Innovative Business and Technology Advisors Robert Frances Group Announces The Second Annual Thought Leadership Summit Series, "Reducing Risk, Restoring Trust: A Leadership Role for IT"

WESTPORT, CT – Feb. 07, 2005 – Robert Frances Group (RFG; http://www.rfgonline.com), trusted advisors about the IT marketplace to Global 2000 executives, enterprises, government agencies, and educational institutions, announces its Second Annual Thought Leadership Summit Series – "Reducing Risk, Restoring Trust: A Leadership Role for IT." The first of the 2005 Summits will be held June 15-16, 2005 at the Puck Building in New York City. 2005 Summit sessions are being scheduled for Chicago and San Francisco as well.

Each Summit will showcase high-level technology and business risk mitigation practitioners, as well as senior RFG business analysts and innovative Risk Management vendor executives. At each Summit, a series of panels and workshops will address the latest risk issues and solutions for Business Continuity, Compliance, Data Privacy, Information Security, IT Process Improvement, and Outsourcing.

The Summit agenda will investigate various forms of technology risk, examine methods for aggregating and evaluating hidden and known risks, discuss a creation of best practices for enterprise risk management, and help participants prioritize risk components. As a supplement, each Summit will also feature an exhibit area containing leading technology risk vendor solutions, allowing the participants an opportunity to examine the latest technology solutions in the marketplace.

"We are thrilled with the positive reviews from the 2004 Summit series, and look forward to continuing the agenda forward into 2005 with an updated discussion of the latest process and procedures executives are implementing to address technology risk," said Cal Braunstein, Robert Frances Group’s CEO and Director of Reasearch. "These conferences respond to a growing need among enterprise executives for high-level discussions focused on the emerging areas of technology risk management and proactive, IT-enabled solutions for addressing the latest threats and risks in the enterprise," Braunstein states.

Last year's Summit Series attracted more than 250 participants. The 2004 Summits featured presentations from senior-level technology risk management executives representing such top-tier organizations as AIG, Bank of America, Blue Cross Blue Shield, BNP Paribas, Countrywide Financial, Charles Schwab, Delta Dental of California, JP Morgan Chase, JW Thompson, ManuLife, Pfizer, Prudential Financial, Thompson Corporation, Wachovia, Wells Fargo, and Yale University.

RFG analyst presentations at these Summits are based upon the latest RFG research, which is driven by the "hot-button" concerns of the company's IT executive clients. In its Feb. 4, 2005 Research Note, "Strategies for Risk Management," RFG highlighted the equally critical roles IT and non-IT executives play in reducing risk at their enterprises. "Effective risk management requires input from all aspects of the business and top-down, proactive support from executives," the Note said. "While not all areas of risk are IT-related, IT executives can either serve as change agents for risk assessment, mitigation, process management, and tracking, or act in important supporting roles," the Note added.

The first 2005 RFG Thought Leadership Summit on "Reducing Risk, Restoring Trust: A Leadership Role for IT" will be held June 15-16 in New York City. For further information about the Summits, including sponsorship opportunities, please visit http://www.rfgonline.com or contact Ken Bauco of RFG at +203/291-6900, ext. 112 or at kbauco@rfgonline.com.

About Robert Frances Group (RFG)

Every business day, information technology (IT) executives and their colleagues at leading enterprises, government agencies, and educational institutions look to Robert Frances Group (RFG) for timely, business-centric answers to their most pressing IT questions. Those clients enjoy direct, on-demand access to a team of industry analysts with decades of deep experience in enterprise IT management. RFG research and counsel helps IT executives architect, implement, and manage more successful initiatives. RFG clients achieve better communication with business decision-makers, greater business success, enterprise elasticity, and risk management, increased IT-business alignment, and more demonstrable business value for IT. More information is available from RFG at http://www.rfgonline.com, (US) +203/291-6900, and/or info@rfgonline.com.

Contact:
Kenneth Bauco
Event Marketing and Development
Robert Frances Group (RFG)
+203/291-6900, ext. 112
kbauco@rfgonline.com