I recently had the opportunity to catch up with Virginia Sharma, IBM's director of events and social media, who talked about the community forming around IMPACT, one that not only involves technologists, but also business leaders.
Virginia says IMPACT will be a wide-ranging program that reflects the evolution of SOA. The event itself has become a bridge between the technical and business communities, both of which have a crucial stake in the success of enterprise SOA. "Last year, our theme was alignement of business and IT. And its this idea that its not just about understanding your technology because you have to, but its about being able to align your technology initiatives to drive business value. Which matters so much now."
"I think the bridge has happened -- it happened that first year," Virginia says.
In many respects, IMPACT is a year-round community, evolving into both a user group and a community of interest, Virginia points out. In fact, her team participates on Twitter as "SmartSOA."
"I compare IMPACT to any social network or community," she explains."We want the community to interact and talk to each other. It will be most gratifying for me if someone says 'weve been getting together meeting after meeting week and week trying to figure out what the right strategy is to grow and recover. Coming to IMPACT allowed me to really bring all those ideas together and really make an impact to my company."
IMPACT, to take place May 3-8 in Las Vegas, will feature keynotes by industry leaders and IBM executives who embody the "Services Oriented Attitude," as well as more than 600 sessions on industry-specific strategies from experts. IMPACT will feature three tracks: Smart SOA Aligning Business and IT; Smart SOA for Business; and Smart SOA Technology.
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