Nearly 70 people enjoyed a tremendous 2007 Fall Conference this month at the Ritz Carlton Naples. According to attendees, networking, presentations, interactive discussions and value were of high quality. Following are some highlights:

• Steve Handschuh, president and COO of AASA, and several speakers challenged attendees to ensure their company executives understand the value of IT and how IT should be a part of the strategic planning process.
• Bruce Eccles, owner of Eccles Auto Service and its three shops, provided an extremely entertaining look at a successful service provider that utilizes technology.
• Chris Gardner, vice president of AASA, introduced the newly released white paper on Internal Data Management (see below).
• Ian McNabb, technical services director for Pricedex, demonstrated the new MIS Council E-commerce Matrix application (see below).
• Three members – Judy Lorch, Robert Bosch Corp.; Tom Malone, NGK Spark Plugs; and Jim Schwinn, Schaeffler Group – discussed best practices for supporting and collaborating with business units and generated numerous questions and discussion points.
• Carlos Cabrera, Exide Technologies' CIO, provided an inside look at how Exide positions its IT resources to support a growing and successful organization.
• Ray Nicholas, Standard Motor Products, revealed results to two IT/data questions from the 3 rd Quarter AASA Supplier Barometer and then led a discussion on how IT can ensure collaboration at the executive level.