IBM’s New CityOne Game
In an attempt to create more buzz about new products and increase sales of services and software, IBM is creating an online video game[1]. The game will present members with various issues that they can solve using technology. The issues will include different business and city problems. Banking, retail, water, or energy are the four sections users have to choose from. Users are able to choose different solutions and compare results to find out what works best. The banking and retail sections of the game will provide more business-based issues for the consumer to deal with. For example, one problem may be boosting risk management.
The mission of the game is to “Solve real-world business, environmental and logistical problems”[2]. The idea of using city problems in the game ties in to IBM’s Smarter Planet program, which has launched a wide variety of television commercials already. This program is meant to inform people and show that anything can be digitally recorded to make it more efficient and exact.
The whole point of the game is to generate interest with people where there may not have been interest previously. Over seven thousand people have already signed up to download the game including universities, businesses, and government. Hopefully the wide variety of people downloading the game will lead to more people learning about the new program. IBM is hoping that technology like this will increase sales by ten billion dollars by the year 2015.
This new idea that IBM is presenting seems wonderful, and it is almost surprising that no other companies have already thought of something like this. Using a program like this in a university where students can not only be presented with real world problems, but also be able to put into action brand new technology that is really out there right now is amazing. Sure schools have programs and projects that students have to complete which forces the students to think about possible problems and come up with a solution, but this is different. By using technology IBM is putting into practice students will get a more practical feel in using this program. I think this is one thing that may help boost IBM’s sales in the future. If you take a student now and have them play this game, and at some point down the road they face a similar problem in the workforce, they may actually turn to IBM to use one of their products because of this game. It is all about familiarity and the relationship that IBM will have the opportunity to forge with people they would otherwise never have the opportunity to reach.
The rest of the people already signed up to use the game are current businesses. This is another obvious link between the game and the real world. Companies can take the scenarios from the game and implement the same strategy in real life. Even though it is a game, I think it is a great idea for IBM. The goal is reaching more, and different, people, and they can accomplish that.
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