Internationally Known ``Business Guru'' to Keynote Call Center Conference; Best-Selling Author Will Urge Executives to Rethink Business Strategies

Business Wire, Jan 27, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Call Center & CRM Solutions Las Vegas 2003

SANTA ANA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 2003

One of the world's foremost experts in the rapidly evolving fields of customer-focused strategies, customer relationships and customer equity is slated to address call center, sales and marketing executives at the 13th Annual Call Center Las Vegas Conference and Exposition, Feb. 10-13, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

Best-selling author, Martha Rogers, Ph.D., will keynote the conference Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 9:30 a.m. on the topic "Rethinking Business Strategy in a Customer-Centric World."

Dr. Rogers is a partner of Peppers and Rogers Group, a customer-focused strategy consulting firm she co-founded with Don Peppers. With 15 offices around the world, Peppers and Rogers Group clients include AT&T, Ford Motor Co., First USA Bank, American Skandia, Boise Cascade Office Products, Convergys, E*Trade, KMPG, Banco Santander (South America), Winterthur (Switzerland), and NTT (Japan).

Rogers has co-authored five books on customer relationships. The first, "The One to One Future", has been called "one of the two or three most important business books of all time" by Inc. Magazine editor, George Gendron. The second, "Enterprise One to One", received the Wall Street Journal's top 5-star rating. All five books have been international best sellers, including the latest, "One to One B2B", which made the New York Times Business Best Seller list within a month of its publication.

Rogers has been named one of the 19 most important business gurus of all time by Business 2.0.

As a result of challenging economic conditions, customer contact center executives are under more pressure than ever to improve customer service and retention without increasing expenses.

Using a four-step implementation process for putting customer strategy to work, Rogers will demonstrate how to transition customer strategy to the current dimension of competition. Using a four-step implementation process for putting customer strategy to work and real-world client case studies, she will illustrate the power of the one-to-one strategy and how to manage customer relationships.

For information and registration: www.iccm.com.

Principal sponsors of Call Center Las Vegas 2003 include AG Communications Systems, AVAYA, Oracle, Peppers and Rogers Group, SAP, and Siebel.

About Advanstar Communications

Call Center Las Vegas is produced and managed by the Call Center & CRM Group, a division of the Advanstar Technology Group which is a comprehensive portfolio of market-leading publications, events and Web sites, reaching more than 1.5 million technology buyers worldwide. Advanstar Communications Inc. is a worldwide business information company serving specialized markets with high quality information resources and integrated marketing solutions.

Advanstar has 92 business magazines and directories, 79 exhibitions and conferences, numerous Web sites, and a wide range of direct marketing, database and reference products and services. Advanstar serves targeted market sectors in such industries as art, automotive, beauty, collaboration/e-learning, CRM/call center, digital media, entertainment/marketing, fashion & apparel, health care, Internet/e-business, manufacturing and processing, pharmaceutical, powersports, science, telecommunications and travel/hospitality.

The company has more than 1,300 employees and currently operates from multiple offices in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.advanstar.com.