So often we have heard, “Why should we bother sending anyone to a Maximo User Group Meeting?” or “What can we possibly gain from going to that Meeting?” or “What is in it for me?”
Let's take a quick look at the incredible benefits of becoming part of the larger Maximo community, giving to that community, and gaining knowledge from that community.
There is a large network of Maximo User Groups (MUGs - our affectionate term) out there for every flavour of Maximo you can imagine, and on regional and national scales. Our group, the ASEAN Maximo User Group, is for all Maximo Users in the Southeast Asian Nations. And don't be put off by the addition of a few IBMers, Business Partners, or sponsors.
These members provide some very important things to the Maximo User Community, probably the most important of which is the funding for the group to hold a meeting. They are also there to provide answers to the difficult questions and show you what great things they can add to the Maximo mix. Seriously though, it is a chance for you (the Maximo User) to speak to Maximo Experts in a non-threatening, non-sales environment.
Top 5 Reasons to Go to a MUG Meeting
- The chance to meet Maximo Users from other companies. If you attend a meeting, don't just mingle with your colleagues and people you already know. During the networking and group sessions, participate! Talk to the presenters about their presentations, find out how they did a specific thing in Maximo, ask how they tackled their biggest problem. Just by talking with others, you will build up new relationships with them. You can email them after the conference and even pay a site visit. Most people are proud of their Maximo achievements and want to share the value with you.
- Learn something new that you can immediately bring back to your company. Most users go along to learn, either to solve an issue that they are experiencing or to bring back some clever ideas that they had not yet thought about. The knowledge shared by industry leaders and SMEs should more than justify any cost associated with attending.
- Become a Maximo hero! Get your company and your name out there! You can raise the profile of your organisation in the Maximo Community in several ways. Don't be afraid to present. None of the presenters are professional speakers, but they are sharing their knowledge, their story and giving to the community. Once you have done one presentation, the next one will be simple! Another way to raise your profile is to volunteer to be on the MUG steering committee. Organising conferences and user group meetings takes a bit of work and helping getting things organised can be very rewarding.
- Get out of your normal routine. Getting out of the office to attend a conference is very rewarding intellectually and spiritually. It is great to get away form the Maintenance Schedules, Outage Planning, Support Backlog for a single day. Shake things up a bit, go meet new people, listen to some great Maximo war stories, talk to some experts; and come back to the office revitalised. Companies should know that sending employees to conferences is a great way of educating and improving the morale of their staff.
- See a different part of the country and learn that no matter the industry or the product version, the Maximo journey of every customer echoes your own journey. For example, they all struggle with technical upgrades, and Customisation is a cuss word in most companies. But they are all venturing to take advantage of the huge investment IBM has made to continuously improve the product. IBM usually present their roadmap at MUGs to tell you what’s coming in the next year, they will demonstrate the latest and greatest analytics, and they will quite often provide free certification testing at some user group meetings. Through your participation in a MUG, you could even be invited to be a part of special focus groups with IBM, BETA testing new features and having input into the future releases of certain industry solutions.
So keep your eyes peeled for our first ASEAN Maximo User Group Meeting! We hope to arrange this for October time in Singapore and appreciate your support.