IBM today is opening a virtual business center at Second Life that will be staffed by IBM sales representatives from around the world.
Clients who want to buy hardware, software or services, or get help solving a business problem, can meet with a sales rep in the new IBM Business Center, which can be accessed here after 1 p.m. Eastern time today.
“The IBM sales avatar [in Second Life] can work with the client avatar up to the point of signing contracts and the passing of money or credit information. That would be handled through a link to IBM’s Web site or by phone,” IBM says in a press release.
“We seek to engage with clients in the way they prefer to engage,” Lee Dierdorff, vice president of Web strategy and enablement for IBM, said in a conference call this morning. “This may be over the Web, this may be over the telephone, and now it may be over a 3-D virtual world.”
IBM sales reps will staff the virtual center during business hours in their respective countries and will be able to speak the following languages: English, Portuguese, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian and French. Asian languages will be supported later this year.
Visitors will be able to access a technical-support library that includes guides known as IBM Redbooks and an IT research publication called Systems Journal. The IBM presence in Second Life also will include an innovation center and conference center where IBM partners and others can collaborate.
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Comments (10)
Can IBM figure out Second Life?By Anonymous on May 16, 2007, 9:53 amI'll bet these inside sales people really know what is going on in the street......NOT Re: IBM opens sales center in Second Life.
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Can IBM figure out Second Life?By PParker on May 16, 2007, 12:20 pmI applaud IBM for doing this. I spent a great 10 years with HP who had a slightly different version of this center -- called 'The Back Office'. It was every senior...
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IBM Opens Sales Office in Second LifeBy Geof Rarick on May 16, 2007, 5:26 pmThe Street lives! Look out for Ice. G.R.
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IBM in SLBy DrChaos Torok (in SL) on May 16, 2007, 7:16 pmThis is just IBM playing around with the 3-D internet. This appears to be IBM taking their 3-D research and applying it, but much quicker to market than usual....
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Incredibly Bad MachinesBy Anonymous on May 17, 2007, 5:50 amThis action is further proof of the irrelevance of IBM in today's world. In some ways its reminds me of a someone's grandfather flirting with a 20 year old girl. IBM...
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You should read the news....By Anonymous on May 21, 2007, 8:56 pmYour bashing of IBM as a HW company is pretty pathetic considering that is less then a 3rd of their business now. As far as being 'old age' and 'out of touch',...
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