Why You Need to Attend This Session:

Is reducing time to value important to you in today’s “lean IT” conditions? If the answer is yes, come see how CA helps its customers achieve this objective using “Go-Live with CA.” This session will explain how CA ensures timely execution and enables a seamless transition to production followed by proactive monitoring and, ultimately, success.

Presentation Abstract:

In our current economy, customers are looking to maximize their dollars and ensure that when they do spend, they spend wisely and get a quick return on their investment. To meet this challenge, companies need to be agile in the delivery of their implementation projects and get customers into production quickly, efficiently, and successfully. Support can play a key role in helping achieve this by working with our services and partners teams. Using the “Go-Live with CA” program example, learn how support and services/partners can work together to ensure timely execution of implementation projects and enable seamless transitions into production for customers. Learn how proactive monitoring of key stages throughout the implementation life cycle ensures that deliverables are met and projects are on time. Finally, find out how lessons learned are applied to continually deliver excellent value to customers.

Why You Need to Attend This Session:

Today’s economic and business environment demands increased commitment by leadership to improve, adapt and overcome many obstacles facing customers and partners. In his presentation, Dillard Myers will discuss Cisco’s key service principles for generating revenue, cutting costs and optimizing processes that have made service the leading customer loyalty and customer satisfaction driver at Cisco.

Presentation Abstract:

How do you manage a nearly $5-billion parts inventory, deliver six hardware replacement options from two-hour to next-business-day delivery in 120 countries, and work 250,000 service requests a quarter, while improving customer satisfaction with demanding customers and complex equipment? That is the challenge facing Cisco every day. This presentation will explore how Cisco is managing the customer experience through the introduction of smart services that can identify equipment problems before the customer is even aware of them. It will cover the use of the latest Web 2.0 technologies, such as video and online collaboration to speed case resolution. Attendees also will learn how Cisco listens to customers in many different ways, analyzes the data, and then converts it into actionable items to drive continuous improvement of the customer experience and generate stronger customer loyalty. This presentation will highlight Cisco’s three-point process for improving productivity and reducing costs to support day-to-day operations and future needs.

Why You Need to Attend This Session:

Service operational models are key factors in the successful partnership between customer and service provider. These models have to be designed, implemented, and managed intelligently, and measure the service operations’ ability to maintain customer expectations in any business environment. This session will cover the key objectives in aligning with your customers, how to optimize profitability, and how to build a trusted relationship between customer and vendor.

Presentation Abstract:

Service operational models are key factors in the successful partnership between customer and service provider. These models have to be designed, implemented, and managed intelligently, and measure the service operations’ ability to maintain customer expectations in any business environment. To achieve the highest CSAT and make higher revenue targets, service operations groups have to manage their service operational portfolio to avoid financial pitfalls. They must define the service level and operational level agreements that fit into the customer’s business environment. Service operational analysis requirements must be considered to minimize service operational disasters. Attendees of this session will learn how to analyze the customer organization’s service operations, identify areas for improvement in service planning and execution, apply practical solutions for eliminating inefficiencies, and measure solution impact using quantitative performance metrics.

Presentation Abstract:

SAV NETWORK is implementing a brand new technology to support technical teams across the world under a concept known as VAM (Video Assisted Maintenance) - a high definition video system. The new system will allow an on-site technician to link with maintenance experts to obtain technical support using WiFi or 3G or satellite telecoms.

Why You Need to Attend This Session:

Supporting an appliance introduces an unusual set of challenges for an organization. When the customer has an issue, there are few easy problems that KB and community can resolve. There are, however, some simple steps that do not require significant investment which have proven to be beneficial in terms of customer satisfaction, ensuring that skilled technical staff is able to do more than deliver good technical solutions, thereby protecting maintenance revenue.

Presentation Abstract:

Netezza is the founder of the data warehousing appliance concept. With an appliance, customers expect a different level of service and need far fewer skilled staff to support it. This presentation discusses the challenges of supporting a product where all the problems are difficult, little can be deflected by the KB, and the skill levels of the customers are low. Netezza has built an award-winning support organization that provides immediate access to experienced second-level engineers. The term “appliance” hides the true complexity of a product and the associated skills required to support it. This presentation covers how the basics are still used to manage the support organization, but also discusses other issues that have to be addressed in order to continue to scale and succeed.

Why You Need to Attend This Session:

Are your customers slow in adopting your organization’s technology? Their adoption can be improved if you better enable your professional services organization. Come listen to how the “Eight Golden Rules of Consulting” will improve your workforce and expand the frame of reference your consultants take to their next client engagement. Train your workforce through real-life examples and stories that will put you ahead of the competition.

Presentation Abstract:

Have you made your flight arrangements for travel next week to your client? Have you mapped out how to get from the airport to the hotel and client office? Have you reviewed the Statement of Work and spoke to your manager or sales team? Great, but did you remember to pack the 8 Golden Rules of Consulting. Every consultant will need these 8 Golden Rules before starting whether you are onsite or working remotely. Learn what is essential to the work you are going to perform. This track is built with real-life examples of successful and not successful consultant stories that you and your team will need to guarantee success on each and every engagement. Learn about having a Point of View, working from a Fixed Budget, Earning Your Billing Rate and Pulling the Rip Cord Early. These 8 Golden Rules will better frame your consultants when they come onsite.

Why You Need to Attend This Session:

In post-recession 2009, IT must be responsive to the needs of its customers, both internal and external. Process improvements have the promise of heightened levels of customer satisfaction. At the same time, process and tool upgrades are cost items and must realize a return on investment. Ensure that your investment is used by the people using it every day. Ensure that your process and tool upgrades get implemented, used, and result in high levels of success for your organization, by planning for the people part of the project.

Presentation Abstract:

Go live is upon us. Our new processes are written, our tool is ready, training has begun and we can't get any takers. What does it take to get this off the ground? It takes careful organizational change strategy and planning. And, it takes some real commitment on the part of the implementers to play by the rules. Explore three successful process improvement process implementations complete with successful tool implementations and what contributed to their success. This session will look at what makes organizational change difficult, how to build success and the enabling behaviors which the change agents must possess to pave the way for success. We will look at the research of John Kotter of Harvard, Robert Cooke and Clayton Lafferty of Human Synergists and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross PhD. We will also look at the work of Saul Alinsky and how to make the tools of community organizers those of process change agents. Join us for research, advice and thinking outside the box.

Why You Need to Attend This Session:

Why attend the SMB panel session? This is the best place to come and hear from, and interact directly with, leading SMB support executives. This panel will address any topic on the minds of the broader community.

Presentation Abstract:

Stephen will be leading a panel discussion with support executives from a number of leading SMB organizations. The panel will discuss what SMB organizations did to get through the downturn and what they are doing now to ensure they are positioned for continued success. They will discuss a wide variety of topics including how to attract and retain top talent in a tough job market, what technologies are really being used in organizations today (e.g., what are they using for knowledge management and what they have learned around best practices), how they see support changing over the next few years and what it will mean to your organization and business. This is always a very interactive session with the audience, so please join to engage with this community.