ITSMA Announces 2006 Marketing Leadership Forum: Solutions from the Outside In

ITSMA Forum features powerful line-up of speakers from Avaya, BEA, Cisco, Cognizant, CSC, and IBM;

Spotlights new research results from CIO Executive Council and a panel discussion with leading enterprise CIOs

LEXINGTON, Massachusetts—March 8, 2006— ITSMA, a membership community that helps companies market and sell technology services and solutions, today announced that it is bringing together marketing leaders and enterprise CIOs to explore how to build a successful solutions business at its 2006 Marketing Leadership Forum: Solutions from the Outside In. The event will take place on April 25-26, 2006 at The Fairmont San Francisco.

“ITSMA research shows that approximately 75% of customers buy integrated technology solutions,” said Dave Munn, president and CEO at ITSMA. “At our Marketing Leadership Forum this year, our goal is to help companies build an “outside in” understanding of all their key constituencies so that they can construct a solutions business that meets the needs of customers, employees, partners, and the company as a whole.”

Forum participants will hear the “outside” perspective from the CIO Executive Council, an organization with more than 230 member CIOs representing companies with more than $1.2 Trillion in annual revenues. Representatives from the CIO Executive Council will present research results on the buyer/seller relationship and participate in a moderated panel discussion on how to improve the relationship between buyers and sellers of technology, including:

• How to build credibility with CIOs around solutions
• How CIOs want to work with technology providers
• Why CIOs believe that the current model for sales and marketing needs to be improved

In addition, senior solutions executives will share their experience in “internalizing” the outside perspective to drive success with solutions. Featured speakers include:

• Stephanie Anderson, Vice President of Services Solutions Sales, Avaya
• Marge Breya, Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, BEA
• Marci Meaux, Vice President, Portfolio Management, Cisco Systems
• Malcolm Frank, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Strategy, Cognizant
• Lem Lasher, Vice President & Chief Innovation Officer, CSC
• Tom Inman, Vice President, Marketing, Information Management Solutions, IBM
• And more!

Discussion at the Forum will focus on an array of solutions-specific topics including:

• Collaborating with customers—learn how to co-create winning solutions with your customers
• Influencing market influencers—learn what makes industry movers and shakers sit up and take notice
• Transforming sales—learn how to equip sales with the tools they need to sell solutions
• Managing strategic partnerships—learn how to work with outside partners to deliver a wide range of value-added solutions
• Changing corporate culture—learn how to build corporate support for solutions

“ITSMA is clearly the thought leader when it comes to solutions,” said John Giere, Chief Marketing Officer at Lucent Technologies. “This is a big issue for Lucent, and we're always looking for new ideas and best practices. ITSMA's events are great sources for inspiration and recommendations on how companies can move to a solutions focus.”

For more information, a detailed agenda, and to register online, please visit: www.itsma.com/leadershipforum.

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.