Following on from the hugely successful
Maximo User Group meeting in Belfast, the Maximo UK & Ireland User Group closed out the year with a meeting at the IBM London Office in South Bank. There were 3 events held over the course of 2 days, starting off with the exciting opportunity to tour the London
IBM Innovation Studio followed by a
Networking Evening on 30 November and the
Main Event on 1 December. I was honored to attend last week amongst a wonderful group of passionate IBM Maximo users, business partners, and customers.
Interactive sessions featured the latest Maximo news from IBM, user stories, and table topics including presentations from
Irish Water,
MACS,
Cargologic,
MAS 8 Roadmap, and
Transport for London. A
full album of photos was captured throughout the event and is housed in the community library.
The event kicked off with 3 demos in the IBM Innovation Studio showcasing IBM’s capabilities in Cloud, Quantum and Data & AI including the
Quantum chandelier,
Spot the agile mobile robot, and the
Mayflower Autonomous Ship.
We first had the opportunity to learn about Quantum computing as an IBM Quantum SME took us through the first demo of the
IBM Quantum System One housed in an airtight glass cube. He first talked through the concepts that make up the foundation of quantum computing and explained how quantum computers are significantly more powerful than classical computers. Since it has to be maintained in a controlled physical environment and kept cold - the chip itself is at the bottom of the chandelier while the rest of it cools and sends signals to and from the chip which is kept at 0.014 Kelvin (colder than outer space!). The installation exemplifies how Quantum computes data (even down to a realistic sound effect projected inside the room, similar to birds chirping) and illustrates IBM's commitment to advancing quantum computing.
Next we were onto my favorite part of the tour which was seeing
Spot (a dog-like agile mobile robot created by Boston Dynamics) in action. Since Spot can go anywhere a person can go and collect data more frequently and more accurately but couldn't interpret the data for itself, Boston Dynamics and IBM brought together their technologies to create an AI-based solution utilizing the power of AI and Maximo solutions. Spot can "go around a site, identify a problem and, using Maximo, automatically generate a work order with next steps to resolution.”
The tour concluded with the
Mayflower Autonomous Ship as we were brought into an immersive storytelling room that featured the story and purpose of the MAS - to gather critical ocean data on the impact of climate change and pollution.
After the IBM Innovation Studio tour we made our way over to the networking evening at the Auberge Bar & Restaurant in Waterloo East, a French brasserie style bar and restaurant with a spectacular rooftop overlooking South Bank where we enjoyed finger food, beverages and great company.
The agenda for the main event featured presentations highlighting compelling Maximo use cases and provided the opportunity to hear first-hand where different organizations are on their journey and how they overcame challenges:
- MAS 8 Roadmap: @Tristan O'Gorman, Program Director, Product Leader for IBM Sustainability Software at IBM gave a presentation on the MAS 8 Roadmap and highlighted the main focus areas for 2023 including: Inspections - reducing the cost of inspections and intelligently inspect assets to prioritize work more effectively, Maintenance - improving first-time fix rate and expanding the new user experience aligning asset management roles with AI enhanced processes for managers, schedulers, dispatchers, and mobile users, and Reliability: Extending asset life, reducing downtime, and reducing costs.
- Transport for London: @Alan Scott walked through TfL's London Underground AMIS Project outlining their journey to consolidate systems while adjusting timelines and working through business challenges along the way.
- Andrew Jeffrey IBM Champion and Maximo SME shared his site dedicated to Maximo core documentation and functionality, Maximo Secrets and corresponding YouTube channel.
It was very insightful hearing all of the the different use cases of Maximo and seeing the full scope of what's possible as organizations look ahead at new ways to implement Maximo in the future. As you reflect on where you are in your own journey, be sure to leverage the above contacts and the power of user groups to drive development for Maximo, work through challenges, and gain further insight.
I hope everyone had the chance to chat with the teams at
SyntheSys Technologies and
Progressive at their exhibitor stands and thank you to all of the event sponsors
BPD Zenith,
ECCS,
Progressive,
Interpro Solutions, and
MACS.
Important feedback from attendees was gathered via Mentimeter in order to see the results live in real time. Very valuable and insightful feedback was given on topics attendees would like to see more of such as
pricing and
change management and suggested improvements including
more end user stories to be incorporated into future meetings:
It was a privilege to work alongside the UK & Ireland user group committee: @Richard Barber @Kenneth McAneaney @Linda Wilkinson @Michael O'Reilly @Sarah-Jane Cogley @MAGDA SAMBOR and a special thank you to the fantastic team at the London IBM Innovation Studio: Ka Men Chew, Jane Cockayne, Dean McDermott, Jeannette Knight, Luc Tran, Max Bowen, Henry McAllister, and Sera Kantel Silva, and Renata Krajewska.
Please be sure to mark your calendars for the next event on 24th/25th May 2023 at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge - and don't miss the opportunity to get involved. If you have an interest in presenting or wish to see specific topics covered at the next event please reply to the thread below and help continue the conversation!
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Kat Jarvis
User Group Program Manager, IBM Community
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