The summit will offer attendees information and seminars on hot topics in the world of customer relationship management today, including:

• The creation and measurement of critical business processes in marketing, sales and service.
• Emerging capabilities and best practices in the contact center, field and e-commerce channels.
• The collection, management and use of customer data.
• The impact of on-demand and outsourcing on the provision of IT solutions.
• The disruptive innovations that enterprises need to start planning for now.

The CRM summit is an opportunity for discussion and networking opportunities with analysts and guest speakers, executives and leaders from technology providers in the CRM arena, and other CRM professionals.

In an industry with as much rapid growth and change as customer relationship management, the chance to share with and learn from other CRM professionals is valuable. Gartner, a provider of research and analysis on the IT industry, describes the event as offering “offers marketing, sales, and service decision makers independent; realistic understanding of how their business strategies will be influenced by, and can take advantage of, the evolution of IT.”

Keynotes and guest speakers include:

• Chip Conley, Founder, President and CEO, Joie de Vivre Hospitality: Peak – How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow
• Dan Gilbert, Harvard College Professor of Psychology at Harvard University: Stumbling on Happiness
• Ed Thompson, VP Distinguished Analyst, Gartner: Improving the Customer Experience
• 2008 Customer Awards & Users Choice Award Finalists Presentations

More topics include data integration and analysis, systems architecture and business process alignment, and vendor selection and negotiation strategies.

Another Gartner event will be held immediately following the CRM Summit. Gartner’s Business Process Management Summit, Sept. 10-12, will focus on “creating and sustaining an agile process-powered organization and explains how to align business strategy and IT to maximize operational agility, providing new opportunities to expand revenues and productivity.”

Keynotes for the BPM Summit include:

• David Osborne, Author & Senior Partner, The Public Strategies Group: Beyond Bureaucracy: Transforming Government in an Era of Permanent Fiscal Crisis
• Dan Roam, Author & Founder, Digital Roam Inc: The Back of the Napkin: Solving BPM problems with Pictures
• Sara Roberts, CEO and President, Roberts Golden Consulting: Organizational Change Management 2.0: Transforming Your Organization for Innovation
• Janelle B. Hill, Research VP, Gartner & Michele Cantara, Research VP, Gartner: BPM: Transforming Your Business
• Yvonne Genovese, VP Distinguished Analyst, Gartner: User Interaction and Empowerment Disrupts Business Application Transformation
• Daryl C. Plummer, Managing VP & Gartner Fellow, Gartner: BPM and SOA: When Grand Plans Collide, Chaos Ensues

Nearly 35 companies will be exhibiting sponsors at the two summits.