Why Participate in Coalface?

How does it benefit me?

At its heart, The Coalface IT Executive Community provides series of regular, structured, executive forums where participants can network with their industry peers to hear true, real-life, ‘warts-and-all’, local ICT case studies in an environment conducive to sharing experiences and tactics.

Some of the cost savings that can be achieved through membership of this Community include:

Avoiding the pitfalls found by others before you, which cause significant and costly delays in ICT projects
Reducing the need to rely on consultants
Benchmarking your use of ICT with those of businesses operating in similar local economic conditions
Developing the skill lets of your staff by providing an opportunity where they can learn from the tactics adopted by their counterparts in other organisations
Cutting through the marketing hype that bedevils the ICT industry and better establishing user expectations of what they can expect from potential ICT investments
Leveraging the experiences of others ‘at the coalface’

What About Confidentiality?

Information that members provide about their projects at The Coalface IT Executive Community briefings is available only to bona fide members of this Community. Of course, members are not obliged or expected to disclose sensitive information about business applications that have potential competitive advantage. Nevertheless, most members will find that they can freely discuss their experiences with technologies, management practices and methodologies used without prejudice to sensitive commercial information.

Do I have a Say?

You are strongly encouraged to participate in setting the direction and priorities of The Coalface IT Executive Community briefing presentations are selected by members on a regular basis to ensure that only the most relevant and timely issues are discussed. Furthermore, since membership is one hundred percent Malaysia and Singapore based, you will have a much greater influence on The Coalface IT Executive Community than with survey-based groups with headquarters overseas.

What is my Responsibility?

Other than agreeing to pay all subscriptions due, there are no formal obligations on your part as a member of The Coalface IT Executive Community. The fundamental premise behind The Coalface IT Executive Community forum sessions is the sharing of experiences between member organisations for mutual benefit. Therefore, as a member of The Coalface IT Executive Community, you should be prepared to:

Provide information on projects undertaken at your organisation
Contribute responses to email requests for assistance from other members when your organisation has experience in the area where that member is seeking assistance
Answer reasonable enquiries from member organisations as promptly and completely as possible
Participate in Coalface IT Executive forum sessions (your organisation may send three delegates to any briefing session)
Present no more than once every two years at a Coalface IT Executive Community briefing session on a project underway or already completed at your organisation (you may optionally invite an appropriate member of your team to present)
Optionally, offer projects as candidates for Coalface IT Executive Community user case study reports

Members are obliged to maintain confidentiality about activities at fellow Coalface IT Executive Community member organisations. Members who disclose information to third parties that could reasonably be assumed to be proprietary and confidential without specific permission from the organisation concerned will place their membership of The Coalface IT Executive Community in jeopardy.