final newsletter masthead
June 2010
In This Issue
What's New?
Industry Issue
Government Affairs
AGMA in the News
Quick Links
 
Stay tuned for the next issue of Brand Sentinel where we'll spotlight trends, issues and more news from AGMA!
 
Click here to view the March issue of Brand Sentinel.
General Membership - What's New? 
 
 AGMA continues to add top tier companies to its member roster. Welcome to our newest member company, AMD! Additionally, leading professional services firms are uniting behind the AGMA cause: KPMG, Deloitte & Touche, Sideman & Bancroft and PricewaterhouseCoopers have all joined AGMA's ranks as associate members.
 
To view the full list of AGMA members click here
 



Dear Colleague,
 
Welcome to the June issue of the Alliance for Gray Market and Counterfeit Abatement (AGMA) Brand Sentinel - the quarterly newsletter that keeps you up to date and connected with AGMA.  

Summer is here, and things are heating up at AGMA! Most recently, AGMA members gathered at the AGMA Americas quarterly meeting on April 21-22, hosted by Cisco.  The meeting featured results from a survey conducted by AGMA in conjunction with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).  Focusing on the gray market, PwC worked with AGMA to survey its members, using the results to conduct a workshop for conference attendees on notable trends and best practices, common challenges and opportunities for improvement in mitigating the impact of gray market activities.
Industry Issue: Gray Marketing and the Channel
 
Gray market fraud continues to have a negative impact on the channel, and protecting brands, the channel partner ecosystem and the end user continues to be one of AGMA's key areas of focus. Together with Deloitte & Touche, AGMA has recently launched initial efforts on a whitepaper titled Channel Incentive Abuse and the Impact on the Gray Market.  This whitepaper will study the profit margin impact of channel incentives, and examine the impact internal controls have on helping companies to manage and monitor channel incentives to prevent abuse and revenue leakage.  We are expecting to have this whitepaper completed and available by October 2010 - stay tuned!
Government Affairs - In Focus

AGMA's Government Affairs Committee continues to ramp up their Gavel - governmentactivities related to AGMA's very active public policy agenda. Scott Olsen, Chair of the AGMA Government Affairs Committee, gives the following update on committee activities: "Our members rely on us to advance their interests in a range of ways, including shaping public policy.  Our current efforts include work on the draft cyber security bill being put together by Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman and Ranking Member Susan Collins; comments submitted on proposed federal regulations governing the procurement of information technology; and an ongoing effort by the House and Senate to reauthorize the Customs and Border Protection function of the Department of Homeland Security."  He added, "All of these efforts are designed to enhance awareness of the need for federal buyers to procure authentic IT, which will in turn minimize risk to our nation's information infrastructure."

AGMA in the News
AGMA's unique expertise and insight continues to be in demand by members of the journalism community. High profile publications look to AGMA for expert insight into gray market, counterfeiting, warranty and service abuse in the IT industry.  Just recently, AGMA has been interviewed by and/or featured in such high profile media outlets as CRN, ITChannelPlanet, Information Week, Nikkei Electronics and Bloomberg News.

Top tier channel publication CRN turned to AGMA for commentary on IBM's fight against gray market activity. AGMA treasurer Peter Hlavnicka noted: We are very excited about the individual successes of our members and the positive impact we can make on the IT industry as a group."

ITChannelPlanet recently published a piece submitted by AGMA president Ram Manchi, along with Peter Hlavnicka, titled Waging War Against Service Abuse.
 
To view more AGMA media coverage please click here.
Upcoming Events

AGMA America's Quarterly Meeting - July 28-29, EMC, Bedford, MA
 
AGMA APAC Council Meeting - September 9, HP in Singapore

AGMA EMEA Council Meeting - November 18, Oracle in London
 
To view the full AGMA Events Calendar please click here.