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SMA Announces the Winners of the Inaugural IMPACT Project

SMA’s Impact Project was conceived and developed with one goal in mind: To discove
r how their product, OpCon/xps™ and team impact the lives of the people who use it
..their customers.Every competitor was given a FLiP SLIDE HD digital video camer
a with which to produce their entry. The challenge was to create and produce an
original video 15 – 20 minutes in length about themselves and the ways that SMA’s Op
Con/xps have impacted their lives.
Houston, TX, September 16, 2010 -- “I didn’t want to deploy the customary method of
blasting hundreds of boring, impersonal customer satisfaction surveys to our glo
bal customer base. Our customers mean a great deal to us, they really do matter
to everyone on the SMA team.” Explains Michael W. Taylor, SMA’s President & CEO. Wit
h Mr. Taylor’s challenge in mind the Impact Project began to take shape. Several m
onths went into scripting and detailing the project. Impact Project’s architect in
vested a great deal of time searching for similar concepts on the internet. Howe
ver, none existed or at least none were discovered that not only allowed but man
dated 100% original content on all entries. SMA offered no suggestions or canned
scenarios. “I wanted complete authenticity on these videos. If our technology and
customer base were typical I would have retained a team of creatives to fabrica
te a slick testimonial video. But SMA and the client partners we serve are anyth
ing but typical,” says Taylor. “every detail associated with the Impact Project pres
ented a risk. We gave up all control of the content and empowered our customer c
ompetitors to produce something authentic and original, and the end result deliv
ered exponentially more than anything I could have imagined.” All winning entries
will receive a specially commissioned handcrafted award produced by Philip and M
ichele Hoggatt owners of Carved Stone, Inc. in Dripping Spring Texas.
SMA’s Inaugural Impact Project Grand Prize is awarded to the team at BayPort Credi
t Union. Lead by Bruce Jernell, Senior Systems Analyst and supported by several
members of the BayPort staff. Bruce and his teammate Ryan Rillo have been invite
d by Michael W. Taylor to be his guests and enjoy an all expenses paid trip to H
ouston to attend the 2010 SMArt Sessions Conference SMA’s annual user group gather
ing October 6th and 7th. Bruce and Ryan have graciously agreed to act as esteeme
d presenters to the group of IT professionals currently leveraging OpCon/xps in
their data centers along with invited IT professionals who are interested in lea
rning more about SMA and OpCon/xps. Michael Taylor will also present a check in
the amount of $1500.00 payable to the charitable organization(s) chosen by BayPo
rt Credit Union. Congratulations and thank you to the talented and very clever t
eam at BayPort Credit Union in Virginia. Your Impact Project video entry was abo
ve and beyond anything we could have imagined.
There was a tie for First Place, therefore the decision was made to award two Se
cond Place finishes.
SMA’s awards one of two First Place Awards to Janice L. Cessna, Director of MIS an
d her intrepid team of filmmakers at Pasco-Hernando Community College in new Por
t Richey, Florida. Ms.Cessna along with teammate and co-star Artem Geyvandov, Op
erations Support will also be traveling to Houston to attend SMArt Sessions in O
ctober. They will receive their award from Michael Taylor as well a as donation
from SMA to the charitable organization of their choice.
The Impact Project final First Place Award is presented to Joshua Higgins, Data
Center Systems Administrator and his supporting team of co-stars at the Maine Cr
edit Union League’s Synergent Technology Services in Westbrook, Maine. Joshua will
also be attending SMA’s SMArt Session Conference in October along with Tim Gilman
, Synergent’s Assistant Vice President of Operations and Gary Glenn Senior Vice Pr
esident at Synergent. Their award and charitable donation will be delivered to t
hem personally by Michael W.Taylor during the SMArt Sessions event in October.
The real value of any product is a difficult metric to capture by anyone other t
han those who use it day in and day out. The Impact Project offered the SMA team
rare insight into the environment and professionals who depend on OpCon/xps. Th
e result is a gratifying and tangible demonstration of the value our effort offe
rs to our diverse global family of customers. Michael W. Taylor, comments in clo
sing, “”The enjoyment and insight gained from the Impact Project “experiment” for lack o
f a better word, leads me to deem it an undeniable success. However that success
only motivates me and the entire SMA team to work harder to deliver more value
and service to the family of customers we serve.”
About SMA:
SMA is a global leader in cross platform enterprise job scheduling software and
event driven automation software, with offices in England, France, New Zealand,
South Korea, Switzerland and the United States. With 29 years of experience SMA
powers some of the most complex data centers in the world. SMA OpCon/xps automat
ion software maximizes technology investments and enables IT process improvement
s to quickly produce measurable ROI in weeks without armies of consultants. For
more information please contact us at http://www.smausa.com/contact.htm .
Press Contact:
Gordy Drost
SMA
3939 Glade Valley Drive
Kingwood, Texas 77339
281-446-5000
gdrost@smausa.com
http://www.smausa.com

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