How do you learn best of class practices? How is your workforce managed? How are organizations staying on the cutting edge for converging trends? How do you know if you are doing all of this right? More companies are opting to outsource specialized customer service to virtual contact centers, a network of home-based, skilled agents connected by technology. This relates to lower overhead and a sense of community for the workforce.

Please join other IMF members to share experiences in dealing with these issues.

Presenters and Topics Include:

Price Harding, Founding Partner
CarterBaldwin
Aligning Cultures in a Geographically Dispersed Workforce
Identifying and purposefully shaping your own corporate culture is often a difficult task. This session will provide attendees with the analytical tools to understand the "microcultures" that exist in any geographically dispersed organization and to build teams that can benefit from meaningful cultural interaction across multiple geographies.

Dr. Sabyasachi Mitra, Associate Professor
Area Coordinator for Information Technology Management
Georgia Institute of Technology
IT Education in a Changing Environment
In recent years, companies have increasingly outsourced and off-shored many elements of their Information Technology function. There has also been an increased focus on the use of packaged software, rather than developing proprietary in-house systems. Service Oriented Architectures are also likely to increase the use of outsourcing and off-shoring in the future. These changes have caused a shift in the roles, responsibilities and job functions of IT managers in technology consuming companies in the US. This presentation will focus on the type of skills that are necessary for IT Managers to survive, thrive and take advantage of the global economy, how to develop these skills in yourself and your employees and the role of Universities and corporate training programs to build a globally competitive IT workforce.

Dr. Stuart Kressel, Atlanta Practice Leader Organizational Effectiveness
Watson Wyatt
Stress and Burnout in Organizations
While employers state that their best employees are leaving because of pay issues, top-performing employees are reporting that the number one reason for leaving an organization is Stress Levels. What does this mean to us in the rapidly changing workforce of the 21st Century? How do you measure stress, and what can we do to ensure that our organization is not being hurt by it?

Carlton Burroughs, Human Resources Business Manager, Mergers & Acquisitions
Hewlett-Packard
"Getting To Y" - The Hows and Whys of "Gen Y" in The Marketplace and the Workplace
This session will focus on some practical strategies for attracting, motivating and retaining Gen Y, as both employees and customers. As part of this discussion, we will look at some key areas of generational difference, including cohort size, style, motivators, etc. The session will include a strategic overview, some key concepts and linkages to motivation theory, a couple of intriguing case studies and some nuts-and-bolts recommendations.

Jeff Fraley, Manager of Administrative Systems and IT
Eastman Chemical
Group Discussion - Recruiting and Retaining a Quality Workforce
Jeff Fraley will present on and facilitate a discussion about workforce challenges regarding recruiting and retaining quality employees. Topics to be covered include looking beyond Computer Science majors and building effective relationships with colleges regarding participation on curriculum advisory panels, co-op programs, scholarship programs and advertising the company. In addition, Jeff will lead a discussion on retaining staff before the hire and during on-boarding as well as boding new hired with each other and the company.

Caleb Masland, Managing Director
The Information Management Forum
Current Industry Standards for Staffing and Compensation
The landscape of staffing and compensation for IT professionals is in constant flux. IT Workforce managers need to stay up to date on the current best practices for organizational structure, and the current state of compensation levels for their peers. This session will begin with an overview of data that IMF has collected very recently through IMF Benchmark Forum participation for both staffing levels and IT salaries. Following this overview, the group will have the opportunity to share their own plans and/or issues in these areas, so that all members can bring an updated view back to their organization.

Member Identified Topics of Interest Include:

Outsourcing, Smart Sourcing and Offshoring
Managing Resources
Capacity Planning
Retirement Packages and Predicting Attrition
Developing a Three-Year Staffing Plan
Finding the Resources for Legacy Systems
Best Class Practices
Talent Management
Creating a More Flexible Workforce
Staff Retention
Knowledge Transfer Processes