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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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