Marketing Mandates 2006:
ITSMA's Annual State
of the Profession Address
January 24, 2006
8:00 am Pacific – 11:00 am Eastern – 16:00 London (Duration:
One hour) (Free for ITSMA members)
Registration Closed
Marketers are leaders. You are visionaries, trend setters, and highly
responsive emissaries for your brands. You take your cues from your customers
and place bets on where they’ll want to go next.
In this 2006 edition of ITSMA’s renowned state of the profession
address, Dave Munn, president and CEO, and Julie Schwartz, senior vice
president and chief research officer, will identify top priorities in
marketing services and solutions to today’s business and enterprise
technology customers. Dave and Julie will review the trends that have
become major marketing movements, provide a snapshot of where the industry
is headed, and review data that outlines the marketing priorities that
will lead to success in the year to come.
In particular, the briefing will explore issues including:
Communicating with the new digital channels and connecting with online
communities
Establishing clear differentiation for new and existing offerings
Continuing the move to solutions
Forging tighter bonds with sales
Strengthening relationships, building loyalty, and collaborating
effectively with customers
"ITSMA briefings are extremely valuable. I consider them my
top source of marketing info. They keep me and my team ahead of the
curve so we can be as effective as possible."
—Guy Nielsen, Senior Director, Head of EMEA Marketing & Communications,
BearingPoint
Dave oversees all ITSMA strategy, partnerships, and international operations.
He also moderates numerous ITSMA conferences and speaks at a variety of industry
and client events.
Since joining ITSMA in 1995, one year after its formation, Dave has played
a central role in expanding the organization’s offerings to include:
Best-practice, benchmarking, and customer research; custom consulting and training;
and a wide range of member services to help companies improve marketing, sales,
and business results. ITSMA now has operations in the U.S., Europe, and Japan,
serving over 100 member companies representing close to half of the total Technology & Telecom
services revenues generated worldwide.
Prior to joining ITSMA, Dave held senior-level field positions with Oracle
Corporation and Apple Computer, responsible for marketing products and services
to commercial and government accounts. Earlier, Dave was a senior analyst with
The Ledgeway Group, where he authored Ledgeway’s first “Service
Trends and Forecast” study and launched the company’s inquiry hotline
service.
Dave holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Denison University
and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School, where he
concentrated in Marketing and Corporate Strategy. Dave is a former President
of the Alcott Toastmasters Club and an alumni interviewer for Kellogg’s
MBA program.
Julie Schwartz
Senior Vice President, Research and Thought Leadership jschwartz@itsma.com
Julie oversees
ITSMA's thought leadership development and custom research. She has authored
numerous reports and articles on technology services trends, marketing, branding,
and sales topics, and is a frequent speaker at public events and client meetings.
Julie created ITSMA's Solutions Roadmap and Services Competency Assessment,
developed a balanced scorecard approach to measuring services marketing performance,
and designed ITSMA's 360° brand assessment research, which helps companies
better understand how their brands are perceived by customers, prospects, partners,
employees, and influencers.
Prior to joining ITSMA in 1996, Julie was an analyst with State Street Research.
Earlier, Julie was the director of professional services research for Dataquest
and manager of research for The Ledgeway Group.
Julie holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania,
where she graduated summa cum laude and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
She also has a Master of Science in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management,
where she was named a Seley Scholar.
General Information
ITSMA's Online Briefings offer recent research findings or survey results
from thought leaders on a variety of services marketing topics. The
Online Briefings can be viewed individually, or in groups composed of
people within the same company. The briefings are available anywhere
in the world that has telephone service and access to the Internet.
A typical program runs 45 minutes followed by 15 minutes of questions
and answers. The person making the online presentation speaks into a
telephone and advances the visual portion of the presentation via their
computer connected to the Internet. At the end of the presentation.
and at the presenter's discretion, the listeners are invited to ask
questions. Each listener with a question identifies him or herself and
is listed in a queue and taken one at a time by the presentation monitor.
The monitor also manages the question and answer session by giving each
questioner access to the phone line to communicate with the presenter.
Technical Requirements
This briefing will be administered by Connex International. All participants
are required to test their browsers on Connex International's Website
24-48 hours prior to ensure they are ‘Java-enabled’. This
test can be done at www.connexpresents.com, by clicking on the "Equipment
Check" icon.
You will receive a pass code and dial in number 24-48 hours prior to
the briefing.
The technical requirements for this ITSMA online briefing are:
Direct or dial-up Internet connection of 28.8 kb/s or higher.
An AOL or wireless connection is not recommended.
A separate telephone line to access the audio teleconference.
If participating from your company, ask about your company’s
Internet Firewall 48 hours prior to the event. This will enable your
technician or a Connex technician to reconfigure connections to ensure
access to the Internet portion of the briefing.
No plug-ins or software downloads are required.
System Requirements: Windows 98 SE or higher with JAVA enabled,
Internet Explorer 5.x or greater or Netscape 4.75, 4.79, 4.80, or 7.1. The
following operating systems "may work with limitations," although
they are not supported: Mac OS X family with Safari 1.0; Linux Redhat
6.2 with Netscape 4.7x; Solaris 8 with Netscape 4.7x.
Works through 99% of all firewalls and proxy servers.
Fees and Registration
Aside from the telephone call, the fee for the presentation is complimentary
for active ITSMA members, and $95 per location for non-members.
Note: Registration is on a first-come/first-served basis. You must
register by 5:00 pm ET, January 23, 2006.
About ITSMA
ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions.
As a membership organization, we work with the world's leading technology,
communications, and professional services firms to generate new business, strengthen
customer loyalty, and increase brand differentiation. Through research, consulting,
training, and community we provide the insight companies need to improve marketing
impact, sales performance, and business results. ITSMA is based in Lexington,
Massachusetts, and has offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and
Japan. Learn more at www.itsma.com.