Firefox.
I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know.
The design look great though! Hope you get the
issue resolved soon. Cheers
Ok great, thanks for letting me know. I’ll inform our team. Many thanks! Bryce