September 17, 2024 – Minneapolis – LB3/TC2 Conference

Maximizing Value from Your Network & IT Deals in Today’s Enterprise Market

Join the experts from TC2 and LB3 for our annual Minneapolis Conference on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at the JW Marriott – Mall of America.

Implementing sourcing strategies to keep up with the relentless pace of technology evolution and disruption poses a real challenge for most enterprises. At our upcoming conference, we will cover a series of topics that will help you develop and implement effective strategies for optimizing your company’s technology investments in the services that are on most enterprise technology roadmaps in 2024.

This year’s agenda will cover: 

• The Accelerated Pace of Technology Evolution:  sourcing strategies that enable your organization to understand and deploy the technologies that are behind disruptive network and IT transformations
• IT Cost Management:  the best frameworks for effectively managing IT costs and budgets 
• Broadband Internet Services:  how sophisticated enterprises are leveraging broadband to maximize ROI for network services
• CCaaS:  best practices for migrating to a cloud-based contact center solution while minimizing deployment surprises, budget overruns, or disappointing post-migration environments
• SASE: an overview of what your organization needs to know about the rapid migration of security services to the cloud based upon the Secure Access Service Edge (“SASE”) model
• Outsourcing: the latest developments in managed and outsourced service and how enterprises are effectively deploying and using them in 2024

In addition, we will review major developments in the IT/Network services marketplace and provide an overview of the key regulatory issues affecting enterprise use of IT and Network services.

	8:00 – 8:30 am Check-in
	The Accelerated Pace of Technology Evolution The pace of technology change today is faster than ever, imposing significant pressure on those responsible for sourcing and deploying IT and network services. The list of disruptive transformations is long and overwhelming:  MPLS to Internet.  Wireline to wireless.  On-prem to cloud.  License to subscription.  Service to “as-a-service.”  Network to NaaS. Human intelligence to Artificial Intelligence.  Continual improvement to machine learning.  In this first session, we will discuss the sourcing strategies that enterprises are using to most effectively deal with this rapid pace of transformation to deliver the cutting-edge services and applications that their end-users demand..
	IT Cost Management Managing IT budgets against the accelerated pace of technology evolution is critical.  This session will provide recommendations and best practices to help ensure that your budget aligns with changing technologies, including business case tracking for major projects and how to leverage your TEM for improved day to day cost and inventory management more effectively.  We’ll break down a list of common IT cost management challenges and the successful solutions we have deployed.
	The Rise of Broadband in Enterprise Networks Savvy customers are maximizing their ROI on network spend by leveraging broadband Internet sSavvy customers are maximizing their ROI on network spend by leveraging broadband Internet service to replace costly, legacy WAN transport infrastructure at scale.  In this session we’ll cover the key commercial, technical and contractual issues that need to be considered to successfully integrate broadband services with your other WAN network technologies, as part of SD-WAN and SASE powered Internet First network architectures.
	Key Trends in Outsourcing and Managed Services Deals Customer strategies for outsourcing and managed services have evolved hugely over the years and continue to do so.  In this session we’ll deep dive on some of the latest trends and developments and what they mean for your deals, including XLAs, co-innovation, NaaS, tooling strategies and how Global Capability Centers are providing an alternative solution to offshore outsourcing.
	End User Panel Discussion:  the Major Issues Facing IT Sourcing Groups in 2024 This panel discussion with feature several TC2 and LB3 clients who will share their companies’ perspectives on the latest IT initiatives within their organization, the biggest challenges faced by IT sourcing departments today, and how well their vendors behave during delivery (or not) of products and services that satisfy their business requirements.
	How to Avoid the Major Pitfalls in Complex CCaaS Contracting & Migration The long-term benefits of migrating from legacy on-prem contact center infrastructure to a cloud-based solution are clear for most organizations, but a variety of issues can derail any migration plan and wreak havoc on the post migration deployment, budget, or run-and-maintain environment.  Maximizing cloud-based platforms to enhance call center operations requires forethought and planning.  In this session, we explore some of the key issues you may not be thinking about when contracting for CCaaS as well as obstacles to a seamless migration and transition so that your company can negotiate a strong contract, minimize disruption to your customer support service and risk, and maximize its potential.
	Cloud Security Services Explained:  What you need to know about SASE This session will provide an overview of what your organization needs to know about the rapid migration of security services to the cloud based upon the Secure Access Service Edge (“SASE”) model.  We will breakdown the alphabet soup of acronyms–SSE, SD-WAN, SWG/FWaaS, CASB, ZTNA – and explain their relationship with each other, how migration of security services to the cloud changes your procurement strategy, and why a best-in-market SASE will deliver an optimized technology solution.
	ERP Sourcing & Deployment Most large organizations today rely heavily on Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) software systems.  But sourcing and deploying ERP effectively is a complicated undertaking and needs to consider a number of factors to be completed successfully. This session will look closely at the best practices for sourcing and deploying ERP solutions.
	Regulatory Briefing In this brief regulatory update, we will look at two regulatory issues that affect how much you spend on network services and how you operate your network….
	Running a Competitive Procurement in 2024 RFPs and competitive procurements continue to be the best tool to secure optimal solutions, pricing, and terms for IT products and services.  But in an environment of accelerated technology evolution, they can be viewed as unwieldy, time consuming and inflexible.  In this session we’ll present a range of strategies to maximize the effectiveness of your competitive sourcing processes, including RFQs vs RFPs, delivering a collaborative RFP process and common mistakes to avoid.
	The Negotiation Persona Hall of Fame When you’ve been doing this for a while, you recognize certain vendor personas that regularly sit across from you at the negotiation table.  Some are helpful.  Some are frustrating.  Some are deal closers. Some make you wonder if they chose the right career.  And some are just downright amusing.  We’ll end the day by sharing our favorite negotiation “types” and will invite attendees to offer up their own.
	5:30 pm Networking Reception Join us for a drink, food, and some relaxed conversation.