Efm Events

Jack Wilson
Assistant Vice President
Amerisure Mutual Insurance Company

Virtualization has become a “hot topic” in IT circles. The question becomes, does the hype come anywhere close to reflecting the reality? Hear the stunning reality from an organization took the “Think Big” approach and has successfully made the complete Strategic Virtualization transformation (implemented and functioning in production for over two years). Learn the approach they took to overcome the technology and “cultural” issues, critical elements along the “roadmap” to success and learn from the Enterprise Architect’s experience the “must do’s”, the “avoid at all cost” and “better than anticipated” results.   

In this session we will discuss how strategic virtualization can streamline, simplify and remove layers of technology (including the “Vista issue”). We will consider this approach in contrast to the normal technology evolution, where new technology is usually layered on top of or along side of existing technology, creating an ever more complex and fragile infrastructure. How implementing a strategic virtual environment for the main reason of creating business value, business flexibility and increased productivity has significant other benefits in the areas of cost-savings, performance, manageability, security, business continuity, disaster recovery, standardization and governance.    

The flexibility and adaptability that the strategic virtualized environment creates, means that the infrastructure won't lag behind the business strategy. With a virtualized infrastructure in place, business strategies changes can now be accommodated without having to make changes to the infrastructure.  

Amerisure Insurance will be considered as the case study of a company that made the metamorphosis from a typical complex, inflexible, high cost, physically limiting infrastructure to a streamlined, flexible, efficient and agile virtual infrastructure. Once Amerisure made the initial transformation, other areas for further virtualization became obvious and desirable. This included, servers, mobile notebooks, information assets (documents, video, and audio), faxes and softphones. Take advantage of this opportunity to question and challenge the expertise of an experienced virtualization transformation expert.

Implementing an End-to-End Application Performance System

Sponsored by IBM

Sponsored by SIM Indianapolis

Pat Coyle
President
Coyle Media, Inc.

The term "social media" started as a curiosity but has quickly become cliché.  Every time mainstream media blathers about how many people are following Oprah on Twitter, it strengthens our desire to dismiss the entire social media movement as irrelevant to business. If there's no ROI, then we don't want it on our plates, right?

But dismissing social media before appreciating its potential is short-sighted, even dangerous. Social media is changing the way people communicate, and it is therefore fundamentally altering our organizations and our culture.

In his talk, Pat Coyle will share two case studies from his real world experience with social media projects: MyColts.net and SmallerIndiana.com. He will explain why these online communities were launched and the management concerns they each face. He will touch on the technology selection process and outcomes to date. Coyle will not prescribe solutions to every companies social media questions, but he will share hard won information and data that could help inform your thinking on this important topic.

Sponsored by Hitachi

Jeff Hornung
VP of IT Risk Management & Information Security Officer
OneAmerica

Jeff Hornung, Vice President, IT Risk Management at OneAmerica will explain how his team implemented a single sign-on solution that met their goals of enhanced security and improved productivity for end-user satisfaction.  Attendees will hear how OneAmerica successfully planned, implemented and rolled out a security solution that enabled 45,000 sign-ons per week for their employees.  Also discussed will be the importance of involving stakeholders in the product selection and deployment process; how to effectively prioritize users, applications, and business unit requirements; critical success factors for an effective phased deployment; and how to use a "Security Awareness Campaign" to educate users on tips and best practices.

Sponsored by Dell Equallogic