AFSMI Announces Annual Awards for 2006.

Recipients of Prestigious Individual Achievement Awards and the New Services Excellence Awards Honored at AFSMI World Conference

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Association for Services Management International (AFSMI), the professional society for customer service and support managers, announced the 2006 recipients of its prestigious George O. Harmon, Lifetime Achievement, and Chairman's Awards at its World ConferenceCothe 36th S-Business Solutions Summit and ExpoCoheld September 17-20 at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Also, new this year, it announced the recipients of its Services Excellence Awards.

The George O. Harmon Award honors individuals in the customer services and support industry who have made significant contributions to their company, the industry, and AFSM International. This year the award went to Richard Guenther, vice president and general manager, Maintenance Support Services, Unisys Global Outsourcing and Infrastructure Services. The goal of this group is to maintain high quality and consistency throughout all service delivery functions while also maintaining the culture of a world-class service delivery organization. "Richard Guenther has been with Unisys for over 30 years. He started his career as a customer service engineer and has held virtually every service position within the service delivery organization," commented John Schoenewald, CEO of AFSMI. In 1996, AFSMI recognized his accomplishments with the "Professionalism in Services/Support Management Award." Most recently, Mr. Guenther served as AFSMI President from 2001 to 2004.

AFSMI's Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Manfred Schulze, president and CEO of Schulze Automation GMBH in Europe. After 20 years with Philips Electronics in various management positions in seven different countries, Mr. Schulze started his own professional services business. Since joining AFSMI in 1989, he also has been recognized for past contributions; after founding AFSMI chapters in Germany and Austria, he was presented AFSMI's Outstanding Member Award. In 1991, after founding chapters in Switzerland and Italy, he was appointed AFSMI's vice president for Middle East and Europe. "Manfred's exceptional involvement and commitment to AFSMI have greatly contributed to a strong and active European chapter community," commented John Schoenewald. From 1996 through 1999, Schulze served as a member AFSMI's International Board of Directors, and he is still a member of the chapter board.

Honors for AFSMI's second annual Chairman's Award went to Chris Farnath, director of customer support, EMEA, Aspect Communications. Chris is a director who thrives on challenge. With a department of 50, he is responsible for services revenue of $100 million per annum. His operation comprises direct support personnel augmented by a multitude of channel partnersCoincluding Siemens, KPN, and British TelecomCowho provide mission-critical support for over 2,000 customer sites across 30 countries in Europe and Africa. "After 17 years in the IT industry, Chris has an in-depth understanding of many technologies with a strong business orientation and services focus," commented John Schoenewald. "He also has a track record of achieving high levels of customer satisfaction while increasing margins." Chris serves as president of AFSMI in the U.K., where he successfully re-launched the chapter in 2004. Last year, he received AFSMI's Circle of Excellence Award at the worldwide conference held in Nashville, Tennessee.

"The objective behind AFSMI's recent focus on professional certification is to effectively 'raise the bar' for achieving service excellence by increasing the focus on industry standards that ensure delivery of consistent, high-quality service and support," commented John Schoenewald. "The bottom line for companies adopting such standards is to increase their efficiency and productivity, maximize their financial performance, and create a competitive advantage by integrating standards and best practices into their daily operations." New for 2006, AFSMI's Services Excellence Awards were presented in recognition of the outstanding efforts that three organizationsCoFileNet, NASSCOM, and NokiaCohave made in these areas.

FileNet's efforts were recognized for having achieved Support Center Practices (SCP) Certification for six consecutive years, maintaining its position as the only certified vendor in Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management. Using the SCP elements as an organizational structure for all of its quality initiatives, the entire FileNet global support team is able to maintain a uniform and unambiguous understanding of the company's support goals.

NASSCOM, the premier trade body for the IT software and services industry in India, works closely with both industry and members of the Indian central and state governments to formulate policies and strategies for the advancement of the services sector locally and internationally. Its key function is to build global brand equity for the Indian software and services industry. NASSCOM's efforts were recognized for the organization's commitment to excellence and the global nature of its contributions.

As a leading provider of mission-critical Internet security, Nokia has the responsibility to deliver excellent technical support around the clock. The company sought SCP Certification to provide a high level of operational consistency and to ensure that its support and services are differentiators in the highly competitive technology marketplace. Their efforts clearly underscore Nokia's commitment to satisfying customers and delivering the highest quality of support possible.

These and other awards were presented on September 19th at a black-tie dinner during AFSMI's 2006 World Conference at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, Florida. This year's conference continued the long tradition of providing AFSMI members and non-members alike with world-class keynote headliners, thought-provoking speakers, in-depth case studies, extensive networking, and an expansive technology showcase of solutions for the customer services and support industry.

About AFSMI

Founded in 1975, the Association for Services Management International (AFSMI) is a global, not-for-profit, professional organization for executives and managers committed to s-business excellence. AFSMI is the acknowledged leader in providing the knowledge, fellowship, and career connections that further the personal and professional development of executives, managers, and individuals involved in s-business. For more information, visit www.afsmi.org.

About S-Business

S-business is the industry-standard term developed by AFSM International to describe all of the activities, organizations, and individuals involved with providing service and support for technology-based products and solutions.