Breakout sessions began bright and early this morning, following a great breakfast in the Technology Services Expo. Presenters discussed everything from cloud computing to the best practices in support to the role of education services in closing the consumption gap. Attendees also had one last chance to explore the solutions and services offerings in the Expo.

In this morning’s keynote, J.B. Wood and Geoffrey Moore, author and managing director of TCG Advisors, had the audience enthralled and—at laughing—with discussions on how to see more eye to eye with your CFO. “Getting to ‘Yes’ – Restoring the Concept of Investment in Services” shared methods for building an internal business case where margin dollars can be retained and reinvested back into the services business to fund innovation initiatives. We all have some business and productivity challenges. But technology is one of the few levers we have left to play. Moore and Wood discussed where the profitable growth is going to come from tomorrow.

Geoffrey Moore Discusses How to Restore the Concept of Investing in Services

Service Revolutions Vision Awards
With a famous Beatles song…something about “a revolution”?…playing in the background, attendees filed into the Mission City Ballroom to see what this “Service Revolutions” thing is that TSIA has been talking about. They came, they saw, and they were wowed. It was an atmosphere not unlike American Idol^TM meets DEMO^TM. J.B. Wood was entertaining as always as he hosted the event, with TSIA vice president of technology research John Ragsdale, author and TCG Advisors’ managing director Geoffrey Moore, and director of IBM University Programs James C. Spohrer serving as panelists and offering their feedback on the demonstrations.

Nine presenters took the stage for six minutes each, discussing their latest technological innovations that were truly something to see. Akamai, eXaudios, InfoLink, Jeeva Portals, Kopin Technologies, Natron Baxter Applied Gaming, salesforce.com, ServiceMax, and Xerox all put on outstanding demonstrations of some really innovative and cool technologies, with the audience rating them live on a “cool scale” of 1-5.

Service Revolutions Contestant Reminds the Audience of What Number to Vote For

Service Revolutions Contestant Demonstrates Cool "Hands-Free" Technology

And the Winner Is…
After the demonstrations, the audience moved next door for the TSIA Awards Luncheon to learn who the winners were. In the Commercial category, Kopin Technologies won for its mobile computing system that provides a familiar PC experience and a “Hands-Free” operation. In the Services Practitioner category, Xerox won for its Maintenance Assistant at the Device UI technology, an exciting development in Xerox service delivery that enables immediate “at the device” support for customers who want a real-time solution to a product performance issue or the answer to a how-to question. And in the Start-Up category, eXaudios won for its next-generation innovative technology that decodes the human voice into emotions. Benefits to the contact center include reduction of customer churn and call length and increased customer satisfaction, agent efficiency, and revenue. Very cool. So cool, in fact, that it won a prize of $10,000!

eXaudios Wins $10,000 Prize for Its Innovative Technology That Decodes the Human Voice into Emotions

The feedback from the audience was phenomenal, and we’re proud and excited to have brought Service Revolutions to TSW this year.

Also honored at the awards luncheon were Recognized Innovator Award winners: Lithium for Innovation in Knowledge Management, nGenera CIM for Innovation in Value-Added Service, and InQuira for Innovation in Emerging Channels. The Recognized Innovator Awards are the only independently judged awards program that recognizes innovation in technology services products and service offerings documented with customer case studies of measurable business value and results. The Recognized Innovators in each category were selected by a panel of judges, including industry experts and TSIA members.

Extreme Networks was named winner of the Certified Support Staff Excellence Center Award in recognition of meeting two major criteria:

• 90% of the company’s front-line support staff has successfully completed the CSP-I course of instruction and certification.
• 90% of its supervisory staff has successfully completed the CSP-I and CSP-S courses of instruction and certifications.

Also honored were the winners of its annual STAR Awards for Best Practices, which recognize technology companies who display exceptional leadership, innovation, and commitment in developing and implementing best practices:

• Best Customer Commitment – Avaya
• Best Embedded Product Support – Symantec
• Best Emerging Company Support – Riverbed Technology
• Best Knowledge Management Practices – Avaya
• Best Online Community – Hewlett-Packard
• Best Online Support – Cisco Systems
• Best Practices in Value-Added Support, Enterprise – CA
• Best Practices in Value-Added Support, SMB – Cobalt
• Best Service Delivery Optimization, Enterprise – Avaya
• Best Service Delivery Optimization, SMB – Riverbed Technology
• Best Support Staff Practices – EMC
• Best Use of Metrics and Business Intelligence – EMC

Winners at Technology Services World

Technology Services' Finest Honored at TSW 2010

TSIA Honors the Industry's Best at TSW 2010

Service Revolutions and the Awards Luncheon were outstanding endings to an outstanding event. We’d like to thank all who supported and participated in Silicon Valley this year. Next up…Las Vegas in October!

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The Venue

Breakout Sessions…Breaking Out of the Mold
The breakout sessions went exceptionally well. The word in the hallways was all about how great the learning is. We’re uploading presentations daily—check the TSW Web site. Conference attendees should use the username and password provided via e-mail to download them from the TSW Web site. If you didn’t attend, visit TSIA.com and use your normal login for access.

Conference Learning

More Learning

Technology Services Expo
John Ragsdale led a tour of Recognized Innovator Awards finalists at 11 a.m. and again at 2 p.m. Finalists are selected by a panel of judges including industry experts and TSIA members. The winners will be announced and presented with their awards during the TSIA Awards Luncheon tomorrow in the Mission City Ballroom. The Theater Solutions Stage was host to industry leaders from Compuware, Convergys, and KPIT Cummins, who shared real-world solutions to real-world services issues. At 5 all converged in the Expo for a reception and prize drawing, with the Game Card winner the proud owner of a brand-new Apple iPod!

A Recognized Innovator Award Finalist Speaks to Tour Audience About Knowledge Management

Expo Hall Presentation

Women in Services Dinner
Xerox vice president Julie Hogan is the keynote speaker at tonight’s Women in Services networking dinner, a dining and networking event held at TSW that affords women senior executives and opportunity to meet and discuss services business and career challenges and opportunities. Hogan shared strategies for expanding your services career. A portion of the dinner ticket price and chance drawing tickets are donated to Dress for Success San Diego, a charity organization that provides business attire and career counseling for financially challenged women.

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To say that the keynote discussions at TSW have attracted the crowds is an understatement. Rooms have been filled from wall to wall with services executives who came eager to learn. Plenty of note taking was going on as I looked around, which told me one thing: There is a lot to learn at TSW.

Monday keynotes were all about the clouds. Thomas Lah, executive director of TSIA, officially kicked off TSW with an opening keynote that cast a bright light into the cloud, sharing some facts and figures from TSIA research on the new Cloud 20 index. The keynote panel that followed delved further into the cloud discussion. With Lah moderating, senior executives Tim Dilley, executive vice president, worldwide services and chief customer officer, NetSuite; Tony Kolish, senior vice president, customer support services, EMC; Matt Porta, vice president, technology strategy, IBM; and Watson Wat, vice president, technology and CTO Oracle On Demand, Oracle, revealed how leading cloud companies are evolving their service portfolios to align with the cloud computing model. Panelists talked about the transformational nature of cloud computing and how services organizations can become the chief enablers of the new virtualized world.

TSIA Executive Director Thomas Lah Discusses Cloud Computing in the Opening Keynote

Keynote Panelists Discuss the Shift to Cloud Computing

Tuesday’s keynote was all about executing the move to services in a product-centric company. Moderated by TSIA’s J.B. Wood, the panel featured senior executives Leo Annab, corporate senior vice president of CA Global Support; Tara Bunch, vice president of global customer support operations, HP Imaging and Printers Group; Stuart Cooper, vice president of global services, Enterprise Business Group, Alcatel-Lucent; Sanjay Singh, vice president, global services and support, Akamai; and William Steenburgh, senior vice president, Xerox Services. Attendees came in droves to learn how these services leaders have successfully repositioned their organizations as the center of innovation and change inside their companies.

TSIA President & CEO J.B. Wood Discusses Strategic Change in Tuesday's Opening Keynote

A Panel of Successful Change Agents Discuss Bringing Services to the Forefront of the Business

Registration

Attendees Listen In

Stay in the Know
Keep checking back here to our conference blog for updates on highlights and events. Also check out our Flickr photo gallery being updated continually throughout TSW, and look to your inbox every evening for TSIA’s ConferenceDaily News, a newsletter that gives you a great recap of the day’s events. And follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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The pre-conference activity at Technology Services World (TSW) is exciting; you can feel the buzz in the air as the main-event opening draws near. Five Professional Development Programs took place this morning, with great attendance and dynamic discussions.

As I made my way from room to room, one thing stood out: The atmosphere and the folks in the rooms made it conducive for open discussions. Some really great real-world experiences were shared, with empathetic and helpful response from peers and presenters alike.

Pre-Conference Learning

Dennis Gershowitz, principal of DG Associates, and Bill Moore, director of CEM training, DG Associates, presented “Building a Customer Experience Management Strategy to Acquire, Retain, and Grow Your Customer Base.” Attendees came away with new tools for successfully growing their business and service efforts.

Francoise Tourniaire, founder and principal of FT Works, discussed “Grow Your Top Line: Designing, Marketing, and Selling Support Packages.” Participants learned how to maximize support, serve diverse segments of their customer base, and improve their support portfolios.

Francoise Tourniaire Discusses Growing Your Top Line

Tim Matatanovich, president of Value and Pricing Partners, presented “Pricing Technology Services,” where the audience focused on providing value to the customer for profitable business growth.

In “Social Media Tools: Picking the Right Technology Strategy for Service and Support,” David Kay, principal of DB Kay & Associates, talked about what is working for social support; attendees left with a framework for building solid strategies for their organizations.

Listening In

And in the “Value Realization Workshop,” Mark Lacroix, managing partner of RTM Consulting, discussed how to assess client value and drive greater satisfaction and loyalty.

Taking Notes

With 35 percent year-over-year attendance growth and more than 700 in attendance, TSW 2010 Silicon Valley is already shaping up to be a stellar event.

Hope to see you here!

Suzanne Hite
Publications Editor
TSIA

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This week I’m highlighting RTM Consulting’s Value Realization Workshop.  This workshop was designed to help solution providers address the challenge that their clients face in adopting all of the available features and functionality offered to achieve maximum value from their investments. The course is built around a framework designed to help you assess the value that your clients are currently achieving, and create a strategic services road map to systematically drive greater adoption, value, and differentiation.

And this is only one of the 6 great courses we’re offering at the conference.  Here’s the full line-up:

• Building a Customer Experience Management Strategy to Acquire, Retain, and Grow Your Customer Base

• Grow your Top Line: Designing, Marketing, and Selling Support Packages

• Pricing Technology Services

• Quantum Leap Improvement: How to Identify and Implement “Big Bang” Opportunities in Your Support Center

• Social Media Tools: Picking the Right Technology Strategy for Service and Support

• Value Realization Workshop

These courses are only $495 with a full conference registration and offer a full day of interactive, hands-on training in a small group setting.  That’s a hard value to beat, and just one more way to make your TSW experience even more productive and rewarding. 

Due to the interactive nature of these courses, attendance is limited, so sign up today at http://tinyurl.com/tsw-courses!

See you in 4 days!

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So how do you get to answers (and results) more quickly?   Try borrowing from the experience of others who have already made the mistakes, learned from them, and are now on to enjoying the fruits of their efforts. 

Helping members get faster results is one of the primary goals of TSIA conferences.   The best thinking is showcased in member-to-member presentations – not the theories, but the nuts and bolts behind their work.   Practitioners who have been there and done that share how they solved problems, what they learned along the way, and the results they’ve achieved – helping you accelerate your learning curve and get to the end result more quickly.

Our spring event (May 3-5 in Santa Clara, CA) is no exception.   We’ve lined up great speakers on the pressing issues that members are focused on today, including: 

• What’s the impact of Cloud Computing on service organizations?
• How to leverage social media for improved customer and business outcomes
• How to deliver Value Added Services that drive customer consumption of products and technologies
• Innovations in service business models, service delivery and service operations
• Best practices for engaging and managing a partner community

We’re also rolling out a very cool new program called Service Revolutions where we’ll be showcasing the most cutting-edge, innovative work going on in our industry.    And you get to vote – American Idol style – to determine who wins the awards.    You don’t want to miss it!

So come for the great content, networking, and the chance to weigh in on who’s doing the coolest stuff in tech services.

I hope to see you and your cohorts in Santa Clara.    Don’t forget to register before March 31^st to get the 10% discount and preferred hotel pricing.

Trisha Bright

Vice President, TSIA Conferences

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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:

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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.

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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.

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