• More than 1,800 attendees and over 100 exhibiting companies at field service management event
• Conference-quality, free education programme at the heart of the show
• Co-location in 2008 with Call Centre Expo creates new and improved forum

Service Management Europe 2007 (SME) - NEC Birmingham, 24th and 25th October, was heralded as a huge success for the field service management industry. The number of attendees at – 1,830* – was 3% up on 2006 and the biggest audience for many years.

As field service is now firmly established as providing vital face-to-face contact with customers, the issues covered by SME are becoming increasingly important for a broader range of businesses and it’s a must-attend event for senior managers within any organisation responsible for managing a field service operation, supporting mobile or remote resources or having any kind of customers to support. Therefore visitors to SME 2007 were drawn from across the breadth of the industry.

At the heart of SME 2007 was a conference-quality free education programme with theatres dedicated to strategic and operational streams. The programme featured a line-up of end users including Martin Giel from South East Water, Mawgan Wilkins from Cisco and Erwin Geys from Eneco Energy. And at SME 2007 there was also a special Association for Field Service Management (AFSM UK) conference covering Service Business Strategy as well as a Mobile Computer User Group (MCUG) seminar programme focusing on Mobilising the Workforce.

One of those attending the standing-room-only seminars was Soili Makinen, CIO, Cargotec Co-operation, who commented, “I have attended some very good seminars and it’s really interesting to hear real-life experiences. SME is a great show as I am interested in all service management systems, especially mobility and office back-end. Coming here has helped me to decide whether we should outsource.”

SME 2007 featured over 100 exhibiting companies and the views from the show floor were extremely positive. Jonathan Trubshaw, CEO Europe, of SME exhibitor Service Power, said, “This year’s SME has been excellent. It definitely has the right companies in attendance and it has personally been our best show ever. And we have been exhibiting here for 20 years.”

Another SME exhibitor, Laurent Othacehe, CEO of 360 Scheduling added, “SME is a very, very good event for us. This year’s show has been busy all the time with good quality attendance and real, live projects. Even some new projects that we were unaware of. We’ve been really impressed and very happy overall.”
SME visitor Greg Colls, Inventory Manager at Charles Trent Ltd described SME as a “Fantastic show where you can talk to professional people. I am particularly interested in vehicle tracking systems and will be having demos from some of the show’s exhibitors and then I’ll be looking to make a purchase.”

At SME 2007, it was also announced that in 2008 Service Management Europe will co-locate with Call Centre Expo, incorporating The Customer Management Experience.

The decision brings together Europe’s only dedicated field service and mobile workforce management show alongside the UK’s largest and most important event for call centre and customer management solutions.

The co-location of all three shows creates a compelling visitor proposition that collectively delivers a comprehensive offering of end-to-end business solutions for anyone responsible for customer contact, management and support.

All events will maintain their separate identities, messaging, branding, marketing campaigns, show entrances and educational features thus providing three distinct reasons for visitors to attend.

Kevin Pearce, SME Show Manager, commented, “While Service Management Europe will remain focused at the leading-edge of field service and remote workforce management technologies, the co-location of the shows offers substantial benefits to attendees at both events, from a direct operational and strategic perspective.”

Simon Mills, Call Centre Expo Event Director agrees: “With the success of co-locating Call Centre Expo and Customer: Strategy & Management we look forward to this next logical step. The opportunity to run alongside Service Management Europe in 2008 will provide both exhibitors and visitors alike with a unique, unrivalled aggregated offering.”

Service Management Europe 2008 takes place in Hall 10 at the NEC, Birmingham on 16th and 17th September with Call Centre Expo, incorporating The Customer Management Experience, taking place in the adjoining Hall 9.

ENDS

* Organiser’s registration data

For more information on Service Management Europe, contact:

Mark Ram
mark.ram@ithacamedia.co.uk  
020 8232 1600 ext 274

For more information on exhibiting at Service Management Europe, contact:

Kevin Pearce
kevin.pearce@ithacamedia.co.uk  
020 8232 1600 ext 307

Notes to Editor:

About Call Centre Expo incorporating The Customer Management Experience
Call Centre Expo, incorporating The Customer Management Experience, is Europe’s number 1 exhibition and conference for professionals committed to delivering improvement in their customer contact and management. The event champions best practice and demonstrates how to perfect the customer experience through integrated customer solutions. It is for anyone who is passionate about delivering a great customer experience and would like to enhance their customer management strategy.

About Service Management Europe
Now in its 24th year and one of the UK’s longest standing tech events, Service Management Europe brings together service directors and senior managers from throughout the UK and Europe’s largest employers of field engineers and remote maintenance workforces.

Offering over 25 hours of free conference level seminar programming, the very latest business solutions from 100 leading exhibitors and unrivalled peer-to-peer networking opportunities, the event attracts senior business managers from key industry sectors including, IT and Electronics, Manufacturing, Telcos, Utilities, Local Government, Construction, Facilities Management, HVAC and Security.

About CMP Information
CMP Information is the B2B communications division of United Business Media plc.

Operating internationally, CMPi provides creative professional media solutions to around 20 industry sectors. Its products, including magazines, exhibitions, conferences, awards, information products and websites, are targeted at business professionals across a range of markets; these include Construction and Architecture, Commercial Property, Licensed Trade, Travel, Agriculture and Ingredients.

Among its well-established brands are industry-leading publications including Building, Travel Trade Gazette, The Publican, Farmers Guardian, and Property Week. It also has a number of exhibitions recognised as the pre-eminent events in their respective market sectors. These include CPhI, The Interiors Event and IFSEC.

CMPi’s magazines reach over 700,000 readers directly through subscription and controlled circulation. Each year, over 400,000 business professionals and marketers visit its exhibitions. CMPi has operations in 15 countries and customers in 110.