Last week, I had a meeting with a customer about the Lotus Notes/Domino road-map.  In fact, I have had similar meetings like this in just a few days.  Typically the meeting begins by someone in the room suggesting that their users find Lotus Notes to be “clunky”.  This is my favorite conversation as I just love to be the bearer of good news great news!

Typically, in conversations like this, I can hardly contain my enthusiasm as a long list of complaints is presented to me.  I sit there. I listen. I take it.  But then, it is my turn to address each of the concerns with overwhelming responses.

Lotus Notes has never been about the technology but about a solution to a business problem.  It always has been, and still is the industry leader in rapid solution delivery to a business problem.  In fact, one of the main reasons that people call it clunky, is that applications have been developed with no particular budget to solve an immediate problem.  Therefore, just a few fields on the screen and some views with a clash of colours.   People, look at your developers, do they have a great dress sense?  Probably not.

You see in most cases it is simple to improve the user experience of Lotus Notes.  Just revisit those commonly used applications and give them a makeover.  Today with the introduction of xPages, users can experience a better work environment.

The next thing I like to share with a customer is the IBM Social Business strategy.  Project Vulcan is always good discussion.  What I like the most about it is the idea of what an exceptional work experience should look like.  The whole idea of integrated social business tools within a work environment is easy for people to understand.