IBM in a
Virtual
Setting
A Case Study
Kelly Skinner
Tom Swenson
Matt Westrum
IBM has embraced the virtual business environment like no other business. While other
companies may claim to have explored virtual environments for businesses purposes, IBM has
arguably invested more capital into virtual endeavors than any other corporation. The firm has
invested in virtual worlds in a variety of ways: it has hosted the Global Innovation Outlook
meeting, which was a joint venture between IBM and students and faculty at USC’s Marshall
School of Business; IBM’s Academy of Technology hosted both a Virtual World Conference
and its general meeting in virtual worlds, and finally, IBM’s virtual campus features the highly
successful Virtual Green Data Center as well as a virtual sales center.
Organizational Background:
IBM has the largest presence in Second Life of any Fortune 500 company (Reuters,
2007). This could not be more fitting, given IBM’s presence in the computer and technology
sector. It manufactures software and hardware as well as technological infrastructure, such as
servers. IBM has been in this industry since its inception in 1917 as the International Business
Machines Company (Frequently Asked Questions, n.d.). IBM currently employs about 400,000
employees (About IBM, n.d.). Before venturing into the details of IBM’s virtual endeavors, it is
important to understand the extent of the company’s investment in virtual worlds. In 2007 alone,
IBM spent approximately $10 billion to expand the company’s Second Life presence as well as
to develop its own 3D intranet. IBM owns 6 islands, both public and private, and has over 230
employees spending at least some of their time at these virtual islands on a daily basis.
Skinner, Swenson, Westrum 2
The Challenge:
IBM virtual spokesman Roo Reynolds explained the reasoning behind IBM’s expansion
into virtual business: “e-business was a strategy for us, why not v-business?” (Reuters, 2006).
IBM envisions the company breaking into virtual business much more quickly than it broke into
the e-business market (Reuters,
2006). Breaking into the v-business
market was IBM’s challenge and
creating an all-encompassing IBM
Second Life campus was the answer.
The campus is a virtual vehicle for
their key objectives: education, sales,
IBM Theatre: Part of IBM’s Virtual Business Center
and business communication.
The Second Life campus features an educational aspect for its new products, for example,
the Virtual Green Data Center (see right). In addition, IBM created a virtual sales and customer
service center, where customers can
interact with real IBM sales
representatives through avatars as
well as access product guides and
troubleshooting handbooks (Reuters,
2006). Finally, IBM sought to
successfully use Second Life to hold
IBM Virtual Business Center In-world Map
virtual meetings and conferences.
Skinner, Swenson, Westrum 3
Why 3D? :
The utilization of the 3D virtual environment by IBM is essentially the brainchild of
IBM’s Academy of Technology. The Academy of Technology (AoT) is comprised of a “select
group of 330 thought leaders and technology innovators” from IBM (How Meeting in Second...,
n.d.). The organization is responsible for “identifying and pursuing technical developments and
opportunities, improving IBM’s technology base, and developing IBM’s technical community,”
(How Meeting in Second..., n.d.). For the Academy, an extension into 3D virtual environments is
a natural evolution of the business world, given the rapidly developing technology. IBM’s
whole-hearted embrace of 3D virtual environments came from Neil Katz, an AoT member and
IBM engineer, and Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Vice-Chairman Emeritus of the AoT. IBM created
a Second Life extension back in 2006 (Cherbakov, 2009), but it was used mainly by IBM
technology support personnel and was not expanded until 2008 when Katz suggested holding an
AoT conference on virtual worlds, while the Vice-Chairman Emeritus took it a step further,
suggesting that the conference on virtual worlds would be held in a virtual world: Second Life. A
consensus was met and the AoT Virtual World Conference was scheduled for October 2008
(How Meeting in Second..., n.d.).
Making the Case:
In addition to the desire to transfer from e-business to v-business, trouble in the global
economy and financial markets gave the AoT even more of a reason to hold a conference
virtually. The expenditures required in hosting an in-person event would send the wrong kind of
message with the given economy, event organizers agreed. Thus the Academy of Technology
Skinner, Swenson, Westrum 4
had extra momentum to spend the money to expand the existing Second Life islands and prepare
for the Virtual World conference.
A Virtual World Conference was approved and scheduled for October 21st, 2008. Joanne
Martin, the President of the Academy of Technology, said, “Second Life provided an opportunity
for us to have a positive social and technical exchange, addressing most of our collaboration
objectives,” (How Meeting in Second…, n.d.).
The Solution:
On October 21st, 2008, IBM opened up their virtual world for over 200 guests from
around the globe for the Academy of Technology Virtual World Conference. On the schedule
were three keynote speakers and 37 breakout sessions for the guests to attend (How Meeting in
Second…, n.d.).
As guests arrived, they were greeted by conference concierge avatars to help get them
pointed in the right direction. IBM had also placed kiosks around the islands to easily teleport
guests into and out-of sessions. In order to make the
experience even more interactive, IBM set up the
islands to allow presenters more freedom in how to
create their presentations. One great example of this
was a presenter who placed slides all around a
AoT Virtual Conference
conference room and instead of the avatars simply sitting and watching a typical PowerPoint
presentation, they were able to walk from slide-to-slide during the meeting (How Meeting in
Second…, n.d.).
Skinner, Swenson, Westrum 5
IBM experienced great success in the Virtual World Conference (see Benefits section).
With the success in saving money as well as holding an effective conference, IBM continued to
use their Second Life islands for more conferences and meetings to further their key learning
objectives of education, sales, and business communication.
IBM’s virtual Global Innovation Outlook meeting is another example of how IBM
successfully presented itself in Second Life. IBM collaborated with students and faculty at the
USC’s Marshall School of Business to discuss Smarter Cities. There were four goals for the
meeting: to “gain insight from influencers related to smarter
GIO Pt. 1 Conference Room
cities, to explore the effectiveness of virtual space for
external collaboration, to distinguish IBM as a leader in
collaboration innovation, [and to] extend relationship
building on an existing IBM partnership,” (Gandhi, 2010).
The meeting unfolded in three stages. After an orientation
session to familiarize attendees to Second Life, a discussion was held in a traditional conference
room environment (see Pt. 1 image).
Next, avatars worked with an interactive “Opinionator.” The Opinionator allowed avatars
to answer questions based on their movements (see Pt. 2 image).
GIO Pt. 2 Opinionator
Using the Opinionator tool, different categories were separated
into different areas of the board, and avatars would move to
signify their answer to the question (Gandhi, 2010). For example,
participants were asked “If you were the mayor of Los Angeles,
which urban system would you make a priority?” and then participants would move to their
answer.
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The final activity in the Global Innovation
GIO Pt. 3 BrainBoard
Outlook meeting was the “BrainBoard.” The
BrainBoard (see Pt. 3 image) is a virtual bulletin
board where participants were asked questions, and
to respond, each participant attached a note card
with their answer to the bulletin board (Gandhi,
2010).
`The Virtual Green Data Center is another great example of IBM’s expansion into virtual
worlds as not only a business tool, but an
education vehicle. The Data Center was
used to educate both IBM’s own employees
as well as others about the newest Green
technologies available from IBM. The
Virtual Green Data Center is a
demonstration of an energy-efficient data center. The first
Virtual Green Data Center
floor allows visitors to see IBM storage systems and IBM
servers functioning with IBM’s latest energy efficient
technology. The second floor provides information about
the IBM services which assist the assessment of your current energy-efficiency status as well as
solutions to heating and cooling problems associated with data centers. Even guided tours by live
IBM employees (through the use of their avatars) are available (IBM Virtual Green…, n.d.).
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Besides IBM’s use of virtual worlds for communication and education, it has
incorporated the virtual worlds into the front-end sales operations of the company. IBM has its
own virtual sales center on Second Life. This sales center is manned by in-world IBM sales
representatives who actively work with clients through their Second Life avatars. IBM sales
representatives man the business center during regular business hours in their respective
countries and sales representatives speak English, Portuguese, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian,
and French. At the sales center, visitors have access to product guides and troubleshooting
manuals, known as IBM Redbooks (Brodkin, May 15, 2007).
The Benefits:
The benefits of IBM’s use of virtual worlds are made most evident by the 2008 Virtual
World conference, especially since this was IBM’s first real “test” of their virtual capacities for
those outside of their AoT department. The benefits discussed below were also evident
throughout the AoT General Meeting, the GIO, and other meetings since the 2008 inception of
Second Life as a tool for virtual conferencing.
Throughout the three-day Virtual World conference, attendees could access the islands at
any time, day or night. They were able to explore and meet virtually with colleagues during,
before, and after sessions. An attendee even noted, “Anytime you visited the conference space, at
any time of day, there were always at least ten to twelve people in the plaza socializing,” (How
Meeting in Second…, n.d.). Avatars were often seen sitting in the picnic area over virtual
cocktails discussing the latest breakout session or how virtual worlds could be applied in their
work as well. IBM has described these socializing and networking qualities as “soft” benefits
they didn’t even predict happening. Employees from around the world were able to meet and
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socialize and share ideas, something that may not have happened as easily if the conference was
held in real life.
In addition to these “soft” benefits, IBM also experienced a huge amount of “hard”
benefits— the cost savings. IBM spent $80,000 setting up their virtual world for the conference,
which is a lot relative to other companies attempting to branch into 3D business, but their costs
were covered and more with additional benefits. They saved over $250,000 by not flying out the
200 guests and paying lodging, etc. They also gained $150,000 in productivity gains, which IBM
describes as the fact that “participants were already at their computers and could dive back into
work immediately,” (How Meeting in Second…, n.d.). If the conference were held in real life,
participants would likely either head out for dinner or back to their hotel rooms for the rest of the
day, losing productivity now possible by attending the meeting virtually. All in all, IBM
estimates they saved a total of $320,000 by not holding the conference in real life, but rather in
Second Life (How Meeting in Second…, n.d.).
The Results and Lessons Learned:
The success of the 2008 Virtual World conference led other departments within IBM to
consider the use of virtual conferencing, and as stated previously, the AoT annual General
Meeting was held only a month after the Virtual World conference. This meeting was much
larger and was also just as successful. At the Global Innovation Outlook meeting in 2009, IBM
continued to apply what they had learned throughout their first meetings, but took a few more
chances with innovative techniques, such as the “BrainBoard” and “Opionionator,” (Gandhi,
2010).
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While interactivity did improve the meeting environment, the “Opinionator” proved
much more effective than the “BrainBoard.” The key to this was that the Opinionator was
simpler than the BrainBoard. Simplicity and ease of use proved to be an important factor for
success in Second Life, something that was confirmed more important in recent meetings as the
interactivity levels have increased (Gandhi).
Easing participants into the virtual experience was also shown to be important, and they
experienced success with this starting back with the Virtual World conference in 2008. Having
all the spawning avatars begin at the entry to the island surrounded by concierge avatars proved a
successful way to ensure comfort for the visitors (How Meeting in Second…, n.d.). Starting with
a virtual conference room during the GIO meeting was also a way to provide familiar objects to
the user until the participant gained comfort and moved on to more complicated tools in the
virtual environment.
Understanding the interest and background of participants was found to be important,
especially during the GIO meeting, as distractions in real life seemed to make it easier to tune out
of the conversation within a virtual setting. Better knowing the participants—their likes, dislikes,
favorite activities, learning styles, technological knowledge and Second Life experience will help
IBM in the future with increasing and sustaining participation during presentations (Gandhi,
2010). Finally, ensuring that events and discussions are well planned and technologically sound
will always be an important aspect for success in virtual worlds.
IBM is one of the most successful transitions into v-business among companies across
the globe. They have successfully used virtual conferencing to create effective meeting
situations, save very large amounts of money, and create converts out of those who did not
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believe virtual worlds could be used effectively in business situations. The President of the AoT,
Joanne Martin, described their success: “That I really felt a part of that [virtual] existence
surprised me a lot—and for me opened up the potential for what this technology could be… we
delivered the experience at about one fifth the cost and without a single case of jet lag,” (How
Meeting in Second…, n.d.).
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Work Cited
About IBM. (n.d.). In IBM.com. Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/ibm/us/en/
Brodkin, Jon. (May 15, 2007). IBM opens sales center in Second Life. Network World. Retrieved
from http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/051507-ibm-Second Life.html
Cherbakov, Luba. (June 30, 2009). Virtual Spaces: Enabling Immersive Collaborative
Enterprise, Part 1: Introduction to the opportunities and technologies. IBM. Retrieved
from http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-virtualspaces/#3.
History%20of%20virtual%20worlds%20environment%20in%20IBM%7Coutline
Frequently Asked Questions. (n.d.) IBM.com.. Retrieved from http://www03.ibm.com/ibm/history/documents/pdf/faq.pdf
Gandhi, Shruti. (January 19, 2010). Global Innovation Outlook at IBM into Second Life.
IBM Technical Library. Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/
opensource/library/os-social-secondlife/index.html
How Meeting In Second Life Transformed IBM’s Technology Elite Into Virtual World
Believers. (n.d.). In Second Life Grid. Retrieved from http://secondlifegrid.net/
casestudies/IBM
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"IBM Academy of Technology." www-03.ibm.com. 28 Jan. 2011. Retrieved from http://www03.ibm.com/ibm/academy/index.html
IBM Virtual Green Data Center. (n.d.). IBM.com. Retrieved from http://www-03.ibm.com/
systems/greendc/resources/info/vgdc/?ca=vgdc&me=w&p_creative=s&p_site=vbc
Reuters, Adam. (November 9, 2006). IBM accelerates push into 3D worlds. Thomson
Reuters. Retrieved from http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2006/11/09/ibm-acceleratespush-into-3d-virtual-worlds/
Reuters, Adam. (October 24, 2006). IBM eyes move into Second Life ‘v-business’.
Thomson Reuters. Retrieved from http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2006/10/24/
ibm-eyes-move-into-Second Life-v-business/
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