Information Technology Alliance

ITA Spring Members Meeting

Leading the IT Profession “Peachy Ideas and Southern Comfort”
April 26-28, 2009 - Westin Buckhead Atlanta

Sunday, April 26, 2009

5:30 PM - 7:00 PM Registration & Opening Networking Reception - Ballroom CDE (Dinner on Your Own)

Monday, April 27, 2009

Rooms Unless East & West Paces for
Otherwise Noted Ballroom CDE Ballroom B Tuxedo Chastain Strategic and Full Group

Consulting & Reselling Consulting & Reselling IT Consulting Internal Tech Leaders Internal Tech Leaders
5 TRACKS
(CR ) (CR) (ITC) (ITL - Tactical) (ITL - Strategic)

7:00 AM - 8:00 AM Registration, Full Breakfast & Networking - Ballroom A

8:00 AM - 9:45 AM Opening General Session & Keynote Presentation: The Art of Imagineering - Ballroom B-E

ITA Project
The Coming
10:15 AM - 11:15 AM Management Update
Paradigm Shift
& Mini-Workshop MSP Practice - What’s Happening What’s Happening
The Things You Don’t in My Practice in My Practice
How to Win a Pitch: Know About Roundtables Roundtables
ITA Consulting
The 5 Fundamentals That
11:25 AM - 12:40 PM Will Distinguish You From Benchmarking
The Competition (for participants only)

12:40 PM - 1:45 PM Luncheon & Networking - Ballroom A

7 Steps to Do You Want to Drive ITIL Session 1 - CSI: An ITIL How to Approach Our
SaaS - State of Perspective of Doing
1:45 PM - 3:00 PM Small Business Additional Value to “More/Better” IT Support Critical Non-Technical
the Union
Marketing Success Your Clients? with Less of Everything Challenges

ITIL Session 2 - Service Practical Guidelines on

Selling in 2009 - The SaaS - Details from Selling IT Services in a Operations: Super Sizing Implementing the
3:05 PM - 4:20 PM Your User Satisfaction Business-Within-a-Business
Positive Outlook the Inside Challenging Economy
While Saving Your Shekels Paradigm

Marketing and Sales SaaS Model - Hosted

4:25 PM - 5:25 PM Roundtables SaaS - On the Round Backups and Recurring Cloud Computing
Ballrooms C and DE Revenue Streams

5:35 PM - 6:30 PM ITA Business Meeting - Ballroom B ITL Metrics Planning Discussion

6:45 PM - 10:30 PM Dinner Party at Maggianos (A Short Walk)

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

7:15 AM - 8:15 AM
To Blog or Not To Blog -
An In-Depth Look at
8:15 AM - 9:30 AM the Why’s and How’s
of Blogging
LinkedIn and Facebook -
A Practical “How To”
9:50 AM - 11:05 AM Exercise for Getting
Started Effectively
Full Breakfast & Networking - Ballroom A
Building Sales
Storage Strategies - SharePoint and
Compensation Plans
State of the Marketplace SharePoint Alike
That Work
Identifying and
Developing Talent How is the Current Economy
The Managed Services Affecting Your IT Organization
SharePoint, NOT! and What Unique Steps are CIOs
Opportunity - Kaseya
Taking to Manage through It

Setting Up Your Social Leaders Panel How to Provide Profitable and

Simple Disaster Recovery, Data
11:15 AM - 12:15 PM Networking Tools - Discussion and Real Protection and System Migration
Transforming IT with Cloud Computing
Roundtable and Lab World Experience Services to Your Clients

12:15 PM - 1:30 PM Luncheon & Networking - Ballroom A

Managed Services
VALUE PRICING - Cisco’s New SMB VOIP What Are People Doing Microsoft Professional
1:30 PM - 2:45 PM and Why It May Make
Setting the Sales Price Solutions Regarding... Services Update
Sense for You

Pricing Managed
“Knowledge Increases In Value When It Is Social Media Tools (SMT) -
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Service Provider
Shared” Roundtables Why We Can’t Ignore Them
Service Contracts

4:10 PM - 4:30 PM Wrap Up & Adjournment - Ballroom B

ITA Fall Collaborative

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
December 6-8, 2009 - Westin Mission Hills, Palm Springs, CA
 Information Technology Alliance
ITA Spring Members Meeting
Leading the IT Profession “Peachy Ideas and Southern Comfort”
April 26-28, 2009 - Westin Buckhead Atlanta

Consult the Reverse Side Schedule for Specifics

Chastain West Paces Fourth Floor North

Meeting Rooms
Tuxedo East Paces Chastain ITL Tactical Track
Tuxedo ITC Track
East/West Paces ITL Strategic and ITA
Combined Tracks

The Westin Buckhead Atlanta

Fourth Floor South

Meeting Rooms
Ballrooms CDE Keynote & CR Track
Ballroom B Keynote, CR Track,
Business Meeting and
Wrap Up

Ballroom E Ballroom D Ballroom C Ballroom A Meals

Ballroom B

Ballroom A
 2009 Spring ITA Members Meeting
April 26-28
The Westin Buckhead Atlanta

Peachy Ideas and Southern Comfort

Sunday, April 26

5:30 PM -- 7:00 PM
Registration & Networking Reception
Pick up your registration materials, meet up with other ITAers, and make plans for where you want to go to
dinner! Lots of choices in the area!

Dinner on Your Own

Monday, April 27
7:00 AM – 8:15 AM
Registration, Full Breakfast & Networking
8:00 AM – 9:45 AM
Opening General Session
8:00 AM – 8:30 AM
Welcome & Introductions

Stan Mork – RSM McGladrey, Inc.

Ron Eagle – President, Information Technology Alliance
8:30 AM -- 9:45 AM
Keynote: The Art of Imagineering
This address will put the concept of Imagineering to work for you. Imagineering is the blending of creative
imagination with technical know-how. It melds curiosity, collaboration, ideation, and dreaming to produce
creative thinking and big ideas but provides the platform to bring those ideas down to earth. It combines
imagination (right brain) with engineering (left brain). Guest speaker Alf Nucifora discusses the history of
Imagineering as first formulated and implemented by the Walt Disney organization in the development of its
theme parks and shows by visual example why the Imagineering process has been so vital to Disney's
success.

Alf Nucifora - Nucifora Consulting Group

10:15 AM -- 11:15 AM
CR: The Coming Paradigm Shift
Software as a Service (SaaS) or cloud computing applications are demonstrating a growth rate that is many
times greater than their on-premise application counterparts. Good news for those that are using or selling
SaaS applications. This session is intended to explore the primary benefits that SaaS solutions offer to CPA
firms that use them to service their clients as well as to resellers and Systems Integrators considering adding
a SaaS application to their existing portfolio of products. There is a major shift that the marketplace is
embracing today around cloud computing that enables those VARs willing to re-look at their business model
an exciting opportunity to improve their productivity and profitability. We will explore some of the key
elements of this paradigm shift, benefits afforded by this shift, business model differences, as well as
questions that can help you decide if this makes sense for your organization to embrace. The speaker has
over 25 years of experience in building complex distribution channels across several private and public
companies, including, most recently, three SaaS companies (Postini, Google and Intacct).

Jerry Jalaba - Intacct Corporation

10:15 AM -- 11:15 AM
CR: ITA Project Management Initiative & Mini Workshop
ITA remains committed to helping its member firms improve in the Art of Effective Project (and Client)
Management. We believe that standard processes exist for delivering successful project work, time after time.
ITA has defined one such standard process, and has developed supporting planning and control templates,
and related client/prospect marketing materials, to allow members to become more effective in this critical
skill area. This session will focus on “Change Requests” and how they are both an important tool to help
ensure the satisfaction and success of the overall project, but also a critical tool in truly capturing and
communicating the value great project management provide to your customers. During this session we will
do a deep dive on the reasons, process and tools for making sure change requests are well handled. As an
added bonus, each participant will receive a copy of a change request form!

Kevin Cumley - Forepoint LLC

Ed Kless - Sage

10:15AM -- 12:40 PM
ITC: MSP Practice - The Things You Don't Know About
Wow did you even think there were things you don’t know about being an MSP? I didn’t until I talked to
another MSP. What an eye opener. Join our roundtable discussion on the things we didn’t even know we
needed to know. Be prepared to share your thoughts and insights as we all look to find the pearl that makes
everything click. One topic will definitely be Expectation Setting for Clients. Most of you have probably been
burned at least by this simple topic.

Stephen Reynolds - FCA Technologies

10:15 AM -- 12:40 PM
ITL: What’s Happening in My Practice Roundtables - Tactical
These roundtable sessions allow ITL’s to collaborate on key technology initiatives, challenges and concerns
within their respective organizations. Participants will be divided into three groups and will come prepared to
share and present within their group the top projects and priorities either in process or planned for
implementation in their firms.

10:15 AM -- 12:40 PM
ITL: What’s Happening in My Practice Roundtables - Strategic
These roundtable sessions allow ITL’s to collaborate on key technology initiatives, challenges and concerns
within their respective organizations. Participants will be divided into three groups and will come prepared to
share and present within their group the top projects and priorities either in process or planned for
implementation in their firms.

11:25 AM -- 12:40 PM
CR: How to Win a Pitch: The Five Fundamentals that Will Distinguish You from the
Competition
Joey Asher, an attorney and President of Speechworks, will discuss his new book which focuses on how to
create and deliver presentations that win business. During this program, Joey will focus on several topics
including:

• Creating messages that focus on client hot buttons

• The importance of keeping presentations simple
• Keys to developing a style that inspires confidence
• How rehearsal can set you apart

Joey Asher - Speechworks

11:25 AM -- 12:40 PM
CR: Consulting Benchmarking
This session remains a cornerstone in our annual Spring meetings. Again this year, ITA member Bob Gaby
will take the lead in presenting an analysis of the financial and operational data submitted by members and
offer comparisons to prior year results. What key factor metrics and trends will emerge? How will your Firm’s
results measure up to your peer’ results? Use this data to find your Firm’s strengthens and weaknesses.
Remember - You will have to have submitted your firm’s numbers to be able to attend this session.

Robert Gaby, CPA, CITP - Arxis Technology, Inc.

12:40 PM
LUNCHEON & NETWORKING

1:45 PM – 5:25 PM

CR: 2 Mini Workshops as Follows. See Specific Time Slots for Concurrent Topic
Descriptions

CR: Sales & Marketing in Today’s Economy – A 3 Session Mini Workshop

You've done all the cost cutting you can to reduce expenses but have you reduced your sales and
marketing expenses as well? Should you? This track will focus on what's working to generate
leads in today's economic climate. Not only generate leads but turning those leads into sales in a
down economy. We will focus on marketing that generates interest, qualified leads and real sales.
If you want to spend your sales and marketing dollars wisely, this track will help you learn what's
working, what's not working and what's changing in the way we market and sell our services in a
down economy and what we need to change when things turn around.

CR: Software as a Service (SaaS) and Its impact on the Traditional Software VAR
Business Model – A 3 Session Mini Workshop
Software as a Service (SaaS) is the latest iteration of a computing process which began many
years ago. What started out as the offering of a remote service provider, remote hosting provider,
or an ASP has evolved into a much more robust and complex market alternative. Now SaaS offers
software and bundled services on an on-demand, pay as you go, and scalable basis. SaaS can
provide many benefits including reduced up-front investments by the subscriber, insulation for the
user from managing the underlying technology and infrastructure, minimized impact of updates
and upgrades, and provide a scalable solution for future growth. With this seismic shift in the
delivery of the technology to the client, the environment in which the traditional VAR operates
must also change. Our “deep dive” investigation of this technology will navigate through a process
of discovery, analysis, and design.
CR: 1:45 – 3:00: A 7-Step Roadmap to Small Business Marketing Success
John Jantsch provides a step-by-step approach that any business can use to build a marketing system that
delivers consistent and predictable results. Outflanking the competition during a recession is much easier
when you develop a marketing strategy that clearly differentiates your firm from everyone else in your
industry. Implementing that strategy with simple, effective and affordable tools and tactics is as simple as
operating a system when you know how to put all the parts together. In this session you'll learn:

• How to identify an ideal customer

• How to stand out in a crowd
• How to create marketing materials that educate
• How to harness the power of the Internet
• How generate and convert leads consistently
• How to make marketing a habit

John Jantsch is a marketing and digital technology coach, award winning social media publisher and author of
Duct Tape Marketing - The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide.

John Jantsch - Duct Tape Marketing

1:45 PM -- 3:00 PM
CR: SaaS - State of the Union
With the assistance of Bob Anderson of the Gartner Group, join us as we discover the facts surrounding SaaS
and where it fits in today’s (and tomorrow’s) software and service marketplace. Bob will provide insight into
the maturity of SaaS offerings and the projected growth of this market segment. He will also share Gartner’s
perceptions of how the reseller channel fits into the overall picture of the SaaS community and how the
relationship we have with our clients and publishers might be affected.

Robert Anderson - Gartner Group

1:45 PM -- 3:00 PM
ITC: Do You Want to Drive Additional Value to Your Clients?
This session will begin with MSP expert, Amy Luby who will discuss her strategies on how to add value to your
Managed Services offering. Then the group will do a deep dive into the topic by sharing individual successes
and strategies by sharing templates, reports, policies and procedures. Come prepared with your documents,
ideas and be ready to share.

Amy Luby - MSP Services Network - MSPSN

1:45 PM -- 3:00 PM
ITL: ITIL Session 1 - CSI: An ITIL Perspective of Doing “More/Better” IT Support with
Less of Everything
A primer of quality management practices adapted specifically to IT Service Delivery. The session will feature
a fresh look at tried and true techniques for improving service, addressing specifically the existing IT service
life cycle (strategy to design to transition to operation). ITIL certified trainer Dick Szymanski of AmerIT
Learning will provide attendees with a handful of quickly implementable, low cost, ideas.

Dick Szymanski - AmerIT Learning Corporation

1:45 PM -- 3:00 pm
ITL: How to Approach Our Critical Non-technical Challenges
Running IT as a business within a business, espoused by Dean Meyer since the early 1980s, explains how to
approach most organizational and political issues. An effective business within a business is aligned with firm
strategy, delivers perceived value reliably, and is innovative and entrepreneurial. Using this vision, near-term
actions consistently build toward the long-term goal of an internal services provider that’s the firm’s “vendor
of choice.” In this interactive discussion, Dean will lead us through a discussion of the key issues surfaced in
the morning updates, developing an actionable response based on the business-within-a-business paradigm.

Dean Meyer - N. Dean Meyer and Associates Inc. (NDMA)

3:05 PM -- 4:20 PM
CR: Selling in 2009 – The Positive Outlook
2008 gave birth to the most devastating economic collapse in 75 years. For virtually every business sector,
market demand has vanished, revenues are down, and consumers are driven by fear and uncertainty.
Continuing indications for 2009 are for a worsening situation as the marketplace confronts growing
unemployment, on-going credit tightening and lack of consumer confidence (and spending). What's a
marketer and salesperson to do?

In this hard-hitting session, seasoned marketing consultant, author and academic Alf Nucifora lays out the
anticipated realities of the consumer environment in 2009 and presents a ROI-driven remedial plan that will
continue to deliver sales in spite of an unreceptive and unresponsive marketplace.
In this session, you will:

• Gain insights into the current economic malaise and public mindset that has driven buyers to place a
lock on their wallets and pocketbooks;
• Be privy to economic projections and trends with respect to consumer confidence and spending, and
the impact of that data on industry performance in 2009;
• Be exposed to marketing strategies that work best in recessionary times;
• Be provided with actionable tactics and programs that stimulate buyer demand and drive sales;

Leave with the confidence that survival and success in 2009 are achievable goals in spite of industry woes

Alf Nucifora - Nucifora Consulting Group

3:05 PM -- 4:20 PM
CR: SaaS - Details from the Inside
If you have never worked with a SaaS based solution, you probably have questions about the details of how
the market and the reseller channel work. We have invited two SaaS publishers and fellow members of the
ITA, Intacct and NetSuite, to share information regarding their respective reseller programs and market
success to date. They will be joined by two of our peers who are members of their reseller channel and
servicing clients in this market segment today. As a group, they will help us analyze this market segment by
looking into the details of their reseller relationships, their go-to-market strategies, their business model, and
help us draw comparisons and contrasts with those of us still in the traditional VAR business model.

Ashish Gadnis - ForwardHindsight

Jerry Jalaba - Intacct Corporation
Craig West - NetSuite, Inc.
John G. Wooldridge, CPA - LarsonAllen
3:05 PM -- 4:20 PM
ITC: Selling IT Services in a Challenging Economy
Today’s difficult business environment can be a real opportunity for those offering Managed Services to their
clients. Matt Makowicz is back to talk to us about his thoughts on selling in today’s marketplaces
After attending this session you will be able to better:

• Understand which marketing strategies are more effective in this economy and how to execute them
• Identify common objections more typical in this economy and how to overcome them
• Learn how to actually shorten your sales cycle in this economy
• Discover what is most important to customers today and how to leverage it

Matt Makowicz - Ambition Consulting

3:05 PM -- 4:20 PM
ITL: ITIL Session 2 - Service Operations: Super Sizing Your User Satisfaction While
Saving Your Shekels
In the end, we (and our customers) spend 90% of our time in the quadrant of the urgent – the day-to-day.
Sharpening the sword and big picture theory is good, just less feasible when there is a sword over the budget.
This sessions will present the Top 10 actionable improvements that are of minimal cost and highly likely to
provide real savings for IT and users in a “now or soon” timeframe.

Dick Szymanski - AmerIT Learning Corporation

3:05 PM -- 4:20 PM
ITL: Practical Guidelines on Implementing the Business-Within-a-Business Paradigm
With an understanding of what we need to do to address our key non-technical issues, we’ll turn our attention
to the practicalities of implementation. Dean will present step-by-step processes to implement each of the
changes discussed throughout the day. Changes include culture, structure, and internal resource-governance
processes. This session will provide you with hands on ideas that you will be able to take back and implement
quickly in your own operations.

Dean Meyer - N. Dean Meyer and Associates Inc. (NDMA)

4:25 PM -- 5:25 PM
CR: Marketing and Sales Roundtables
If you were left with questions or a desire for deeper discovery from our sessions on Marketing and Sales,
here’s your opportunity to discuss them with the presenters and fellow ITA’ers. Review the sales and
marketing issues that are affecting you in today’s economy. Discuss what is working and what’s not. Identify
the keys to generate leads and outline ways to turn those leads into sales. Two concurrent roundtable
sessions will be hosted by our Marketing and Sales presenters Alf Nucifora and John Jantsch. Knowledge
increases in value when it is shared. Come share your marketing and sales knowledge so we collectively
succeed in today’s economy.

4:25 PM -- 5:25 PM
CR: SaaS - On the Round
Following the insightful overview from Bob Anderson, and the details of SaaS reseller programs and successes
with Intacct and NetSuite, it’s time to really dig in with a detail question and answer session. This is your
chance to get the answers and insights you have been seeking, so you can begin building your roadmap to
flourishing in this new market environment.
4:25 PM -- 5:25 PM
ITC: SaaS Model - Hosted Backups and Recurring Revenue Streams
As a service provider, taking on yet another product is a balancing act of understanding the technology,
getting the marketing right, turning suspects into customers, deploying the solution, keeping it working, and
then getting recurring revenue. Join Jan Spring, VP of Channel for eFolder and an eFolder partner, as they
show you how easy and beneficial it is to for you to offer this service to your customers. You will also see the
fast deployment process, the automatic monitoring operation, the recurring revenue potential, and how it ties
into managed services.

Stephen Reynolds - FCA Technologies

Jan Spring - eFolder, Inc.

4:25 PM -- 5:25 PM
ITL: Cloud Computing
There has been a great deal of buzz regarding Cloud computing in the industry. The prospect of no longer
having concerns regarding physical security, power consumption, air conditioning, rack space, server
procurement, disaster recovery, etc is very attractive to IT Management. But what is the value play? When
does it make sense to leverage Cloud computing in my environment? In this session we’ll take a closer look
at what Cloud computing really is and present a real world example of how it might be implemented and what
it would cost compared to a traditional data center deployment.

Joey Widener - AT&T Hosting and Application Services

John C. Neall - UHY Advisors, Inc.

5:35 PM -- 6:30 PM
CR & ITC: ITA Business Meeting

Stan Mork - RSM McGladrey, Inc.

5:35 PM -- 6:30 PM
ITL: ITL Metrics Planning Discussion
Members will review and brainstorm on current and potential new Key Performance Indicator’s measures for
the annual Metrics reporting. This session will set the framework for the data collection and reporting
processes to be followed in advance of the ITL summer meeting.

Steven A. Noble, CPA. CITP - LarsonAllen

Kevin P. Simmerman - bmc

6:30 PM – 10:00 PM
Dinner Party at Maggiano’s Little Italy
One of the country’s best Italian Bistros is just 2 blocks away from the Westin. Maggiano’s is famous for
family style dining, enormous portions, and fabulous food. There will be plenty to eat and drink in a friendly,
private atmosphere. To Get There: Exit the hotel at Motor Lobby, turn left to Peachtree, cross Peachtree,
turn left and walk about 1 block.

Tuesday, April 28
7:15 AM – 8:15 AM
Registration, Full Breakfast & Networking

8:15 AM -- 9:30 AM

CR: 2 Mini Workshops as Follows. See Specific Time Slots for Concurrent Topic
Descriptions
CR: Social Networking - A Strategic and Hands On Look – A 3 Session Mini Workshop
Social Networking seems to be the rage these days. We all thought it was just for the younger
crowd, but now we hear all about how it can be a huge marketing tool. Can it really? And, if so,
how do we go about making it that? This group of sessions will address the hows and the whys in
a very practical way. Many of us know about blogs, but haven't started one. We'll hear and see
the ins and outs of blogging from Wayne Schultz. Then, we'll move to the Linked In and Facebook
products, and you'll not only hear about those, but you'll see how to build your own Facebook
Business account in this presentation from Joe Rotella. The final session of this series will be a
roundtable with the experts, where you will have hands-on assistance from both Wayne and Joe,
and some other experts with these products. This series will prove to be an excellent addition to
your bag of marketing tricks.

CR: What’s It Going to Take to Develop Your Firm’s Future Leaders? – A 3-Session Mini
Workshop

8:15 AM -- 9:30 AM
CR: To Blog or Not To Blog – An In Depth Look at the Why’s and the How’s of Blogging
How often do you update your web site? Are you getting enough visitors? Do some of these visitors become
clients? There's no quick fix for marketing online. There are however several ways to stand out in the crowd,
attract visitors and even get some of them to become loyal clients. Find out how the often ridiculed practice of
blogging is making inroads to web sites. Everyone these days can create their own blog in under 10 minutes
however after the first three articles they usually give up for perceived lack of interesting topics. Discover how
to unleash 3 to 6 articles per day - seven days a week with a time commitment of about two hours in the
morning. Assuming that you write just one article each business day - by the end of the year you'd have
about 260 different pages of targeted information to attract web visitors. If you're tired of throwing money
away on Google Adwords - then it's time to create content on your own web site that attracts visitors without
costing an arm and a leg. This session specifically talks about:

• Blogging - perceptions, misconceptions and who care what others thing

• Examples of how to do this using the free WordPress blogging platform
• Why you should have a blog
• How to find topics to write about that are of interest to your target audience
• Top 5 mistakes people make
• Top 5 secrets of writing an articles people will want to read (and link to)
• Costs associated with blogs
• Live demonstration of how an article can be created in under 5 minutes

Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting, LLC

8:15 AM -- 9:30 AM
CR: Identifying and Developing Talent - Part 1
How confident are you in your next generation of leaders? How ready are they to take the firm into the
future? Most of us are hoping a miracle will occur while we’re trying develop those around us through “OJT”
and when we have time. During this session we’ll explore what it takes to develop your future leaders,
including what it’s going to take from you to guide your future leaders through the process. You will learn
how to develop your future leaders by:

• Identifying the characteristics necessary in your firm’s next leaders

• Creating a gap analysis of your firm’s current leaders and the skills and behaviors they will need to
learn and/or develop
• Exploring methods available to you to develop these skills and behaviors in your people
• Developing a roadmap to guide you in the leadership development process
• Understanding who you need to be as their leader to empower your future leaders

Tamera Loerzel - ConvergenceCoaching, LLC

Jennifer L. Wilson - ConvergenceCoaching, LLC
8:15 Am -- 9:30 AM
ITC: Building Sales Compensation Plans That Work
Sales compensation plans that worked last year-may not be appropriate for 2009. Compensation planning
must be designed to pay for performance and attract top talent. Compensation programs for salespeople,
hunters, farmers, in house or presales technicians must be in alignment with corporate strategy. Are yours?
Learn to create comp programs that:

• Are in alignment with your strategic objectives

• Are cost justifiable and measurable
• Are blended to create individual or team incentives
• Are blended for practice, vendor and market demands
• Increase the effectiveness of sales contests
• Can be successfully rolled out

Attendee Handouts: Acumen will provide sales compensation assessment, sample programs, and
compensation contracts/agreements and other materials as presented in Ken Thoreson's Book on
Compensation Plans.

Ken Thoreson - Acumen Management Group, Ltd.

8:15 AM -- 9:30 AM
ITL: Storage Strategies - State of the Marketplace
Organizations of all types and sizes are under pressure to boost efficiency, radically cut costs, and reduce
power consumption. When measured by total cost of ownership (TCO), traditional data storage solutions are
inefficient and expensive to maintain, manage, and expand. That makes these traditional storage paradigms
increasingly harder to justify. The Compellent Storage Center (CSC) - a highly integrated, feature-rich data
storage solution - was designed to lower data storage TCO. Join us in this session to learn more about the
CSC (and other off-site storage options) and why they are likely to be at the core of your storage thinking in
the future.

Paul Clifford - Davenport Group

8:15 AM -- 9:30 AM
ITL: SharePoint and SharePoint Alike
As firms develop their strategies for collaboration; business intelligence; content management and document
management they will be required to make many decisions on the supporting technology platforms. This
session highlights the issues related to one of the foundational technology decisions: SharePoint or not
SharePoint. In this session panelists from Plante Moran; bmc; and Clifton Gunderson outline the decision
processes that were followed within their firms and the reasons why these three firms ultimately selected
SharePoint. In addition, the panelists will present the implementation Road Maps for the business solutions
that will be delivered through SharePoint within their firms.

Angie Beutler - Clifton Gunderson LLP

Debbi Danielson - Plante & Moran, PLLC
John Del Vecchio - bmc
9:50 AM -- 11:05 AM
CR: LinkedIn and Facebook - A Practical “How To” Exercise for Getting Started
Effectively With These Two Social Networking Tools
You’ve wanted to get started, and you probably already have a Linked In profile. But now you are likely
wondering where to go from that start? How do I really use it effectively, and is it really a serious and
effective marketing tool? And maybe you already have a personal Facebook page, but you are now hearing
about Facebook profiles for the businesses?

Join Joe Rotella in this interactive session to learn more about Facebook and LinkedIn. Follow along on your
laptop as Joe creates a Facebook business account. Be comfortable posting photos, videos and events.
Discover ways to promote your business, stay in touch with existing clients, and attract new clients.

It’s a daunting task. This session will look at the whys and bring you a practical “how to” of these two social
networking tools that seem to be rocking our marketing worlds today. Bring your laptop, and let’s get
started.

Joseph P. Rotella, SPHR - Delphia Consulting, LLC

9:50 AM -- 11:05 AM
CR: Identifying and Developing Talent - Part 2
How confident are you in your next generation of leaders? How ready are they to take the firm into the
future? Most of us are hoping a miracle will occur while we’re trying develop those around us through “OJT”
and when we have time. During this session we’ll explore what it takes to develop your future leaders,
including what it’s going to take from you to guide your future leaders through the process. You will learn
how to develop your future leaders by:

• Identifying the characteristics necessary in your firm’s next leaders

• Creating a gap analysis of your firm’s current leaders and the skills and behaviors they will need to
learn and/or develop
• Exploring methods available to you to develop these skills and behaviors in your people
• Developing a roadmap to guide you in the leadership development process
• Understanding who you need to be as their leader to empower your future leaders

Tamera Loerzel - ConvergenceCoaching, LLC

Jennifer L. Wilson - ConvergenceCoaching, LLC

9:50AM -- 11:05 AM
ITC: The Managed Services Opportunity
Managed Services is an industry hot button right now, and a growing source of new revenues for firms with
large numbers of existing SMB clients. New ITA member Kaseya is a major player in this market. Kaseya's IT
Automation Framework allows IT Professionals to proactively monitor, manage, and maintain distributed IT
infrastructure remotely, easily and efficiently with one integrated Web based platform. In this session a
representative from Kaseya will provide an overview of the MSP market dynamics and how Kaseya products
and services fit in. In addition, an existing Kaseya partner will talk and answer your questions about their
business, and how they have used Kaseya products to achieve success.

Robert J. Deskovich - Kaseya

9:50 AM -- 11:05 AM
ITL: SharePoint, Not!
Are you interested in the features and functions of Microsoft SharePoint Server, but looking for alternative
solutions? This session discusses several alternatives to Microsoft SharePoint Server in the creation and
deployment of projects to boost organizational effectiveness, such as eCommerce websites, corporate
intranets and extranets, online publishing portals, and group collaboration websites.

Becky Bright - BKD, LLP

David Phillips - CBIZ, Inc.
Gary Rosenberg - Eisner LLP
Jim Tarala - Schenck Business Solutions

9:50 AM -- 11:05 AM
ITL: How is the current Economy Affecting Your IT Organization and What Unique Steps
are CIOs Taking To Manage Through It?
Coming off successive years of unprecedented growth and profitability in the Industry, the current economic
recession may be one that is also unprecedented and may be presenting new challenges to IT leaders. This
open discussion among the Industry’s Leading CIO’s will focus on how they are managing through the
challenging new economy. Find out what unique steps are being taken by CIOs to continue to provide value
added services to their organizations, while facing a combination of budgetary pressures and shortage of
resources to meet the demands of their organization.

Kevin P. Simmerman - bmc

11:15 AM -- 12:15 PM
CR: Setting Up Your Social Networking Tools – A Roundtable Discussion and Lab
This roundtable session is a continuation of the Blogging, LinkedIn and Facebook practical sessions. There will
be tables devoted to each of those tools covered in the previous sessions, and assistance will be provided by
both the presenters, as well as others we have gathered who are known to be significantly involved, and
therefore highly knowledgeable with one or more of these tools. There will be great interaction available as
you actually begin (or continue) your work of getting past the proverbial “Square One”.

11:15 AM -- 12:15 PM
CR: Leaders Panel Discussion and Real World Experience
We will follow the opening session with a panel of peer leaders who will share their approach, and the
methods they’ve used for developing leaders in their organizations. We’ll explore best practices, and talk
about lessons learned in what it really takes to develop leaders in practices today, including:

• Methods for identifying up-and-coming leaders

• Strategies and approaches for developing the skills and behaviors required to lead in various situations
• Accountability mechanisms to ensure there is progression in the growth and learning of identified
leaders
• Who current leaders have had to become in the process of developing others around them

The panel will address your questions from the audience, and we’ll explore your challenges and successes in
developing future leaders in an interactive Q&A session. Leave this session with practical ideas you can
implement to develop your next generation of Firm leaders.

Eric Frank - NexTec Group, Inc.

Jeffrey D. Roth - SWK Technologies, Inc.
Mark Severance - Arxis Technology, Inc.
Rick Wilson, CPA, CITP - Martin & Associates
11:15 AM -- 12:15 PM
ITC: How to Provide Profitable and Simple Disaster Recovery, Data Protection and
System Migration Services to Your Customers
In this session StorageCraft will present methods to provide profitable and simple disaster recovery, data
protection and system migration services to your customers. Come learn how you can leverage the different
StorageCraft products to add fault tolerance to your current client base.

Curt James - StorageCraft Technology Corp.

11:15 AM -- 12:15 PM
ITL: Transforming IT with Cloud Computing
Running your business in the Cloud is becoming mainstream and offers enormous advantages. Hear how
companies are taking advantage of the Cloud to increase IT output while simultaneously reducing
infrastructure, application development and deployment costs. Learn how this new approach is enabling IT to
do more with less by focusing on innovation, not infrastructure.

12:15 PM – 1:30 PM
LUNCHEON & NETWORKING

1:30 PM -- 2:45 PM
CR: Managed Services and Why it May Make Sense for You
ITA benchmarking, and other forms of input, indicate that ITA members who have IT Consulting and Managed
Services type practices (ITC/MSP) have consistently done better than those members who are purely working
in the ERP reselling and implementation business. This difference has never been more obvious than it is
today, with ITC/MSP people’s phone ringing off the hook, and hiring new staff happens as fast as it can.

Kevin Cumley - Forepoint LLC

Paul Hoffman,CPA, CITP - SouthTech Solutions, Inc.
Greg Pierce - Tribridge

1:30 PM -- 2:45 PM
CR: VALUE PRICING -- Setting the Sales Price
At past ITA meetings, our colleague Ed Kless has shared his passion for freeing our industry from the shackles
of the time sheet, and time and materials based project pricing. We have also heard from fellow ITA
members who have embraced this paradigm shift, and we have learned how they have achieved success in
profits, project quality, and employee productivity. We have also discussed one of the cornerstone’s of this
methodology by discussing consultative selling, and the process of defining the value to the prospect which
you can bring through the successful completion of the Value Priced project.

Now join us in this latest session as we dig deeper into the Value Pricing process. Once you have identified
the value (to the prospect) of solving the business challenges which initiated the project opportunity, it is time
to settle on a price to address those challenges and realize the pending value. Ed will review the key decision
criteria for determining a price, and outline your options for providing the prospect with prices and choices to
make the process fit their budget, time frame, and resource availability.

Come prepared to participate in a dynamic discussion about what works and how to put Value Pricing theory
into practice by bringing a copy of a proposal from a recent sales opportunity. During the session, Ed will
work with one or more participants in discussing the opportunity and the decisions you would have made in
setting a price based upon the Value Pricing methodology. Ed will also be available in the Roundtables
immediately following this session to continue our discussions about price setting or any other aspects of the
Value Pricing methodology. So, roll up your sleeves, put on your pricing caps, and come join us for what is
sure to be a lively discussion!

Ed Kless - Sage
1:30 PM -- 2:45 Pm
ITC: Cisco's Smart Business Communication System
This session is an overview of the Cisco Smart Business Communication System (SBCS) for small and medium
business - this solution creates, manages your entire communication infrastructure from voice to instant
messaging, email from wan to wireless.

Mike Stacks - Tech Data Corporation

1:30 PM -- 2:45 PM
ITL: What are People Doing Regarding …

• Topic 1 - Security Management. In-house vs outsourcing. UHY has replaced their in-house WebSense
application with the ScanSafe service available through AT&T. Hear about the benefits of a hosted security
solution and find out whether there have been any hidden issues with the implementation.
John C. Neall - UHY Advisors, Inc.

• Topic 2 - Amazon Kindle. Eisner has been looking at the Amazon Kindle as a new format for delivering
material to professionals within their firm. As an added benefit hear how Kindle format content can be re-
formatted and delivered on the IPhone.
Gary Rosenberg - Eisner LLP

• Topic 3 - Training Delivery Shift. With many companies drastically slashing their travel budget for
training, more and more companies are looking for alternative methods for delivering training to staff. Clifton
Gunderson has shifted from Instructor-Led Training classes to Webcasts and Self-Study Training courses. In
this session, Clifton Gunderson will share some of the challenges they have faced, including webcast platform
differences, network resource demands, Continuing Education requirements, and the development of self-
study courses.
Angie Beutler - Clifton Gunderson LLP

1:30 PM -- 2:45 PM
ITL: Microsoft Professionsl Services Update
Microsoft’s Industry manager Elliot Ichimura will be returning to ITA to provide a two part update from the
Microsoft Professional Services team. First Elliot will discuss Identity and Access Control enabled Business
Strategies in Accounting In this portion of the session we will explore how new ways of coordinating internal &
external action, taking advantage of Identity & Access Control technologies, is changing the Enterprise
economics by lowering the cost of coordinating group action. The discussion will include the theoretical
framework to changing organizational boundary and sample business scenarios in Accounting.

Secondly, Elliot will discuss Accounting Benchmarks, a quick look at Client service team coordination and
collaboration with SharePoint 2007. Elliott will share vignettes in the lifecycle of an accounting project,
including: opportunity generation, project initiation, scoping, staffing, content sharing, and engagement
management.

Elliott Ichimura - Microsoft Corporation

3:00 PM -- 4:00 PM
CR: Knowledge Increases in Value When it is Shared
Back by popular demand! Use these roundtable discussions to find out from your peers what they are doing
or doing differently in the areas of interest to you. You will have the opportunity to select two topics and
meet with your peers for 45 minutes on each of these moderated discussions. Come prepared to share and
learn ideas that you can take back to your office for immediate impact!

• Value Pricing Managed Services

• Managed Services
• Sales & Marketing
• Standard Operating Procedures
• Future Leaders

3:00 PM -- 4:00 PM
ITC: Pricing Managed Service Provider Contracts
Are you currently providing managed services and getting overwhelmed by the possible inclusions/exclusions
of services and how they relate to price? Are you considering the managed services model and want the
lowdown on how other ITA MSP's are structuring their deals? This session will feature a facilitated discussion
with real life examples of how MSP's are pricing for ROI and profit, and on the results of our short pricing
survey.

Scott Stevens - Clifton Gunderson LLP

3:00 PM -- 4:00 PM
ITL: Social Media Tools (SMT) – Why We Can’t Ignore Them
SMTs like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Youmeo, blogs, and the multitude of other applications that seem to
emerge everyday have long been seen as “personal” tools. Further, they are often characterized as time
wasting diversions that only “young people” can enjoy. Well…. that’s all changing! SMTs today are being
turned into vital business applications that can help companies compete, and stay relevant. Long time ITA
member Joe Rotella has learned to harness the power of SMTs to enhance existing client interactions, and to
find/capture new clients. Join Joe as he reviews the variety of SMTs in use today and how they can be used to
improve the current and future competitiveness of any business.

Joseph P. Rotella, SPHR - Delphia Consulting, LLC

4:10 PM -- 4:30 PM
Wrap Up & Planning for the Next ITA Meeting