The Future of Customer Demands Presented at SSPA Savannah

July 29, 2003

(San Diego, CA July 29, 2003) – The Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) announced today the featuring of Five Tracks each with six focused sessions for a total of 30 sessions guaranteed to unlock the secrets to mastering the future of customer service and support for the SSPA Savannah Conference to be held September 29-October 1, 2003 in Savannah, Georgia. The SSPA Savannah Conference is "the" event where the future of the Service and Support industry comes together in a fusion of visionary key note addresses, vibrant tracks and workshops, interactive forums, fun networking events, informative exhibits and a special dinner featuring the SSPA STAR Award winners -- all in the heart of America's most magical city, Savannah Georgia.

“By creating specific content tracks, the SSPA Savannah Conference agenda format allows the attendees to choose the most applicable presentation for their needs,” said Bill Rose, SSPA Founder/CEO. The Future of Customer Demands track offers three different perspectives on how to deal with changing customer demands.”

The Five Tracks on the second day of the Conference will include:
Track 1: The Future of Support Technology; Track 2: The Future of Customer Demands; Track 3: The Future of the Support Executive; Track 4: The Future of Managing People; Track 5: Delivering World Class Service in the future.

Track 2- The Future of Customer Demands
The focus here will be on how will the customer change and look in 2004, 2005 and beyond. Will their demands change? Their loyalty? Will we need to change the way we measure customer satisfaction? Discussion will include community service vs. customer service and moving from reactive to proactive.

Session 1- Improving the Effectiveness of Web-based Self-Help: How to Make “Self-help” Systems Really Solve Customers’ Problems
Jim Rohrer, Sr. Manager, Web-based Support & Technical Communications
Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. – Computer Systems Group
Session 2- Building Successful E-Business Support Centers
Michelle Girard, Director, E-Business Deployment- Oracle Corporation

Session 3- The Next Generation Customer.... The Bar Has Been Raised. Now what do We Do?
Oscar Alban, Principal, Global Market Consultant- Witness Systems

Each session will be presented once in the morning and repeated again in the afternoon.

The opening day of the SSPA Conference at Savannah will be highlighted by 3 keynote presentations by Elliott Masie, Director- The MASIE Center; Chris Shea, Vice-President Consumer Service and Support Americas and Randy Spratt, Sr. Vice-President- McKesson Information Solutions.

Day Three will feature Five Informative Workshops giving attendees the opportunity to learn from the top leaders in the industry on some of the most important aspects of success the for future of support services.
Workshop 1: STAR Award Winners Showcase- “Benchmarking Against the Best!
Workshop 2: Economics of Certification - Management Overview
Workshop 3: Support Center Practices (SCP) Best Practices User Forum
Workshop 4: Developing a Services Architecture
Workshop 5: S-Business: Reinventing the Services Organization: How to Drive Revenue and Create Competitive Advantage

Day Three is completed with the attendee’s choice of a round of golf at the pristine Club at Savannah Harbor Golf Course, next to the Westin Savannah Harbor Resort. - a tour of America's most magical city- Savannah- or a tour of Savannah’s wonderful coastal area.

Those who attend the SSPA Conference at Savannah will be well equipped to master the future of customer service.

About SSPA
Founded in 1989, the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) was formed to focus on the specific needs of service executives who are responsible for support centers and overall customer relations. Today, the SSPA represents over 21,600 service professionals at 2,500 support centers worldwide. These executives look to SSPA to provide insight into the future of support services, a road map of best practices within our industry and access to the best service and support vendors. SSPA has become the center of support providing a reliable and comprehensive resource for news, research, benchmarking, standards and collaboration.

SSPA was created for professionals, managers and executives that make their living in the IT support services community. It is not a generic, one-size-fits all website where nobody ever feels like they belong. SSPA is dynamic, interactive, living resource specifically designed for the unique needs of support professionals. This exciting virtual community creates a forum for constant interaction with peers, industry experts, technology vendors and much more. For more information regarding the SSPA and other related divisions, log on to www.thesspa.com or send an email to info@thesspa.com.