IBM: 75Years of Innovation in the Philippines!

IBM Philippines just celebrated their 75th Anniversary in this country. As much as it looks so overwhelmingly stamped its ground in the Philippines, they still probably think its still in its infancy. I was reminded more of what huge contributions they have made in the last few years despite of the hardships they also as a corporation have encountered. They have evolved from being a hardware vendor to a full circle serviced corporation able to integrate processes here and around the globe. They now are one of the stalwarts of off shore operations for IBM and one of the few recognized countries that would be essential for the growth of this multinational corporation. President and Country General Manager Mariels Almeda-Winhoffer said that this has been the challenge for her, she wants IBM Philippines to become ESSENTIAL. That word alone entails a lot of things and responsibilities and a private corporation like IBM Philippines wants to take this challenge. In undertaking this humongous task, I'd gladly laud them for even thinking of it.

IBM Philippines portfolio has grown tremendously. With 50 accounts and more to come in bpo, supply and shared services, it was not surprising seeing their numbers grow. Their goal was to always follow their dreams of building more smarter cities, gain ideal geo expansions, utilize cloud and its convenient advantages, plus utilize analytics to predict/gain reliable data.The first female IBM President and Country General Manager Mariels Almeda-Winhoffer says her arrival to the Philippines made her have a different purpose; to become an essential part of the country/the community/ and their customers. Actually she said the whole business model was made to support this goal. Aside from that, they did not forget their duty to society. Their Kidsmart project alone benefited almost 800,000 kids, institutions, students and professors. They have also put importance in integrated health services in the Philippines as this has also been the center of attention of IBM globally. IBM Philippines is now a proud services and software company that's going to have sustainable growth in the next few years. They will continue providing solutions via integration. That is actually their next step, and they are adding more for their long term goals.

It was a treat visiting them on their turf, let alone on a day where they celebrate their 75th year. They even had a small part of the intros explaining the Filipino work ethics and customs. It was nice to see it in that perspective. I hardly ask questions but while everyone was at the heat of the moment, I remembered the part about IBM and the problems they had with GSIS. I was worried that they painted a pretty picture here but still had that issue with the records of that government agency. As soon as I asked, everyone jumped in and said that it has been resolved. They released a statement here years ago. I was wondering what happened to that because I personally saw my Mom go through hell in GSIS. Saw an article here saying there were settlements being done during the new administration. In any case, they assured me they've got that settled already. Mom should be happy.

Today they've got a few projects with local cities like Davao. Their Public Safety and Security Command Center is being scaled up on a one of a kind initiative to make this one of their Smart Cities. The IBM Intelligent Operations Center solutions will create advanced technological solutions to existing infrastructure to improve the overall city management which will further lower crime rates in Davao. They will also be using analytics on parts of this very promising projects. Pretty soon they'll be using the same technique to other ones but this is a definite first in the world! I'm sure this wouldn't be the last of it!

This has always been IBM Philippines thrust; which is transformation through innovation. They've already made a great head start in more cities in the Philippines; and this will surely be something to be shared to the rest of the world. The Philippines is indeed essential to IBM's growth today and for years to come. Congratulations on continuing to grow together; with the people and communities you've helped along the way. Thank you for being a part of a bigger, better Philippines!

Party University 3: The Aftermath!

It was one awesome evening for music. It was one hell of a party. I had fun watching these guys dance their hearts out. It was my first time to also see quite a phenomenal BBOY battle in the Philippines and DJ's making real music like they were supposed to. I'll have to cut to the chase because this will be another photo heavy article but you'll definitely LOVE what you'll see when I went to PARTY UNIVERSITY 3!

For starters, I don't think I saw every single dance number but the ones I did catch were damn great!

This one was a little reminiscent of Showtime dance crews. They had comedy parts on this last bit. 

This is Xtreme Connection, where this kid was flying literally. We also had a few laughs when these guys stripped naked, well almost LOL! 

These guys were called Choreo Masters, funky but a bit boring since there were only two kids screaming and cheering them on. Honestly they won't win with this number.

 

Techno Jazz was quite awesome! These flying all gay group kept twisting and turning like a dead carcass. It was unbelievable! These guys are veterans I'm sure since they won a weekly finals spot in showtime. That maybe a drawback though because the contest might have called for something urban/hiphop.

Royalties had some cute ones, but overall the dance steps were not too complex and with the contest calling for a higher level of competition this wasn't that bad but not to great either. I had a booboo on the next crew and they were Crewlab, I think because I watched their performance I forgot to take a photo of them. They were like professionals with a clear street urban vibe. They were really in sync and felt like they've been doing this for a long time; it ended a little weak though. I even thought they were special guests LOL

Now what a treat to see these awesome guys in that event! This intermission number by LDP who had quite a number fast rappers just made me love this genre a little more. I saw Joseph Emara of Beatbox Philippines had a hard time doing his thing but when the rest of the guys joined in I was at awe! The guy called Abra raps so fast my jaw dropped. Rj was like a white guy, with his tone you'll end up mistaking him with nick lache... it was smooth. I love these guys.

As you can see this event was sponsored by the good looking people from urban athletics. These guys are awesome! I felt so good spending time with these people. (Ambait sobra!)

The competition started again. Streetcrew4 was quite good but felt something was missing. I just can't pinpoint what, but they were very in sync. I saw on this bit that some other sponsors on the floor like Wip caps and Pioneer Dj were mentioned. I want to have one of those headphones soon. =)

Honestly I couldn't move around that much because the place was packed! As you can see this is just a part of the place and the judges are in the middle of that chaos somewhere LOL. I'm sure they had the same feeling I had when people were getting thrown into the air haha!

Pinoy Hiphop had a very street vibe and their athleticism was quite evident but their costume was reminiscent of my boyscout uniform in highschool... Oh wait that is my uniform LOL! They had swag and moves were very complicated technically very badass skills.

 

 Join The Quest had a few theatrics in the beginning, I thought I was in showtime but the girl they had with them was awesome and did every single move the guys did, maybe even better but I don't think they were first timers judging from how they presented it. The stage looked too small for them.

E Stars had several sync problems and it wasn't that much for show, they were quite not technically at par with the frontrunners but good attempt on the pyramid plus their version of the gyrating booties. They cleaned it up on the latter part of the dance. 

Fusion had a kpop - robotic - classy - urban number and the kid that was with them was uber cute! It was probably a good decision to include this kid there. The crew had nice acrobatics overall.

Judging from the reaction of the crowd, these ladies are famous. Their group's name is PAGFA. They had some pretty nice members, all ladies. And oh boy they were hottttt! They had some sync problems but the amount of booty and splits made up for it. Plus they do stunts on heels that made me feel Missy Elliot would hire them right now.

Unschool also performed fresh from their win in Australia, they represented the Philippines there. And they really had swagger, I guess that's the reason they are guests here and made a good impression with the crowd.

 

Jay Masta and Peeps from Philippine All Stars were judging the BBOY competition, I saw them doing their thing at the back and I'm not surprised why people were closely watching them. You get respected here when you dance well. There were that good! It was also nice to see MC Dash keeping the crowd alive. This guy is just so good he deserves his own album! Did you already get a copy of it? =)

It was one of the most well attended parties I've ever been in. These guys know what they were doing. The crowd, the ambiance and everything on stage was awesome!

The BBOY Competition started!

Judges stood on the center whilst crews were on the right. When you win a round you stand on the left side of the stage. This was when it gets so competitive!

This last one where you see the guy flying was one of a few things that these BBOY artists did on the floor. He eventually won. Imagine the painstaking things they did to achieve one move after another, it was something I'd only see on dance battles outside the country. I honestly didn't know we have something like this on our own backyard!

I didn't get to stay that long for the DJ battle but I've got the list of winners here!

URBAN ATHLETICS' THROWDOWN DANCE COMPETITION

Champion: Pinoy HipHop (Php 25,000 cash and Pioneer Steez Type-S)
1st Runner-Up: Next To Innocence (Php 10,000 cash)
2nd Runner-Up: Fusion (Php 5,000 cash)

WIP CAP'S 7 To Smoke B-Boy Battle

B-Boy JOLO (Php 5,000 cash, Wip Cap and Pioneer Headphone)

PIONEER DIGITAL DJ BATTLE

 TOP 3 (Will advance to the Finals on August 14 at Prive)

(Prizes-- Pioneer H-DJ 500 Headphones each)
DJ Jeff Almighty
DJ Cklaze
DJ Jeff Almighty

Congratulations and I wish the guys who's going to win on August 14 a greater battle for the best DJ in town! I'm so happy the scenes getting bigger and better, I'll try and be there next time we have something like this! Thank you also to sponsors Urban Athletics, Wip Caps and Pioneer DJ! Here's to awesomeness and more of the urban and hiphop scene right here on my site! ;)