Industry Analyst to Give Keynote Address at BST Global User Conference on April 3; Skills, Discipline and Market of PPM will be Focus of Expert's Speech.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Matt Light, Gartner Research Director and Chair of the Project and Portfolio Research (PPM) Community, will be a keynote speaker at the BST Global User Conference. The event, "Connecting People, Process and Technology," will be held April 3 - 5 at the Grand Hyatt in Tampa.

"We are delighted to be able to bring Matt's expertise and insight to our clients," said BST Global Vice President of Development, Carlos Baldor Jr. "We believe it's valuable to our clients to provide current perspectives and information from the industry at large -- and as the world's largest Information Technology research and advisory company, Gartner is the acknowledged premier source for this purpose."

"Project and Portfolio Management: The Skills, The Discipline and The Market" will be the focus of Light's keynote. He will discuss the different levels of project management that organizations need and the type skills and training companies should cultivate to ensure success with those different levels. He will discuss the fundamentals, levels and trends of PPM, offer industry insight on the evolution and future of PPM, and give tips on guidelines, frameworks, planning and tools for best practices.

"Trends show that more companies are planning to buy, or are currently using, PPM systems year over year," Light said. "PPM tools can address the top four challenges as well as many others facing today's project and service organizations."

Bala (Sashi) Sashikant of Wilbur Smith Associates (WSA), a well-known international infrastructure consulting firm headquartered in Columbia, S.C., also will serve as keynote speaker. Sashikant, WSA CIO, will present a case study on "Management Portals," a topic of strong industry interest. WSA has completed more than 30,000 projects around the world.

Other client companies on the program that will be sharing insights with conference attendees are Clough, Harbour & Associates; Buchart-Horn; Conestoga-Rovers & Associates; Braun Intertec Corporation; and EA Engineering, Science and Technology.

Conference attendance marks a record turnout for this year's event, annually presented since 2001. "The conference has been steadily increasing in attendance from the outset," Baldor said. "This year our attendance climbed 33 percent, and we also are pleased to be welcoming a growing international contingent within the attendee group."

The conference will present approximately 50 sessions and offer integrated industry tracks that provide valuable insight on improving business performance management by "Connecting People, Process and Technology" with BST Global business solutions. Conference attendees will have the chance to engage with experts and network with other BST Global solution users to obtain insights on working with BST Global and its host of innovative solutions.

About BST Global

BST Global is the leading global provider of enterprise business performance management solutions for project driven professional services organizations. Solution capabilities span business intelligence, client relationship management, enterprise project management and enterprise resource planning. The privately held BST group of companies and alliance partners is a global organization with a presence in America, Europe, Australia and Africa. Today, over 80,000 end users and more than 100 of the top 500 ranked Engineering News Record (ENR) Design firms worldwide rely on BST Global's innovative solutions to manage projects, resources, finances and client relationships across six continents and 37 countries.

Founded in 1971, BST Global is headquartered in Tampa, FL. Additional information can be obtained by contacting BST Global at 1-813-886-3300 (international) or 1-800-726-3300 or via the web at http://www.bstglobal.com.

BST Global and BST Enterprise are registered service and/or trademarks of BST Consultants Inc. All other products or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.