Service Innovators Join Forum

Drawing on his experiences at what is considered one of the insurance industry's most customer-focused organizations, Steve Yates, president, USAA Information Technology Co., will be the discussion leader for the Interactive Workshop program at Insurance & Technology's Customer Service Leadership Forum, "Relationships, Retention & ROI," Tuesday, April 23, at The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.

Other confirmed speakers for I&T's Customer Service Leadership Forum include George McKinnon, vice president and CIO, Nationwide Insurance; Karen Pineda, Director of CRM Service Coordination, AXA Financial; Richard Cunningham, vice president information services, Prudential Financial; Tom Thompson, vice president, Customer Loyalty Services, UnumProvident; and Christine Modie, chief information officer/executive vice president, MassMutual.

Confirmed event sponsors include PeopleSoft, SAP, Sherwood International and Sun Microsystems.

This unique event will bring together insurance industry leaders and technology pro-viders to share their knowledge and experience on the state of the art in customer service.

Through speeches, panels, interactive discussions during problem-solving workshops and informal networking with peers, attendees will gain insights into implementing customer management strategies that will differentiate their organizations from their competitors and provide ROI.

The Interactive Workshops will tackle the most critical customer service issues confronting insurance companies, including integrating systems to create a unified customer view, achieving ROI from your investments in CRM, and realizing the benefits of self-service.

Following the roundtables, each discussion group will have five minutes to summarize to the Leadership Forum audience its findings, observations, and recommendations for action, in an interactive round-up coordinated by USAA IT Co.'s Yates.

"Forum participants will have the unique opportunity to hear their peers offer real-world solutions to real-world problems that confront every organization today," according to Kathy Burger, editorial director, I&T. "Plus, they will benefit from the targeted insights and feedback from Steve Yates, a top executive with an insurance organization that is renowned for its customer service expertise."

For details on Insurance & Technology's Customer Service Leadership Forum, visit the Leadership Forum Web site at www.insurancetech. com/lf2002/. For sponsorship information, contact Felissa Kaplan, fkaplan@ cmp.com, or Brett Morgan, bmorgan@ cmp.com. For program information, contact Kathy Burger, kburger@ cmp.com.

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The Customer Service Leadership Forum: Relationships, Retention & ROI

April 23, 2002 - The Roosevelt Hotel, NYC

7:30-9:00 am: Registration/Continental Breakfast

9:00-9:10 am: Welcome & Opening Remarks

9:10-10:00 am: Keynote: Best Practices in Putting the Customer First

10:00-11:00 am: Achieving Next-Generation Customer Service

11:00-11:30 am: Refreshment Break/Networking

11:30 am-12:30pm: Investing for CRM Success: How To Get ROI on Your Contact Center

12:30-1:30 pm: Buffet Lunch/Networking

1:30-2:30pm: Interactive Workshops: Solving Today's Most Complex Customer Service Challenges

2:30-2:50 pm: Refreshment Break/Networking

2:50-4:20pm: Eureka! Solutions to Customer Service Challenges

4:20-4:30 pm: Closing Remarks

Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Bank Systems & Technology and Insurance & Technology, members of UBM TechWeb's InformationWeek Financial Services. She assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003 and of Insurance & Technology in 1991. In addition to ... View Full Bio