In case you missed it: the unveiling of TSIA!

November 2nd, 2009 Shawn Santos No comments

Technology Services World, held October 19-21 in Las Vegas, brought with it major announcements for the services and support industry, proving to be the most powerful and vibrant TSW event to date. The most significant announcement was the merger of AFSMI, SSPA, and TPSA—the three leading professional associations of the services and support industry—to form a single, global association: TSIA, the Technology Services Industry Association.

TSIA brings together a rich heritage—spanning more than three decades—of serving the needs of professionals across the full spectrum of technology services disciplines. If ever there was a time that technology services professionals needed one place to go, one voice to speak for them, one source of reliable data, that time is now.

Check out the video of the unveiling:

Categories: Announcements, TSW 09 Las Vegas Tags: ,

More Out-of-Box Sessions Round Out the Day

October 20th, 2009 suzannelabounty 1 comment

Women in Services isn’t just for women any more. Sure there were rows and rows of bright, vibrant women professionals, but interestingly, I counted over a dozen men in the mix, looking, I assume, for enlightenment from a different perspective. Led by TSIA’s Diane Brundage, the panel was a stellar mix of women services executives representing companies that include.  Introduced earlier this year at TSW 2009 Silicon Valley, this specialized group was an instant success and continues to grow. This afternoon’s session will be followed by a first-time-ever Women in Services networking dinner, where Helen Leah Conroy J.D. will discuss “Five Things Every Woman Should Know to Become a Successful Negotiator.” A portion of the dinner ticket price will be donated to Dress for Success, a charity organization that provides business attire for financially challenged women. The drawing will include a BlackBerry Smartphone, Plantronics Voyager Pro bluetooth headsets, Kenneth Cole computer briefcase, and many other great items.

wis

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Keynotes, Breakouts, and Tech Expo Action

October 20th, 2009 suzannelabounty No comments

Today began with four outstanding keynote presentations. In yesterday’s opening keynote, J.B. Wood presented a provocative picture of where the technology services industry is heading. This morning, TSIA’s Thomas Lah picked up where Wood left off, presenting a practical framework that technology companies can use to assess the impact of these market changes on company economics.

lah

 

Next up was Eva Elmstedt of Ericsson, who discussed the transitioning telecom industry, followed by Richard Sills of CA Services, who spoke on the topic of IT services for the current and future market. Gary Budzinski of Hewlett Packard wrapped up the morning with a discussion of HP Technology Services transformation and its perspective on the future of infrastructure services.

 budzinski

My first stop of the morning breakouts was Thomas Lah’s “speed networking” session—a totally cool concept. Participants met one-on-one to discuss challenges they are currently experiencing in their organizations. Topics including service operations, managed services, services pricing, services marketing, education services, resource management, services delivery, and services engineering were put on the table for discussion. Each session was clocked at seven minutes, after which participants were instructed to change partners and topics, while the strains of the Jeopardy theme song played. The neat thing was that the face-to-face contact, the sharing of common issues, and the exchange of business cards created strong connections not only for the duration of the conference, but well beyond; in addition to current challenges being addressed, relationships were built for future problem solving. Stay tuned for more of this type of session delivery. We think its potential is significant.

 speednetworking

Mid-afternoon, the action moved into the Tech Expo. John Ragsdale conducted the second of two Innovation Tours, focusing on the Recognized Innovator Award winners. He then took to the Solutions Stage at the TSIA booth for a look at the Solutions Heatmap, followed by interviews with solutions providers Oracle, KANA, Convergys, and Compuware.

tours

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T-S-I-A! Three Become One, and a New Era Begins

October 19th, 2009 suzannelabounty No comments

TSIA

The biggest news of the day? TSIA. That’s right, AFSMI, SSPA, and TPSA have become the Technology Services Industry Association…and the benefits are boundless. TSIA will continue to serve its members in the areas of professional services, field services, and support services with the rich content, cutting-edge research, and unparalleled events for which it has long been known. But now we can tap into the power of one—a single voice, a single presence at the forefront of the massive industry we know as services. Following the announcement, a champagne toast, led by TSIA CEO J.B. Wood, sealed the deal, with a sea of stemmed glasses raised in honor of the momentous occasion.

toast

 And if that’s not enough, this conference also marked the release of Complexity Avalanche, Wood’s new book. The book documents the growing consumption gap caused by the avalanche of complexity that today’s tech companies have unleashed on their customers. Wood discussed the topic in his opening keynote presentation and called upon these companies to better map their services portfolio to their customers’ true need: getting value from the product.

Wood

Monday afternoon also marked the opening of the Technology Services Expo, with close to 40 exhibiting companies in attendance, six of which—Compuware, Convergys Corporation, KANA Software, Language Weaver, LogMeIn, and TouchStar—were honored as part of the Fall 2009 Technology Services Recognized Innovator program.

innovators

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Let’s Go! Pro Development Courses Get the Ball Rolling

October 19th, 2009 suzannelabounty No comments

The conference started bright and early with registration opening at 7 a.m. and four Professional Development Courses commencing at 8 a.m.

David Kay of DB Kay & Associates presented “Breakthrough KM with Knowledge-Centered Support.” Attendees took away specific information to kick-start their knowledge program with KCS best practices. Bill Moore of DG Associates and CRMI held “Building a Customer Experience Management Strategy to Acquire, Retain, and Grow Your Customer Base,” focusing on the 12 key components of a CEM strategy that can improve retention, profits, and sales by increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

PDC_2

The third session was “Creating Business Value Changes Customer Perceptions and Wins More Business,” presented by Bill Hall of Pretium Partners. Bill discussed how to improve the value proposition of services by implementing and emphasizing service offer attributes that drive value. The final session, “Global Resource Management Workshop,” was led by Mark Sloan of RTM Consulting. Mark offered a comprehensive methodology for PSOs to optimize the movement of resources, as well as to effectively balance the supply of resources with generated demand.

PDC_1

It was a great start to an exciting event, with tons more in store.

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Get Ready, Get Set…

October 18th, 2009 suzannelabounty No comments

Technology Services World 2009 Las Vegas begins tomorrow at the Mirage. Wow! What a great venue. I arrived yesterday and was immediately impressed with both the hotel and the conference facilities. It never ceases to amaze me the planning and attention to detail that it takes to make TSW happen. It’s easy to see why this is the industry’s premier event. And in case you hadn’t heard, this will be the largest gathering in our associations’ history.

Registration

To stay fresh, we’ve added some innovative new formats for a number of our sessions and enhanced our social media opportunities, giving attendees multiple ways to connect to like minds and industry knowledge before, during, and after the event.

Monday begins with four pre-conference Professional Development Courses, while the ensuing conference program features eight brilliant keynotes, 10 timely and relevant tracks, and 62 breakout sessions. The Technology Services Expo will showcase the latest services and solutions from many of the industry’s foremost providers. And back by popular demand are John Ragsdale’s Innovation Tours.

Expo

Take my word for it, this will be a landmark event. Keep watching this blog for the latest insights, key takeaways, and late-breaking industry and association news.

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Attending a Pre Conference Workshop should be a NO-Brainer

October 9th, 2009 Mike Healy 1 comment

Don’t get me wrong – between the keynotes, breakout sessions, networking events, and exhibitions – you’re guaranteed to learn a ton about the next generation of services at TSW later this month.  But one of the most consistently high-rated options available to you is the workshop lineup (now called Professional Development Courses).

This week I’m highlighting RTM Consulting’s Global Resource Management (GRM) Workshop which received tremendous feedback after the Silicon Valley event in May.  The workshop offers a unique perspective on resource management that I’ve been waiting to see for some time now, based on Just-in-Time (JIT) Manufacturing.  In a previous life, I ran a publication called The Manufacturer, and not an issue went by without someone addressing new best practices for JIT or Lean Manufacturing.  The concept was first made popular by Toyota in the early eighties, when they revolutionized their supply chain management practices  to reduce inventory holding costs.  The idea was to get the right part in the right place – just in time.

RTM Consulting took that same concept and created a Just-in-Time Resourcing℠ solution, designed to improve resource utilization by getting the right person in the right place at the right time.  And that’s what the GRM workshop is all about.  They’ll provide users with all the background, show you how GRM can address many of the pressures faced by PSO’s today, and give you a foundation to build your own execution plan.

And here’s the kicker – it’s $495.  How much would your bottom line improve if you could boost utilization by a fraction of a percent?  What about 5%?

These workshops really are a no-brainer.  We’ve hand-selected the best content, and you get a full day of interactive, hands-on training in a small group setting from seasoned pros that do this stuff for a living.   Based on the price – we’re not even making money on these events.  We just believe in them that much, and see them as another way to add value to your membership and conference experience. 

Check out the full lineup at http://tinyurl.com/TSWworkshops. 

See you in 10 days

 

Mike Healy
Senior Director of Conferences
AFSMI | SRII | SSPA | TPSA
mhealy@thesspa.com
Office: 858.673.3042
Cell: 978.375.0057

www.technologyservicesworld.com
LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2044178

www.technologyserviceseurope.com
LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2177249

Nothing Beats Face-to-Face

September 23rd, 2009 Mike Healy No comments

In fourth century Middle East, the concept of the public marketplace began to flourish in what became known as the “Bazaar.” Located along frequently traveled routes, these marketplaces became the center of Middle Eastern society…places where not only goods and services were exchanged and sold, but also where personal relationships were developed, stories and tales were told, entertainers performed, and people networked and interacted face-to-face. They were the hub of early civilization—the birthplace of the modern mall, and for that matter, trade shows and conference events.

A strong conference brings people together to learn from thought leaders, to share best practices, and most important, to network and interact with their peers. It is through this interaction that individuals can strengthen and make new connections, further develop their careers, and equally as important, benchmark their organizations to oftentimes get a “sanity check” on where they are at in the industry.

The ways in which we interact today, in both our personal and professional lives, are changing so rapidly that it’s sometimes hard to keep pace. Technology and the “extended Internet” have enabled communication between people that only a few years ago would have been difficult to imagine. I recently moved my family to San Diego from Boston, and between texting, Facebook, and gaming, it’s like my kids never left the East Coast. We moved a few times when I was a kid, and it didn’t take long to develop new friends, and ultimately the old ones faded into the past. But not so today. Yesterday I came home to find my son playing a video game with a headset on, talking to one of his friends 3,000 miles away while they were cornering a zombie for annihilation. It was as if they were still sitting on the same couch next to each other in the same room.

This is social media. High-technology and the Internet have changed our lives, giving us the ability to share, network, and interact no matter where we are located…almost like being there…almost. And advances keep coming at us at warp speed…advances that are changing the culture.

Looking Back at the Movies for Some Perspective…
Hollywood is easy for everyone to relate to and can help illustrate how quickly social technology has developed. Remember the movie Lethal Weapon? It came out in 1987, so it’s not exactly and old film—in fact I think the car I’m driving today is in one the scenes. At any rate, there is one scene early on in the film where Danny Glover’s character calls a police psychologist from the road to find out of Mel Gibson’s character is suicidal. He uses a mobile phone—albeit, the phone was the size of a suitcase, but it was a mobile phone nonetheless. I recall watching this scene and thinking to myself, “Wow, this is cool technology.” No phone booth, no radio…his own mobile phone that made communication instantaneous and helped get him vital job information…that, yes, his partner was nuts.

Another modern-day film that illustrates how fast tech has changed is the movie Die Hard 2, released in 1990, only 19 years ago. In one of the key scenes, inspector John McClain is at the airport waiting for his wife to fly in when he senses that they might be under terrorist attack. He talks with the “Twinkie cop” from Die Hard 1 who asks him if they have a fax machine at the airport. McClain shows his badge to the woman behind the airport information desk and asks, “Fax machine?” as if he had never heard of one. Much to his surprise, seconds later he has a picture of one of the terrorists transmitted “via fax.” We think of fax machines only 19 years later as substitute boat anchors, but this was new technology back then, and again, what it did was enable people to share key information as if they were in the same room—it removed distance as a barrier to communicate and share.

Fast-forward to 2009…the Internet exists, is lightning fast, and is viral. Cell phones are the size of credit cards, run on IP networks, and are as powerful as PCs. E-mail is considered an old application, as texting, Twitter, and communities are becoming preferable for messaging. Leaving a voice mail is considered “rude,” unless it’s absolutely necessary. (Don’t believe me? Ask your kids.)

Communication is quick and to the point. Information that used to take weeks to share now takes seconds as you snap a digital picture with your mobile, tag it, and upload it to Facebook, or as you sit at a conference, take a poll with your cell phone, and see the results displayed in a nano-second behind the keynote speaker. Laptops have built-in cameras…scary. Skype rings on your desktop, you click to see your boss in front of you sitting in first class at 36,000 feet in digital quality. Thanks to texting, the written word looks more like Morse code. Twitter and Facebook have taught us to communicate in character counts, not words “Wher r u”—short, to the point, and effective. Almost as good as being there. Almost, but not quite.

Until someone can shake my hand through my monitor, or I can go the printer and get a Chopin martini extra dry with three olives, there will never be a substitute for face-to-face. The Internet and high-tech has enabled incredible virtual networking opportunities, but they will never take the place of being there. Face-to-face interaction is how civilization developed…and this is what the Association conference business is all about.

Technology Services World (TSW) 2009 Las Vegas is about the ideas and information that flow when members of AFSMI, SSPA, and TPSA get together, in person. Business relationships (some that even began online) are reinforced or established, partnerships are developed, and great business ideas are launched from roots established at our conference events.

We look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas this coming October 19-21. The services industry is bigger and brighter than ever, and TSW is on target to be the biggest gathering in our associations’ history. (And “BTW,” you can learn more at TSW about social media and how it’s impacting the services business. Check out our agenda at http://tinyurl.com/m825jn.

See you in Vegas.

Blog-exclusive promotions for attending TSW

September 10th, 2009 Shawn Santos No comments

Let me start by saying that the TSW Blog is meant to be a knowledge-sharing platform–you won’t see many promotions here (just the most critical ‘need-to-know’ promos). That said, we would like to thank our blog readers by offering a “TSW blog-exclusive” promotion to those of you interested in attending TSW. Please feel free to share this with your trusted colleagues.

It doesn’t get better than this:

Free Terry Fator tickets OR 20% off of your paid TSW conference registration with TSF-exclusive promotions!

1- Registering for TSW with a conference voucher? Use promo code TSW09TSF between now and Sept 30 to score yourself Terry Fator tickets!

2- Paying for your conference pass? The same code TSW09TSF will get you 20% off the cost of your registration!

Questions? Give Mike Healy a call: 1-858-673-3042

See you soon!

Shawn & the TSW staff

A Fond Farewell

Our final day started with 20 breakout sessions, which once again pulled great crowds. The much-anticipated Awards Luncheon followed. The room glittered in gold and the luncheon fare itself was worthy of kudos. Happy recipients from SRII, SSPA, and TPSA took their turns on stage to be aptly honored for their accomplishments. Read award details on our press release page.

Following the awards ceremony, keynote speaker Jeff Howe, contributing editor of Wired Magazine and author of Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business, took the stage. Jeff was the first to analyze the phenomenon and coin the word “crowdsourcing” for how business is embracing the digital herd by enlisting the masses to help stoke popular trends. He pointed out, however, that perhaps the hardest lesson for businesses to learn is the importance of including people in solving problems with whom they don’t ordinarily work. The crowd, he feels, can lead you down a less-traveled path. Inspired by Howe’s insights and their application to technology service and support, conference attendees left our event on a truly high note.

I checked in with J.B. Wood again and he couldn’t be happier. He said that seeing this type of attendance is tangible evidence that services are needed now more than ever; it validates not only our Associations’ value propositions, but those of our member organizations as well.

In this economy, it’s a true testament to our membership communities that they came out in such high numbers to attend this event. We thank both our members and partners who attended―we couldn’t have done it without you.

View photos of the event on Flickr.

Categories: TSW 09 Silicon Valley Tags: