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Look up in the sky...it's a bird...it's a plane it's.....the Notes Defender?



Yes. I am the "Notes Defender".  

I can replicate a database faster than anyone on earth.
I can access data from the clouds.
My databases are impenetrable from hackers.

During the day, I am a mild mannered owner of a Lotus Notes development company.

Aside from my duties of providing Notes and Mobile solutions to my clients,  I have (out of necessity) become  the reluctant Lotus Notes defender.

I really do not understand why I even need to fight this fight.  

Lotus Notes is the greatest development and collaborative platform on the planet.

Lately there have been a  new crop of companies that claim to be cutting edge but really have taken ideas that have existed and have been available for quite some time within Lotus Notes.

Lotus Notes is the Swiss army knife of software.

It has the following functionality....

• cloud
• storage
• security
• email
• calendar
• mobile
• social media
• instant messaging and corporate awareness
• virtual meeting rooms
• create  back ups of data bases to your hearts content
• offline disconnected use
• ability for rapid development
• and actually much much more. - I have listed other capabilities in my other blog posts.

Below I will list well known products that are ALL the new rage.

With each product I will list the Lotus Notes equivalent......

Drop Box -  helps you store "stuff" like documents, pics etc in the cloud so a user can access them from ANY device.  

Lotus Notes Equivalent - Anyone ever here of your Lotus Notes mail file?   Better yet....how about creating folders in your mail file. Did you know you can access your email file on ANY mobile device and the web?

Create folders for pics, music, trips etc and access them from anywhere.  Try it today....you may like it.

Basecamp - this is an online tool to help organizations keep track of discussion and to-dos pertaining to projects -  Discussion Db

Lotus Notes Equivalent - The Lotus Notes Discussion database.

Chatter - offered by salesfoce.com.  This is basically corporate instant messaging.

Lotus Notes Equivalent - Lotus Sametime

Gotomeeting and Webex  -

Lotus Notes Equivalent -  Lotus Sametime .  

Saleforce.com  - Cloud CRM

Lotus Notes Equivalent -  ACT! for Notes    -  Here is a secret....Lotus Notes db's are ALL web enabled.  And now with XPages, a Lotus Notes database can be made into an awesome web and mobile application.  The user would not know ( or care) that their application has a Lotus Notes backend.

And.....with ACT! for Notes you can work when you are disconnected from the internet.  

Mobile CRM  - Ability to user CRM applications on ANY Mobile device.  

Lotus Notes Equivalent -  VMobile

Ripple -  Social interaction within an organization.  Think of Facebook but for workers within your company.

Lotus Notes Equivalent - Lotus Connections

SharePoint -  MS's attempt to replicate ( no pun intended) offline capability that Lotus Notes users enjoy  

Lotus Notes Equivalent-  The  Lotus Notes platform

Outlook  - MS email, Calendar and NAB.

Lotus Notes Equivalent - Lotus Notes Calendar,  email and Personal Name and Address Book

Exchange - Server

Lotus Notes Equivalent - I really hate saying that  Domino is the equivalent since it does so much more then Exchange but for now it will do.


So look...I understand that newer products have advantages like simpler user interfaces etc.

But new is not always better.  Look at new construction .  Buildings are built faster than ever but are they better then the old construction?

The house I live in was built in 1935 and I have less problems then a friend of mine who moved into a brand new home.

My point simply is....we think there is a lot of innovation going on but all I see is the same things packaged a little differently.

There is one platform that is proven and does it all.... albeit something's better than others.

Maybe that is the problem?

Posted by Joe Singer At 10:23:36 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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We are moving off of Lotus Notes.

I have had it.  It is to expensive to maintain.  My users hate it.  They all complain that not one of their friends from other companies use it "so why do we" they say.

Usually an absolutely brilliant NEW SVP or EVP or whatever the highest title there is comes into the organization and wants to right away make their mark.

"The first thing I am going to do is revaluate all of our applications.  I will cut costs where needed and upgrade where I think we need to upgrade."

I will save this company .....because I know what is best.



One of the casualties that usually comes out of this type of scenario is the migration off of Lotus Notes.

I talk about this all the time.  IBM/ Lotus themselves is not even aware how much I as well as the rest of my company fight tooth and nail to keep Lotus running in organizations.

In fact....sometimes ACT! for Notes is the only reason Lotus Notes is NOT ripped out.

Even if the complaints about Lotus Notes are valid what are your better alternatives?

Lets take a step back.  

If you were the head of IT and were looking for a platform for email plus your mission critical applications what would you look for....

1. A Platform  that is stable and yet cutting edge with features.
2. A platform that promotes social networking
3. A platform that promotes cloud computing
4. A platform that promotes a SaS environment if needed.
5. A platform that is secure -  meaning does not get hacked into....ever.
6. A platform that supports offline use - meaning NOT connected to the internet and you can still work in island mode.
7. A platform that is collaborative in nature - meaning users can share information
8. A platform  that promotes rapid application development


Can you answer yes to ALL of the above requirements if you are considering Microsoft or Google Apps?

No you can not.  Not only that...the items you can not say yes to are the most important ie. security, rapid development, and off-line use.

Can you answer yes to ALL of the above requirements in the context of Lotus Notes..... yes you can.

So why then are so many organizations moving off of Lotus Notes?

Ignorance.  Plain and simple.  

Like I have said before...most do not know the difference between a Lotus Notes and a Posted Note.

Most think Lotus Notes is  Lotus 1-2-3.



Others think Lotus Notes is just an EMAIL system.

The cost of ownership usually comes up as well.

It is true Lotus Notes cost money to maintain.  You do get what you pay for especially when it comes to software.

Other platforms are less expensive.    Moving off of the Lotus Notes platform simply to save on annual fees is shortsighted at best.

Although MS and Google are less expensive ....the conversion is a significant  project that takes years and years to fully complete.

Rewriting ALL of your applications that you use in Lotus Notes will cost a major amount of money.

You will need other resources with skill sets that are different they what they have now.

All of this work and all of this money spent to move off of lotus notes and what do you get?

I am really not sure.  I would love for someone to tell me so I can stop writing posts about this subject.

I had been working with a CIO at a major public company.  He was one of my best clients for years.  He tried to move his organization off of Lotus Notes to Google Apps to save money.

He is no longer with that company.

Posted by Joe Singer At 01:09:54 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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Lotus Notes has been dead as long as I can remember.

LONG LIVE LOTUS NOTES!!!

I wish it would just go away already.  If it went away like 8 track tapes, or the VHS my life would be so much simpler.

For one thing...I would not have to worry about closing deals for my company  Vigilus.  We happen to be Lotus Notes experts of all things.

My friends and family who think Lotus Notes is dead can stop feeling bad for me owning a company with a dead end product on a dead end platform like Notes.



The truth is....Lotus Notes is very much alive.

With over 30 percent of the enterprise marketshare, you would think it would have a better reputation.  

But no....Lotus Notes has the worst reputation of any successful company I have ever seen.

So, it has become my mission to show the world that Lotus Notes can be really cool as you can read in this POST.

Below are 5 ways Lotus Notes can be cool...




1. Mobilize your Lotus Notes databases -  You or a company like Vigilus can upgrade your EXISTING Lotus Notes databases such that they become true Mobile applications for ANY mobile device.  One size can fit all.   How you ask?  With IBM XPages.  By inserting a little code....your Lotus Notes db can be made available on iphones, iPads, Androids and Blackberrys.

I have proof as this is what Vigilus is doing for our clients and the best selling Lotus Notes CRM application ACT! for Lotus Notes.

2. Invest in iPhones and iPads -  just buy them. Everyone wants them and you want your workers to enjoy working in your company.

This is the easiest way to get your workers to think you and your company is cool.

These are two of the greatest pieces of technology of our generation.    The Android is just not as good and not as fun.

More then ever the enterprise is adopting Apple products in the workplace in droves.  And yes...you can get your Lotus Calendar and email to sync on your iPhone and iPad.  

Your new upgraded Lotus Notes db's will look awesome .  Check out Screen shots of how we mobilized ACT! for Lotus Notes CRM  for the...... iPad and iPhone

3.  Do not follow the crowd -  The crowd wants you to move off of Lotus Notes.  The crowd does not understand Lotus.  The crowd is dumb.

All they know is what they hear from sound bites and advertisements.

They are moving to Salesforce.com.  Why?   They do not really know why.  Oh...it is in the cloud.  So is Lotus.  But they integrate with social platforms....so does Lotus.

I can go into so many reasons why Lotus is STILL the best but I have done that in so many posts.  Check out this POST and read why Companies are going BACK to Lotus Notes.

4. Get the web plug in from Lotus - In ND 8.5.4 there will be a plug in available that allows you to make ANY Lotus Notes db available over the web.

This is different then mobilizing for smartphones.  The plug in will allow users to pull up their Notes applications while on their PC's.  This is a free plug in and no Development is required to make this happen.

5.  Mobilize your Lotus Notes databases -   Did I mention that Vigilus can Mobilize ANY existing Lotus Notes application for mobile devices?

Without having to recreate the wheel....you can easily mobilize your EXISTING Lotus database and make them available on ANY mobile device.

This is sooooo cool and nice I had to mention it twice!!!!

If you need proof check out what Vigilus has done to mobilize the Lotus Notes CRM application ACT! for Notes.

Your users will love it.

How would you make Lotus Notes cool?

Posted by Joe Singer At 02:36:13 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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"It's a girl"..... I yelled!!!!

That was one of two jobs I had when my wife gave birth to our beautiful baby girl Sienna Drew Singer.

The second job was to cut the umbilical  cord  which I did without a hitch.

The umbilical cord reminded me of calamari. :)

What an amazing experience to see a new person coming into the world.  



Sienna Drew Singer born Dec 22 2011

A child represents a perfectly clean canvas.  You have the opportunity to try and arm your child with the right tools that will take her through life.

I can not help but  to draw comparisons on how deploying brand new software like a CRM solution is somewhat similar.

The business owner in your company makes the decision to deploy software to your users.

They are the Parents of this new application.  This software is a reflection on  this business owner for better or worse.  

Everyone is excited about this new software. A new beginning  is upon your company which also represents great potential.

But....much like a neglected child, without proper direction and training  your software will become useless and more of a problem than a blessing.

So what can you do to make sure your new CRM software is successful and makes papa proud.

1. Take ownership  - there needs to be parental guidance with software from the business owner.  You can not be one of those parents who let their kids decide what time to go to bed. YOU have to set the rules.  They do not need you to be a friend....they need a parent.  The same goes for software .  Create a "BEST PRACTICES" document for how to enter data.  This will ensure uniform data entry throughout the organization.  Why is this important ....because the more uniform the data entry is the more accurate your reports will be.
2. Train your users -   You send your kids to school on average for 22 years. Some cases more .  Train your users!  Your end users need training on how to use this application.  Spend for training do not cheap out.  Training is the number 1 thing you can do to ensure your CRM application is successful
3. Understand your user's needs -  Sometimes your baby has gas so you need to stop your scheduled feeding for a little help to burp them.  Even though you are on a strict schedule, you had to modify your plan based on how your child was reacting.  The same goes for your users.  Maybe you thought you needed the software for one thing but found a new feature that may help in a big way in another area.  This is ok and normal as you get used to using your software.  Your vendor should be their to guide you much like a baby nurse.
4. Listen to your users - although you set the rules as parents sometimes you have to amend those rules as they become irrelevant.  The same is true with software. Make sure your users feel like you are trying to benefit them with CRM software. They need to know you are trying to make their lives easier not just making sure you get those reports that management needs.
5. Have fun - Being a parent is stressful and sometimes you wonder if  you have what it takes to do it.  You forget one of the most important aspects of all of this.....HAVE FUN!!!  Believe it or not, software can be fun too!  You have to allow yourself to have fun with it though .  For example - Let your users have an iPhone so they can use their CRM application on it.  Thank you Steve Jobs and thank you Vigilus for creating a Mobile app for iPhones, iPads, Androids and Blackberrys..
   
   The relationship you have with your Vendor is key to all of the above.  You need to have a guidance counselor or Mentor.
   
   My company for example has worked with hundreds of organizations identifying needs and nurturing end users.  We are the baby nurse.  
   
   Contact us for swaddling lessons anytime.....literally.....Vigilus never sleeps.  Nor do I since the birth of Sienna.
   
   
   
   
   

Posted by Joe Singer At 12:19:42 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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My car was skidding all over the place.

I had been warned but I did not believe a huge nor'easter would really hit us with 16 inches of snow in the month of October.

My wife and I had to be on Long Island for a family party and we live in CT.

She was also 7 months pregnant at the time.

My mother offered the day before to put us up in a hotel but we respectfully declined and decided we wanted to drive home.

Wow was that a mistake.

I had never seen conditions worse in my life and I live in an area where it gets pretty bad in the winter.

We got home safe out of pure luck....thankfully.

That was the good news.  The bad news is we lost power and would not have it back for another 9 days.




So, we stayed home for a day trying to make the best of it.  No power, phone etc.

BUT.....I still had my laptop with a fully charged battery and I needed to do some work in  Lotus Notes applications like my product ACT! for Lotus Notes.

I was able to get a lot of work done.  Create emails that would later go out once I was in a place where I was connected to a server.

I needed to call some clients and I was able to again because I was working Locally.

And ...it dawned on me.  What happens to people when they rely on applications that ONLY work in the cloud.

How would they be productive if not connected?  The answer....they are not.

Not having power for 9 days does not happen often although....it certainly seems like it is happening more often then I would like.

We ended up driving back to Long Island and moving in with my mother for a the week.  

She had power and wireless internet.  As soon as I got there....I got on to her network and was able to send out all the emails I had created locally when I had no power and those emails were sent.

My clients had no idea I had been without power and they did not care....and why should they?

Vigilus never sleeps and is always opened no matter what.

Before your organization decides to go off into the cloud..... make sure they understand the risks.....that's all I am saying.

How often is it that you are at work and the server goes down and everyone stops working.

I bet often.

I am not going to get into all of the other risks like security etc.

Remember when you use Lotus Notes applications like email, ACT! for Notes etc, you can use these applications...

• disconnected from the server
• connected
• via a web browser
• ACT! for Notes can be used on iPads, iPhones , Androids and Blackberrys
  
  What can your CRM and email system do?
  

Posted by Joe Singer At 02:47:49 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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"Lotus Notes is dead."  

That was what I was told the first day of my new job back in 1999.  My job was to sell a Lotus Notes CRM application.

My boss was the one telling me Lotus Notes was a dead platform.  I couldn't help thinking that information would have been helpful during my interview ...no?

I was young.....at the time I did not know the difference between a Lotus Note and a Posted Note.  

I started reading everything I could about Lotus Notes.  What it was, why organizations deploy it, what it was good for and most of all....why everyone seemed to hate it.

I came to realize that everyone did NOT seem to hate Lotus Notes only the people who really did not understand what it was.

Some thought it was an email system.

Some thought it was Lotus 1-2-3.

Some thought it was a form of torture that was now outlawed under the Geneva Convention that only Dick Cheney would endorse

How could it be that really no one understood what Lotus Notes was/is?

I blamed Lotus and once  IBM bought Lotus...I blamed IBM for NOT communicating what it was.

Let me put it this way....... If Steve Jobs ran Lotus and Lotus was exactly what it is today.....you can bet people would be saying how amazing Lotus Notes is.



I am not kidding either.

Lotus Notes is......

• Social media
• Cloud computing
• Software as a Service (SaS)
• Collaboration
• Disconnected use
• Instant messaging
• On-line Meeting Room
• Secure software platform
• Developer Platform for rapid development
  
  ALL in one platform !!!
  
  Oh by the way...it happens to have email and calendaring.
  
  It was just never made cool .  That is it.   That is the only issue with Lotus Notes.
  
  No other platform comes close in functionality.  
  
  Still today I hear Lotus Notes is dead.  
  
  Fact is there are 35 million Lotus Notes users WorldWide.  There are almost the same amount of Exchange Users to give you scope.
  
  So why do organizations move off of Lotus Notes?
  
  Most of the time a new Director or VP  comes into a company having never used Lotus Notes in previous jobs and their first order of business is to modernize the company.
  
  They say things like "Lotus Notes?   Lotus Notes?    You guys have been using what?   We need to migrate over to Exchange or Google Asap.  We need to bring this company into the 21st century"  
  
  blah blah blah.
  
  Look...for some companies there are times when it does make sense to migrate away depending on your requirements and resources available .
  
  The only time when it really makes sense to move away  is when a merger takes place.  Usually the the company that acquires another migrates that new company to their existing platform.
  That to me makes sense.
  
  But otherwise it is usually a waste of time and money.
  
  Companies usually find out how stupid and expensive it is to move off once they begin the process and realize they now have to recreate all of the mission critical  Lotus Notes applications
  that the company uses from scratch.
  
  Recreating these applications usually cost 10 times more money not to mention 10 times more in  time to recreate something that already exists.
  
  The end result will be an overwhelming nostalgia for the good ole days when you had the Lotus Notes platform.  
  
  The way I see it....Lotus Notes is soooo uncool that it is cool like Ocean Pacific bathing suites or Members Only Jackets.
  
  How would you make Lotus Notes cool if given the chance?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Posted by Joe Singer At 03:04:39 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Have you heard of IBM XPages?

Well you need to know .

Basically, you can take your existing old and tired Lotus Notes applications that you have been using for the last ten years and transform the existing code with XPages.

I say old and tired as they may not look modern but they still get the job done.

XPages will allow your users to use those same applications on their Mobile Devices (smartphones, Ipads etc)  and on ANY web Browsers.

On top of that....if you have users who only want to use those same applications on the Lotus Client.....they STILL CAN?

So....with one stream of code you can kill all birds with one stone.

This is a huge solution especially for organizations who are moving off of Lotus Notes.

All you need is one server to house the apps.  Your users can access those same applications in the cloud.

Tell them you just bought NEW applications.  They will think they are so cool since they now can use them on the web , ipads, and smartphones.

Upgrading your applications with XPages is such a no brainer.

For starters....because Lotus Notes is a rapid development platform, many applications that run your business were built relatively inexpensively but are really feature rich.

So rather then recreating these applications or looking to migrate to another application....XPages allows you to keep those same applications, leverage past investments, save on training since the applications will are not changing and most importantly insure user adoption since there will be no learning curve.

All this for a very small price.  I am not kidding about that either.

To me....this sounds to good to be true but it is the real deal.

In fact Vigilus is transforming our oun lotus database with XPages?

Are you interested? You should be.

Contact me and I would be happy to chat.

Posted by Joe Singer At 02:14:34 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

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"The well known dirty little secret is that, for the most part, it is not the technology or coding techniques or development tools that determine the success of a software product. Rather, it is whether the software tool meets a real (or in some cases imagined) USER need."

This is a quote I heard today 9/1/11 from Jaime Zapata a Principal Owner here at Vigilus.

Posted by Joe Singer At 05:09:47 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

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I posted on facebook that I liked some movie.  Because of that post, 600 of my closest friends now know that I liked that movie.

Odds are from a marketing standpoint they are in the same demographic as me and because I gave a positive review they may trust my endorsement over say Roger Ebert or some T.V commercial.

There you have it....the real benefit of social media from a marketing perspective.  Very easy to understand.

What is not easy to understand is Social CRM.  By now you know my company has a CRM application for the Lotus Notes Platform.

We help organizations collaborate with each other with regards to  their clients.  At any given moment, a user can look up a contact and see ALL interactions with that client, what opportunities have been won , lost or on hold and when was the last time emails were sent/received or the last time  a conversation occurred.

But is it important to know when that same contact posted something on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn?  

I am not sure about that.....in fact yes....I am sure of it.  It is not important. There I said it.

Recently my organization was selected to be in a CRM contest called CRM idol.  Same concept as American Idol except for CRM dorks like me.  :)

You can see the review the judges gave me here....Review

The judges were disappointed that Twitter feeds do not get automatically fed into and documented in my product.

They also could not understand why someone would export information out of ACT for Notes and into excel to analyze data but that is another story.

So forgive my ignorance but why is knowing when some one posts something on Twitter so important that it needs to be recorded in your corporate CRM application?

Again...I understand social media very well.  I am on LinkedIN, facebook, Twitter etc.

 In fact in ACT for Notes  users CAN get to facebook, twitter and LinkedIN without leaving the application.  Isn't that enough?

And what happens when social media backfires?

Say one of your clients gets off the phone with YOU and then posts on Twitter what a jackass you are......do you need/want to record that in your CRM application and then share that important information with the rest of your organization?  I guess it is important if your client calls you a jackass.

To that end...I do want to thank the judges from CRM idol . They did do a great job and they have provided a platform for small companies like mine to make others aware of what we do and offer.

Posted by Joe Singer At 03:59:24 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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Your company is trimming costs.  If they are not....they will and very soon.

You are trying to de-leverage  and simplify your IT environment  in terms of both hardware and software.

The trend is .....sure we will pay more for the software as a service monthly fees  if we save on IT resources, hardware and software.

So what should you do.

Well.... the first thing is....you should outsource your servers.  Meaning....pay an organization to maintain your servers off site.  This is a very affordable and reliable strategy.

Prominic is a very reliable outfit.  In fact....Vigilus ourselves use them to host all of our severs and they NEVER go down. They handle all server upgrades and any issues with our Mail file.

Another company to use is Phase2.  They are very affordable and great to work with as well.

Below is a screenshot of my real Mail file.  Even though we are a NJ company....our servers are in Chicago.



Your users will not know the difference.  They access the server just like they do now but the server lives somewhere else instead of within your organization.

Really good  value proposition.

Once you set that up....you can allow Vigilus access to the server where ACT! for Lotus Notes lives.

Have Vigilus virtually take care....

•  ACT! for Notes version  upgrades
• If we make enhancements....Vigilus can replace the design of your database with the new version virtually
• Data management
• Database configuration
• Database maintenance
• Add users
• Archive management
  
  This is a really cost efficient way to get the most out of your AFN database.
  
  Let Vigilus be your virtual database admins.  It makes so much sense to have the experts/developers of AFN be your database admins.
  
  Even if your servers are hosted in house....all you need to do is grant permission for us to access your server remotely.
  
  Think about it.   It is a much less expensive option and you will be getting much better service.
  
  Contact me directly at jsinger@vigilus.net.
  

Posted by Joe Singer At 10:11:26 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)