Speakers

Joseph Jacoboni has been a senior manager, primarily in the technology industry, for the past 20 years, holding several positions from Director of Sales to President/ CEO. Mr. Jacoboni was the Founder and CEO of Software Support, Inc. (“SSI”), the first third-party call center performing technical support for the personal computer industry. SSI supported multiple computer hardware products and software applications for companies such as Gateway Computers, Toshiba, Cisco, Corel Corporation, Dell and AT&T. SSI employed over 1,100 employees, with offices in Florida, Texas, and Utah and was sold to Matrix Marketing in 1996, (Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG). In 1991, he resigned his position as National Sales Manager at Lake Mary-based Maynard Electronics (Achieve Corp.) to take a six-month sabbatical, during which he researched and analyzed the computer industry. He identified three factors indicating the readiness of the market for third-party technical support: 1) mass merchandisers such as Circuit City and Office Depot were becoming authorized IBM and Compaq dealers, and there was no real knowledge in the marketplace of the equipment or software being sold; 2) the economy was in a recession, which led to corporate downsizing and the elimination of internal help desks; and 3) existing technical support for hardware and software meant excessive hold times and poor support. To facilitate support for over 200 software applications and several hardware platforms Mr. Jacoboni and his team developed technology, processes, and procedures to provide high quality technical support that was both cost and time effective. SSI grew from a staff of two in July 1991 to a company that employed over 1,100 people and generated $25 million in annual revenue when the company was sold for $32 million. (Joseph Jacoboni's Bio continued) In 2007 Mr. Jacoboni was the Founder and CEO of Contact Centers of America (CCA). Due to the poor service and support he received from offshore contact centers he developed and implemented a business strategy to bring contact centers back to the United States to provide a higher level of customer satisfaction. To be price competitive with off shore contact centers, Mr. Jacoboni determined that by utilizing college students and entering into a strategic relationship with universities he could keep the direct labor cost low which is 50% of the cost of services in the contact center business. CCA opened its first contact center in 2008 near Valencia Community College West campus and developed a relationship with the President of VCC. Mr. Jacoboni resigned his position as CEO in October 2011 due to a conflict with CCA’s investors. Mr. Jacoboni has held numerous senior level management positions for several fast-growing, profitable companies, such as Western Digital, Raytheon Data Systems, Maynard Electronics/Archive Corporation and Businessland. As a creative entrepreneur, he motivates and manages each member of his executive staff to their highest level of productivity and efficiency, and was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young in 1997.

Presenting:

• The View from IT: Aligning IT and Design for Data-Driven Hybrid Workspaces