ITSMA Launches 2005 Marketing Excellence Awards

Leading Services Marketing Organization Seeks to Honor Best-in-Class Technology Services and Solutions Marketing

LEXINGTON, Massachusetts—April 14, 2005—ITSMA, a membership-based organization that specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions, today announced the call for nominations for its eighth annual Marketing Excellence Awards. Designed to recognize strategic marketing that delivers bottom-line business results through innovation and flawless execution, the awards are open to all companies worldwide that market and sell technology-related services and solutions. Past winners have included Accenture, BearingPoint, BMC Software, British Telecom, Capgemini, Cisco Systems, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM Global Services, NCR Teradata, Novell, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and Siebel Systems, among others.

"Since we introduced ITSMA's Marketing Excellence Awards program eight years ago, the market for technology-related services and solutions has grown substantially, and the marketing accompanying those services and solutions has grown in sophistication as well," said Dave Munn, President and CEO of ITSMA. "We are pleased to continue our tradition of recognizing the organizations and individuals who are responsible for advancing the art and science of marketing, and are looking forward to honoring many new and innovative programs in 2005."

Starting today, application forms for ITSMA's 2005 Marketing Excellence Awards are available on the Web at: http://www.itsma.com/News/mea. Nominations may be submitted in the following six categories:

• Launching New Solutions: Designing, developing, and launching new solutions into the marketplace that solve customers' core business problems
• Generating New Demand: Designing, launching, and managing campaigns that generate substantial demand for new or existing services or solutions
• Increasing Sales Effectiveness: Improving the entire sales process for services and/or solutions, including opportunity analysis, sales enablement, and account management
• Improving the Customer Experience: Working across the organization to improve the total customer experience, from initial contacts through relationship development, sales, delivery, service and support, satisfaction, loyalty, and trust
• Strengthening Brand Differentiation: Launching, building, repositioning, and/or managing the corporate or services brand to strengthen competitive differentiation
• Enhancing Marketing Leadership: Strengthening Marketing's strategic role in the business through programmatic, organizational, and leadership success

Applications are due by June 15, 2005, to be judged by an international jury of marketing executives and experts. ITSMA will announce the winners during its 2005 Annual Conference: Marketing Matters, November 7-9 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

For more information on ITSMA's 2005 Marketing Excellence Awards, please visit http://www.itsma.com/News/mea.

About ITSMA
ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. As a membership organization, we work with the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA members include business leaders such as Accenture, BT, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Tata Consultancy Services, among others. Our comprehensive research, consulting, and training on topics including ITSMA Account-Based Marketing ^SM, Brand Positioning, and Solutions Development provide the insight and experience companies need to improve business results. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.