AITP LogoThe LA Chapter of AITP presents

 

Is Market Consolidation making you rethink your ERP Strategy? Should you be?

Consolidation, Migration, Application Retirement, Lessons Learned

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Thursday, June 23, 2005

At LAX Plaza Hotel, Culver City

(Formerly the Ramada Inn)

 

Networking @ 6:00 pm      Dinner @ 6:30 pm      Program @ 7:00 pm

 

 

·   Gretchen Kaufman, Senior Manager for IBM Global Services

·   Greg Geiger, Sr. Manager, Technology Strategy Group for Capgemini

·   Ray Owen, Senior Manager, Hitachi Consulting

 

 

Our panel of distinguished experts will help you develop the criteria for an IT strategy to address vendor consolidation.  The days of numerous vendors for full suite ERP applications, have been replaced by limited options and more difficult decisions when considering specialized applications.  The challenge for enterprises that have deployed applications from a vendor that has been acquired is extremely complex and requires an effective strategy to avoid a costly mistake.    The panel will provide their first hand knowledge and best practices from their years of experiences in guiding Fortune 100 to Mid Cap firms through major IT changes.

 

Discussion items:

·          How to prolong or maximize the value of your current investment

·          How to create a competitive vendor selection process

·          Selection criteria for choosing SAP, Oracle eBusiness, or integrating best in class applications. 

·          Expectations for pricing, product development, and upgrade cycles. 

·          Lessons learned from companies which have made ERP changes.

·          Options and steps to take now if your current application is going to be phased out.

 

Panelists will give short presentations, and then participate in a lively, interactive Q&A session.  Don’t miss this event if you want to be in the know about the cutting edge as well as proven aspects of this exciting new technology!  

 

(Biographical details are on the next page.)

 

Pre-Meeting Networking at 6:00

 

 

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RESERVATION PHONE:  (562) 928-5353.  Reservations are required!  Call by Monday, June 20st, or respond to aitpla@aol.com, in order to guarantee a seat at this popular event!   Reservations may be fulfilled by substitute attendance.

 

Price

Buffet Dinner & Program: Members of AITP $20, non-members $25, payable by check/cash at the door.  Parking is an additional $5.   For more information, contact Roger Lux at 323-930-4053 or visit www.aitp-la.org.

 

Location

The Holiday Inn Select (formerly Ramada Inn), 6333 Bristol Parkway, Culver City • 310-484-7000.

Heading North on 405: exit Slauson, right on Green Valley, right on Bristol.

Heading South on 405: exit Sepulveda, right on Sepulveda, right on Centinela, left on Bristol.

 


ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS –

 

 

Gretchen Kaufman, Senior Manager, IBM Business Consulting Services

Gretchen Kaufman is a Senior Manager for IBM Business Consulting Services.  She brings leadership, strategic focus and knowledge to complex technology initiatives and specializes in managing the delivery of packaged enterprise-wide business applications.  Gretchen has been in the consulting industry for 10 years and has focused primarily on packaged software application design, development, testing and implementation, process reengineering, client training and change management.  During her tenure at Arthur Andersen LLP, PriceWaterhouseCoopers Consulting and IBM, Gretchen has managed large, complex, multi-phased engagements and has led sizeable and diverse consultant and client teams.  She has experience in Media and Entertainment, Architecture, Construction and Engineering, Hospitality, Automotive, Gaming, Travel and Transportation, Retail and High Technology industries. 

One of Gretchen’s most recent projects received the IBM Stars Award for one of the best project of the quarter in the Small and Medium Businesses sector.  She was also selected by IBM leadership to help shape project management in the Business Consulting Services division by participating in a project aimed at helping practitioners build and refine their project management skills.  As a member of IBM Press, Gretchen participates in a group of authors and reviewers that assess new manuscripts and consider new topics for future publications.     

 

 

Greg Geiger, Senior Manager Technology Strategy Group, Capgemini

Mr. Geiger is a Sr. Manager consultant with Capgemini’s Technology Strategy Group based in Westlake Village, California.  (Capgemini acquired the technology and management consulting practice of Ernst & Young.)  He has twenty-five years of information technology experience in areas of data center operations, strategic IT outsourcing, Applications Effectiveness and technical advisory services.

 

With Capgemini, Mr. Geiger provides expert guidance in areas of: Technology Effectiveness Evaluations, Outsource advisory consulting, Operations processes based on ITIL methodology, Data Center financial analysis, Service Level Management, Service Desk Assessments, Operations and Infrastructure performance assessments, Development Effectiveness, Accelerated Solutions Environments via Group Facilitation, and value based improvement services.  Companies Mr. Geiger has delivered engagements for include:  American Express, Amgen, Baxter, Becton Dickinson, Blue Cross, Circle-K, Houghton Mifflin, HP, JPL, Nissan, Sprint, Warner Music Group, and others.

 

Prior to joining Capgemini, Mr. Geiger provided applications development and technical project management leadership for Litton Computer Services, a data center in Woodland Hills, CA.

 

 

Ray Owen, Senior Manager, Hitachi Consulting

Ray Owen is a Senior Manager for Hitachi Consulting based out of Orange, California.  Ray leads Hitachi Consulting’s SAP practice for the Pacific Southwest market and focuses on lean SAP solutions for mid-market clients across industries including Food & Beverage, Wholesale / Retail distribution, Entertainment, and Real Estate & Construction.

 

Ray is an accomplished technology professional with Masters in Business Administration focusing on technology and organizational design.  Ray brings 17+ years experience with tier one international professional consulting services organizations (Deloitte Consulting LLP, Andersen Worldwide LLP, Hitachi Consulting).  Ray is skilled in technology operations and complex program management / governance and has completed multiple full life-cycle implementations, as project or program manager, with leading ERP packages including SAP and PeopleSoft / J.D. Edwards.  Mr. Owen brings functional and process expertise in shared services, supply chain, and all back-office processes.  Hitachi Consulting, which is headquartered in Dallas, TX, is the global business and IT consulting arm of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), the 9th largest IT solutions provider in the world.