Decision Management, IBM IMPACT and becoming an IBM Champion

I have been going to IBM IMPACT for a couple of years now. This year’s event is just around the corner – it starts on Sunday – and I am particularly excited about this one. While it’s not the first at which I have spoken, nor the first where there have been sessions on Decision Management, it does feel like the first where Decision Management will play a real role.

For instance, the Forbes Mini Main Tent will feature a Decision Management Solutions client talking about Decision Management as a strategic tool and he and I will then co-present on From business rules to decision-centric organization. On Tuesday I will be discussing Decision Management Trends with a great customer panel and then signing Decision Management Systems at the bookstore right after. Plus there are a ton of customer case studies and other sessions focused on Decision Management. In between I hope to hear some about IBM’s vision for Decision Management (among other things), catch up with the latest product demos and meet a bunch of folks working in the space. If you are planning to come, please drop by one of the sessions and say hi – I always like to meet blog readers.

Looking forward to IMPACT as I was, it was cool to be named an IBM Champion for Websphere.  I’d like to thank Jean Pommier and Ale Campioli  for nominating me – much appreciated! IBM says that they award the status to people who make a contribution to the broader community by blogging about their specialist subject (as I have been doing for years here at JTonEDM and previously elsewhere), by writing books (like Smart (Enough) Systems, the first book on Decision Management that Neil Raden and I wrote back in 2007 or Decision Management Systems, my new book), contributing thought leadership articles and white papers (see our library on decisionmanagementsolutions.com or check out the Decision Management Systems Platform Technologies report) and so on.

Being an IBM Champion is not a paid position but I certainly appreciate it as a nice way for IBM to recognize those who evangelize a topic and try to move the discussion forward.