Here's the deal: I'm your new IBM blogger. I know your purchase order didn't mention anything about getting a blogger, but one of our recent market research studies indicated that you wanted one, and I happened to be standing in a hallway in Armonk with a red target painted on my forehead.

So, I'm it. Nice to meet you, virtually speaking. Of course, there will be plenty more where I came from. (Actually, there are already are on other parts of the IBM Web...I'm just the first blogger on this particular area of our Web site. Over time, I'll be pointing you to other, more knowledgeable bloggers in given topic areas).

Remember, this is IBM: We travel in large packs. ; ) I'm just here to help get the conversation going.

As for my day job, you can read my bio above, and I'll likely be writing more about what I do at IBM here in future posts. However, I keep pretty current on the Blogosphere, and the average life expectancy of the corporate blogger has recently dwindled close to that of the average fruit fly. I figure that now that I've started blogging, I'm out of here within the next few hours.

Do know in advance that it has been a really good ride, IBM is a great place to work, and I had a lot of fun blogging on behalf of the company these past few minutes. More importantly, the bidding for my services moving forward will start on eBay just as soon as I get the call from HR in Somers. With that in mind, feel free to consider the following an abbreviated version of my IBM obituary -- or, if you happen to be in the market to hire, the summary version of my new resume. My qualifications go something like this:

I'm a 14-year IBM veteran who knows how to build and manage large, complex, global Web sites; who can build impactful online advertising and marketing campaigns; who does great PowerPoint; who has the ability to fly coach from Austin to Tokyo and use the fare savings to help boost your company bottom line; and who can convert several global time zones and currencies in his head on the fly.

If you need any or all of these qualities, I am your man.

If not, and assuming I continue to be employed by IBM in the coming days, bookmark this site or add it to your RSS reader, because we're about to embark on a virtual adventure the likes of which have never been seen in the Blogosphere, the Biosphere, or any other virtual/human-inhabited environment.

You see, I have always subscribed to the philosophy that business can be both profitable and fun, and I have tried to practice that in my own efforts. Frankly speaking, boring talk about boring business verges on the coma-inducing. The globalization of business and the core ideas behind what we call On Demand Business at IBM are about some of the most exciting and enervating and challenging topics I have ever dealt with, and that is precisely how I aspire to approach them -- with your participation, of course.

I have been focused on leveraging the Web and the Internet to enhance IBM's business for going on 11 years now, and have the unique perspective of having been there as the ideas and approach behind the original idea of e-business were being developed. While much of the rest of the world was talking about which Internet browser to use, we at IBM were talking about how the Internet would change the world and business and about the technologies and solutions we were building that would help our customers adapt and benefit from that change.

That conversation continues today, although I would suggest that the opportunities of On Demand Business are even more immense (as are the challenges), and at the same time would acknowledge that we at IBM do not pretend to have it all figured it out. While we do work hard to make our own significant contribution -- and will certainly talk about some of those contributions here -- we learn from our customers, competitors, and partners every day. Because On Demand Business is, if nothing else, all about the web of ecosystems and partnerships and integration -- and ultimately the new business value -- that so many of us are collaboratively building together.

As I have often said to my own colleagues inside IBM, On Demand Business is like building a structure in the middle of an earthquake: The landscape is constantly shifting, so you had better stay on your game and keep an eye on the trembling horizon. You look away for too long, not only will it not look the same, but you might not even recognize where you are.

So here's to keeping our collective eye on that horizon together -- there's nothing like a good earthquake to sharpen one senses. I'm looking forward to learning more about what's going on out there in your own environment -- business large or small, educational institution, government office, or otherwise -- and also to sharing some insight as to what's going on inside IBM: in our labs, our various business units, and perhaps even down the hall.

As for the actual topics we'll be covering in this blog, I would like to start the conversation with you by sharing some data from IBM Research about the value of becoming an On Demand Business. A quick teaser from that research:

Did you know that a study conducted by our Watson Lab (alas, no relation) shows that when compared to others in their industry sectors, companies that have gone the farthest in developing their On Demand Business capabilities have on average experienced superior 3-year growth in key areas of business performance? On average, such companies enjoyed 1.3 points better gross profit margin than their peers. In the battle for growth, each point of GPM gain for a company with $5B in revenues would translate into an additional $50M in revenue growth.

More details on this report in a coming post, but in the meantime, I'm curious to learn if any of you out there have realized similar growth through the aggressive adoption of the fundamentals of On Demand Business?