Listen to podcast interview with Maria Azua, VP, IBM Enterprise Initiatives about social networks

Posted by Elena del Valle on February 8, 2010

Maria Azua, vice president, IBM Enterprise Initiatives

Photo: IBM

A podcast interview with Maria Azua, vice president of Cloud Computing Enablement, IBM Enterprise Initiatives, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, Maria discusses Latino culture in social networks and cloud computing with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.

Maria has deep technical skills and extensive experience in software development, managing new innovation projects, start-ups, acquisitions, solution delivery and process excellence. She is responsible for the technical implementation, deployment and operations of the Common Cloud Platform Living Lab share service, as well as the IBM Smart Business Development and Test on the IBM Cloud. She is also responsible for the creation of a community of independent software vendors, business partners, and technical community that fosters cloud computing IT methodologies and applications.

Maria is also the author of The Social Factor Innovate, Ignite, and Win Through Mass Collaboration and Social Networking (2009 IBM Press, Pearson Education), a book about social networking based on Maria’s leadership in social networking tools at IBM (see IBM Executive discusses social media business benefits).

Prior to her current role, Maria was vice president of Technology and Innovation, reporting to the IBM chief information officer. In that role, she focused on the development of innovative IT solutions and the integration of new technologies. She created and managed the Technology Adoption Program (TAP) innovation program, where more than 120,000 IBM employees participate to create innovations in a development community. Her responsibilities in the CIO office also included the creation of the first IBM Green Data Center.

Maria was inducted into the Women In Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame, and was named one of the “100 Most Influential Hispanics” by People magazine in 2006. She has 50 patents and 39 patents pending that span a wide spectrum of technologies. In 2006, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) recognized Maria with The Star Award for her contributions and dedication to the Hispanic community.

To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Maria Azua,” click on the play button below or download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the February 2010 section of the podcast archive.

Click here to buy The Social Factor

IBM executive discusses social media business benefits

Posted by Elena del Valle on January 22, 2010

The Social Factor book cover

Maria Azua, an IBM executive, outlines the benefits of social media for business in The Social Factor Innovate, Ignite, and Win Through Mass Collaboration and Social Networking (IBM Press, $29.99), a 248-page paperback book published in 2010. Her goal in writing the book was to provide strategic and tactical insights for business executives based on her and her colleagues’ experience and case studies within her company, and help readers avoid social networking mistakes.

To complete the project which took four years of hands on investigation and analysis she relied on the contribution and input of 10 colleagues: Boas Betzler, Bill Bodin, Christopher Douglass, Brian Goodman, Reed Mullen, Carl Burnett, Dave Newbold, Mahesh Parakdar, Gina Poole, Michael Roche, and Laurisa Rodriguez, the only contributor that was not from IBM.

She and her colleagues at IBM believe three forces are driving social and workplace interactions: Information overload from the Information Age, standardization of technology, and the availability of low cost two-way communication online.

The book is divided into 12 chapters: Dawn of the Social Age, Social Age Organizations, Wikis: Bringing the Crowds to You, Blogs: Your Personal News Outlet, Tagging and Social Clouds, Cloud Computing Paradigm, Social Media and Culture, On the Shoulders of Giants, Social Brain and the Ideation Process, Social Innovation, Social Economy, and Mobile Society.

Maria Azua, vice president of Cloud Computing Enablement, IBM Enterprise Initiatives, is responsible for the technical implementation, deployment and operations of the Common Cloud Platform Living Lab share service, as well as the IBM Smart Business Development and Test on the IBM Cloud. She is also responsible for the creation of a community of independent software vendors, business partners, and technical community that fosters cloud computing IT methodologies and applications.

Click here to buy The Social Factor