8:15 AM -- 9:10 AM

R&C & ITC:  Purpose Built Tech Services Practice Management Software

Most ITA members use a collection of disparate software tools to plan, manage, and bill for the delivery of their services. These various tools then have to be “fit” into existing accounting and GL systems, and now more frequently, the CRM systems. The usual result is inefficiency, reporting errors, and probably lost revenues and profits.  Today we have the ability to address those shortfalls and lost opportunities with a new generation of “purpose built” (for technology service providers) practice management software. This new generation of software helps schedule people, track service tickets, bill and report on contract and project status, people utilization, client profitability. They tie, often seamlessly, into the popular CRM, GL and managed services software packages.

Representatives from Autotask Corporation of Albany NY are joining us to talk about progress in the development of this new generation of software, and how it can help us run better businesses. This is a “must see” session for both ITC and PF firm leaders.

Bob Vogel – Autotask Corporation

8:15 AM -- 9:10 AM

ITL:  IT Security - Where is the Pain?

This roundtable format session will concentrate on the non-technical aspects of IT security inside large CPA firms. Discussion points will include: Staffing and skill set needs, outsource vs. in-source support, CISO and security group reporting structure options, getting firm leadership to buy in, balancing usability and air-tight security, integrating security into project planning, implementation and daily operations, balancing security projects with other needed projects, and managing  recurring vulnerability assessments.

Craig M. Kaplan – Wipfli LLP

8:15 AM -- 9:10 AM

ITL:  ECM - Document Retention and Destruction at the Desktop

Document management practices on the servers are tough enough to manage and control, but they are not enough. In a truly compliant world, managing documents on your desktop and mobile storage devices is also required. ITA member firm NextPage has developed a new application (NextPage 2 Document Retention) that enables enterprises to manage the risk of documents “on the desktop.”  The application now securely tracks document versions across e-mail, desktops, USB key drives, and the servers. Organizations can now apply retention or destruction policies to versions on the desktop by purging unwanted copies and posting final versions to any centralized server for archival and lifecycle management. Attend this session to learn more about:  @ Enhancing the client engagement close out process by automatically tracking documents that have been saved to any location on a desktop. @ Reducing the costs and liability associated with e-discovery. @ Enabling strategies for compliance with PCAOB Auditing Standard #3.

James R. Seeley - NextPage

9:20 AM – 10:15 AM

R&C:  Business Intelligence (BI) – The “Keep it Simpler” Solution

Business Intelligence (BI), or Business Analytics (BA), or Dashboarding, or however you label it, has become increasingly popular with mid-sized business owners and operators. As predicted two years ago by Bob Anderson at Gartner, this new business opportunity, like CRM, is finally taking on real traction. While software (and underlying technology infrastructure) costs have come down, getting key business indicator data trapped and reported properly is still a big challenge that is often complicated by organizational resistance. In face of that challenge, and in a lot of cases, the old adage “simpler is better” may be the best answer. Join our speaker to explore the results of his efforts over the last 10 years to build a profitable and sustainable BI practice that is focused on the SMB market sized client. Knowing what he has learned the hard way could save you significant time, energy, and money.

George McMann – BizNet Software

9:20 AM -- 11:00 AM

R&C:  Succession Planning:  Preparing Your Firm to Run Without You

Have you been thinking you need to develop a succession plan or have you started the process but can’t quite complete it?  Attend this session to understand where your ITA peers are at in developing their succession plans, what successes they’ve had, and hear a real-life example of how to get it done.  You’ll leave this session understanding: @ Who you’ll have to “be” to lead a succession planning effort; @ How to begin developing leaders in your practice; @ Methods to market and message your succession plan; @ Managing client expectations throughout your transition; and @ Navigating the financial and contractual issues.

Tamera Loerzel - ConvergenceCoaching, LLC

Marilyn L. Lunnemann, CPA, CITP - Humes & Barrington, LLP

9:20 AM – 10:15 AM

ITC:  Remote Security

At the core of almost all Infrastructure and IT consulting practices are relationships with software providers that manage “the connectivity point” of your systems to the networks and internets that you and your clients do business with. These tools manage the firewall, the access controls process, spam, virus checking, and much more. Layered on top of that base line are new products and services that facilitate the remote monitoring and maintenance of the network and its critical components. Together, these tool kit combinations are enabling service providers (like you) to build and deliver larger, more valuable, relationships with your clients.  We have invited industry leaders Fortinet Inc. of Sunnyvale CA, and Zenith Infotech LTD of New York City, to update us on their latest offerings and their plans for the coming year. In these two sessions you can learn how to put the basics of a world class IT consulting practice in place for your clients.

Freddy Mangum - Fortinet

9:20 AM -- 11:00 AM

ITL:  Project Planning, Management and Control

This panel format session will focus on 3 ITA accounting firm participants and their different approaches to addressing  the practical aspects of information technology project planning, management, and quality control.  Topics to be addressed include: @ what needs to be considered when evaluating different approaches to planning, managing, and controlling information technology projects, @ what project management tools, mechanisms, and methodologies do participants firms use or plan to use, @ what is the value and proper positioning of a “Project Management Office” organizational approach?  Is a fully dedicated Project Manager role practical for regional and middle-tier accounting firms vs. consolidating necessary PM responsibilities with other roles? If you are unsure about how better Project Management might help your firm, come listen and learn about the experiences others are having.

Jeff Clark (Facilitator) - BDO Seidman, LLP

Kevin Fraase - Eide Bailly LLP

Padmaja Vrudhula – Moss Adams

9:20 AM -- 11:00 AM

ITL:  IT Security

This roundtable format session is designed to discuss the latest trends in security for desktops/laptops and PDA’s.  With regulatory requirements increasing, companies are expected to take a more proactive approach securing their data on these devices. Our discussions will touch on:  What security measures are currently in place in our member Firms? What are the industry trends and options available to adequately secure these devices? Who are the leading vendors providing these kinds of solutions? What are the right short-term and long-term goals in providing secure computing? What steps has your firm taken (or will be taking) to meet these challenges?

Russ Ahlers (Facilitator) - BDO Seidman, LLP

10:20 AM -- 11:15 AM

R&C:  Business Intelligence (BI) – The Full Suite Solution

If you haven’t looked at the current function and feature sets of some of the leading BI application software packages, we’re gonna make it easy for you to do so. We have invited representatives from industry leader Business Objects to make a 45 minute presentation on their products, their “go to market strategies”, the profiles of typical mid market engagements, their competitive advantages, their economics and value propositions, and their channel programs. If providing BI offerings to clients, or expanding your current BI offerings, is in your future, this session will give you the information you need about what to expect from the leading application software providers.

Vivian Chan - Business Objects

10:20 AM -- 11:15 AM

ITC:  MS-Based VoIP Systems

If you currently work with clients to deliver most VoiP systems available today, you’ll quickly appreciate that most of those solutions require you to have (or partner with) people with “voice centric” technology backgrounds. “What if” all you needed were people with “data centric” technology backgrounds? More specifically, “what if” all they had to know was the Microsoft world? Can you imagine how much easier voice solutions would fit into what you already do?  Representatives from Vonexus, a subsidiary of Interactive Intelligence in Indianapolis IN are joining us to show us such an alternative. Not only will they present the server side consistency, but they will also show the power of an all Microsoft solution that integrates seamlessly into MC CRM and Dynamics GP and NAV. That’s powerful stuff. Attend this session to see why ITA members Dave Shaffer and Scott Stevens are so excited about this company.

Bill Maret– Vonexus

11:20 AM -- 12:35 PM

R&C:  The BI Practice - A Real World Look at What It Might Require

While building a BI practice might make sense from the strategic and vendor perspectives, what kind of time, people, and money investment will it really take to get started and get to at least breakeven operations. We have invited ITA members to tell us about their real-life  experiences and what it really takes to build a BI practice. You’ll learn when and how they started, how they went to market, how they picked their vendor partners, what kind of talent they needed and where they found it, what the training ramps and sales curves looked like, etc. This session will provide real, practical, and tangible insight into this exciting new service growth area.

Rob Cima – Global Image

David Presti - Paris Technologies

John D. Woodburn - The Woodburn Group

11:20 AM -- 12:35 PM

R&C:  Budgeting & Forecasting

This session will provide you with tools to create annual budgets and forecasts based on actual performance.  Building off the discussion during the Spring meeting, we will look at Adaptive Planning's tools and ITA members will share their tools and experience in budgeting and forecasting.  We’ll also preview the new tool to be used for the Spring 2007 Financial Benchmarking.

Steve Krueger - Business Technology Systems, Inc.

Robert Gaby, CPA, CITP - Information Technology Group, Inc.

Rob Hull - Adaptive Planning

11:20 AM -- 12:35 PM

R&C:  Remote Managed Services

At the core of almost all Infrastructure and IT consulting practices are relationships with software providers that manage “the connectivity point” of your systems to the networks and internets that you and your clients do business with. These tools manage the firewall, the access controls process, spam, virus checking, and much more. Layered on top of that base line are new products and services that facilitate the remote monitoring and maintenance of the network and its critical components. Together, these tool kit combinations are enabling service providers (like you) to build and deliver larger, more valuable, relationships with your clients.  We have invited industry leaders Fortinet Inc. of Sunnyvale CA, and Zenith Infotech LTD of New York City, to update us on their latest offerings and their plans for the coming year. In these two sessions you can learn how to put the basics of a world class IT consulting practice in place for your clients.

Clinton Gatewood – Zenith Information Technology 

11:20 AM -- 12:35 PM

ITL:  Metrics and Benchmarking Round 2 (ITA - ITL Members Only)

This session is an ITA-ITL Members Only session which will focus on a review of our updated metrics and benchmarking results.  We had a great discussion at our last meeting and left with a few To-Dos.  Kevin Simmerman and Steve Noble have been busy crunching the numbers and we will see and discuss the revised results in this session.  Additionally, we will begin to discuss Service Level Agreements (SLA) metrics.  Plante & Moran will present their firm’s technology SLAs. Using this information we can determine if we would like to expand our on-going metrics and benchmarking process to include SLA metrics in the future.

Kevin P. Simmerman - bmc

Steven A. Noble, CPA. CITP – LarsonAllen

Dave Townsend – Plante & Moran, PLLC

11:20 AM -- 12:35 PM

ITL:  Storage Requirements

This roundtable format session is designed to address topics related to managing the demands and requirements associated with the ever-increasing growth of data storage.  Our discussions will address questions such as:  Are email mailbox quotas being used?  Do you use file-server disk space quotas?   Are you utilizing file compression technologies?  What are the cost benefits of using different hard-drive technologies (SATA, SCSI, SAS)?  What SAN technology are you deploying?  How do your data storage requirements affect your recovery strategy?  Do you move your data to a secondary storage platform and if so at what point?

Bill Stone - Eide Bailly LLP

12:35 PM –- 1:45 PM

Luncheon & Vendor Displays

1:45 PM -- 2:45 PM

Consulting:  Knowledge Increases in Value When it is Shared

Back by popular demand, we’ve scheduled roundtable discussions and increased the time slots devoted to them!  Use these roundtable events 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 60 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!

            Successful Recruiting

Ideas for Successfully Managing Salespeople

Ideas for a Successful Customer Conference

Marketing – Successful Lead Generation Strategies

Marketing – Defining your Competitive Differentiators

Strategic Planning for Your Firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions

Compensation Plans

Client Nurturing and Satisfaction

IT Consulting:  Managed Services Monitoring Tools & Key Metrics at Start-Up

1:45 PM -- 2:45 PM

ITL:  Managing IT Value Perceptions

The word “value” is often used, but what does it mean when it comes to IT services?  Dictionary definitions for the word value include “desirable,” “worthwhile,” and “fair return or equivalent in goods.”  Like anything else, information technology services are only considered “valuable” when they are perceived to deliver a fair return for the funds spent on them.  This session will walk you through the challenges and solutions related to how three different ITA CIOs measure, communicate and demonstrate IT value to their organization’s stakeholders.

Brain Prascius - Plante & Moran, PLLC

David Hirschkorn - Eide Bailly LLP

David L. Holyoak, CPA - Grant Thornton LLP

1:45 PM -- 2:45 PM

ITL:  Telecom Landscapes (MPLS-VPN-Metro Ethernet)

This facilitated discussion session will concentrate on the options being used by participating firms to solve the telecom challenges that exist in large CPA firms today. Topics will be technical in nature and will include:  The challenges of assimilating multiple vendors and multiple technologies, what traffic types are being supported (video, data, voice) and how, different configuration approaches such as QOS, prioritization and capacities, implementation and operational pit-falls, scalability and traffic routing options, and alternative uses such as primary access, backup, and disaster recovery,

Doug Erickson (Facilitator) – Wipfli LLP

2:45 PM -- 3:45 PM

Consulting:  Knowledge Increases in Value When it is Shared

Back by popular demand, we’ve scheduled roundtable discussions and increased the time slots devoted to them!  Use these roundtable events 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 60 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!

            Successful Recruiting

Ideas for Successfully Managing Salespeople

Ideas for a Successful Customer Conference

Marketing – Successful Lead Generation Strategies

Marketing – Defining your Competitive Differentiators

Strategic Planning for Your Firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions

Compensation Plans

Client Nurturing and Satisfaction

IT Consulting:  Managed Services Monitoring Tools & Key Metrics at Start-Up

2:45 PM -- 3:45 PM

ITL:  ITL Next Meeting Planning

This session will critique the Fall Collaborative and set the agenda, topics and potential speakers/resources for the Spring Meeting ITL Track and perhaps future ITL meeting content.  As always, we are looking for your thoughts and ideas!

Douglas M. Brady - Plante & Moran, PLLC

David L. Holyoak, CPA - Grant Thornton LLP

3:45 PM -- 4:30 PM

General Session:  Collaborative Wrap-Up