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Special Interest Groups (SIGs) bring together members with a shared interest in a specific topic for in-depth discussion over several meetings.

SIGs are small groups of UWEBC members that meet multiple times for in-depth discussion and benchmarking on topics that cannot be adequately addressed in a single meeting. SIGs fill the gap between Peer Groups, which focus on one topic per meeting, and Member-to-Member Advising, where two-to-four companies share information on highly specialized, company-specific topics.

How do SIGs work?

  • SIGs last for six months to a year, depending on the topic.
  • Participants join when the SIG launches and commit to the series of meetings.
  • Each meeting covers in-depth a single facet of the topic.
  • SIGs meet face-to-face and remotely, depending on the particulars of the topic and the needs of SIG participants.
Current SIGs

Agile IT SIG
The Agile IT Special Interest Group offers a forum to interact, share opinions and expertise, and leverage experiences. The SIG will address a variety of topics and issues pertinent to the successful deployment and operation of Agile methodologies and practices within IT teams. Launched May 2016.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Contact Center Quality Monitoring SIG
The Contact Center Quality Monitoring SIG is a forum for Quality Monitoring practitioners to collaborate with peers and learn from each other’s experiences and practices. In this space, we will discuss the current tools, strategies, and challenges contact centers experience in the Quality Monitoring space. Launched December 2022.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Contact Center Workforce Management SIG
The Contact Center Workforce Management SIG is a forum for Workforce Management practitioners to collaborate with peers and learn from each other’s experiences and practices. In this space, we will discuss the current tools, strategies, and challenges contact centers experience in the Workforce Management space. Launched December 2022.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Future of Contact Centers SIG
The Future of Contact Centers SIG is a collaborative space for participants to discuss trends, tools, challenges, and strategies that may impact contact centers in the not-so-distant future. You can also learn about new approaches to addressing rising needs from other UWEBC participants. Launched December 2022.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Human Resources Executives SIG
The HR Executives Special Interest Group provides a platform for engaging UWEBC members' in-house HR executives in discussions on strategic issues relevant to their organizations. The SIG will also serve as a trusted network and forum for professional development and learning about emerging HR issues. Launched October 2015.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Predictive Analytics SIG
The Predictive Analytics Special Interest Group explores the latest techniques and technologies in the field and discusses how they can be applied to solve real-world problems. Launched February 2023.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Product Management SIG
The Product Management Special Interest Group provides a forum to explore best practices for bringing new products to market or developing and enhancing existing products. Launched April 2020.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Sales & Operations Planning SIG
This is a forum for practitioners of Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) to collaborate with peers to learn from each other’s experiences and practices. In this space, we will discuss the current tools, strategies, and challenges that planners and leaders experience in the S&OP process. Launched May 2023.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Trade Compliance SIG
The Trade Compliance Special Interest Group (SIG) offers a forum for individuals involved in import/export activities and trade compliance within UWEBC member companies to interact, share opinions and expertise, and leverage each other’s experiences. Launched November 2019.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Completed SIGs

Customer Experience Measurement and Action Planning SIG
The Customer Experience (CX) Measurement and Action Planning Special Interest Group was a collaborative learning forum for individuals responsible for improving their organization's methods and processes for customer listening, insight discovery and action planning to improve the customer experience. Completed July 2022.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Indirect Procurement SIG
The Indirect Procurement Special Interest Group focused on common challenges and opportunities for improving process and reducing costs in the area of indirect procurement. Completed February 2022.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

B2B Marketing SIG
The Business-to-Business (B2B) Marketing Special Interest Group was a practice-sharing community for leaders of marketing teams at product manufacturers and distributors that primarily support business customers (retailers, dealers, distributors and/or commercial end users). Completed December 2021.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

E-Retailer SIG
The E-Retailer Special Interest Group was for companies whose dominant share of product sales and company revenue comes from online direct marketing, enabling in-depth discussion of processes and practices, tactics and challenges. Completed May 2021.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

B2B Customer Service SIG – Supervisors Forum
The Business-to-Business (B2B) Customer Service Special Interest Group – Supervisors Forum was a collaborative learning community for those in frontline staff supervisory roles within customer service teams at product manufacturers and distributors that primarily support business customers (retailers, dealers, distributors and/or commercial end users). Completed June 2020.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

B2B Customer Service SIG – Senior Leaders Forum
The Business-to-Business (B2B) Customer Service Special Interest Group – Senior Leaders Forum was a knowledge-sharing community tailored for leaders of customer service teams at product manufacturers and distributors that primarily support business customers (retailers, dealers, distributors and/or commercial end users). Completed October 2019.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Contact Center Workforce Management SIG
The Contact Center Workforce Management Special Interest Group was a collaborative learning forum for those with operational responsibility for the workforce management (WFM) function — or any of its constituent activities of volume forecasting, staff capacity planning and staff scheduling — within their organization’s customer contact center(s). Completed October 2019.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

General Counsel SIG
UWEBC Peer Groups enable strong collaborative learning and peer-to-peer interaction for executives and managers from UWEBC Member organizations. The General Counsel SIG provided a platform for engaging member companies' in-house legal staffs about the legal implications of business topics often addressed by UWEBC Peer Groups. Completed December 2016.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Transportation SIG
Transportation professionals' jobs comprise a wide variety of responsibilities that can't be covered in just one meeting. The purpose of this Special Interest Group was to delve into the many facets of transportation management that are relevant to UWEBC member companies over a series of meetings. Completed November 2016.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Inside Sales SIG
The Inside Sales SIG was a collaborative learning community for leaders of inside sales organizations to compare and discuss strategies, methods, processes and tools to improve effectiveness and efficiency. Over the course of several sessions, participants engaged in discussions with peers at other companies on a range of topics (chosen by participants). The SIG also served as a network of inside sales managers that participants leveraged as a knowledge resource on an ongoing basis. Completed June 2016.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Business Intelligence SIG
The BI SIG was designed for individuals leading business intelligence (BI) and analytics efforts to interact, contribute opinions and learn from shared experiences. The group discussed many factors necessary to successfully deploy and operate a BI and analytics program, including reference architecture, predictive solutions and capabilities, and big data. Completed December 2015.
All meeting assets»

Contact Center Agent Training SIG
The Contact Center Agent Training SIG was a forum for those with responsibility for designing and delivering agent training to discuss topics related to initial and on-going training. Participants gleaned leading practices  to improve training efficiency and effectiveness by learning about the strategies, practices, processes and tools utilized by other companies participating in the group. Completed July 2015.
All meeting assets»

Lean IT SIG
As more UWEBC members lead Lean, Process Innovation or Process Optimization initiatives within their company, they need an outlet to interact, share opinions and expertise, and leverage peers' experiences. The Lean IT Special Interest Group addressed a variety of topics, methods and practices crucial to successful deployment and operation of Lean IT. Completed July 2015.
All meeting assets»

Direct Merchant Distribution Operations SIG
This SIG provided a forum for members to learn about distribution planning and operating practices, procedures, and processes utilized by the participating companies. It enabled a deeper dive into specific supply chain topics relevant to Direct Merchant and gleaned validated leading practices from knowledge of others Direct Merchants approaches to Distribution Operations. Completed March 2015.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

Indirect Procurement SIG
The Indirect Procurement Special Interest Group was a platform for participating UWEBC member companies to discuss common challenges and opportunities for improving processes and reducing costs in the area of indirect spend. The Indirect Procurement SIG was initially launched in March, 2010 and in session until June 2012. Due to demand, the SIG was reconvened in October 2013. Completed October 2014.
All meeting assets»

S&OP SIG
The S&OP Special Interest Group offered a forum for individuals involved in the sales and operations planning process within UWEBC member companies to interact, share opinions and expertise, and leverage each other’s experiences. Completed January 2020.
Complete info and past meeting assets»

SharePoint SIG
Microsoft SharePoint was a collaboration platform popular among UWEBC member companies. This SIG examined in-depth SharePoint best practices. Topics included business case, security, pilot, implementation, and steady-state management. Completed May 2014.
All meeting assets»

Internet Merchandising SIG
Take a deeper dive into internet-merchandising practices and processes than is possible in a single peer-group meeting. Topics included efforts on homepages, landing pages, within shopping carts, emails and social media platforms. For not only those directly responsible for internet merchandising at their respective companies but also creative teams and marketers who assist with internet-merchandising projects. Completed December 2013.
All meeting assets»

Contact Center Workforce Management SIG
This SIG was a forum for managers responsible for this function to discuss common issues and challenges they encounter in different aspects of executing WFM – and to compare strategies and practices for addressing them. Completed May 2013.
All meeting assets»

Contact Center Quality Monitoring SIG
A forum for contact center quality process leaders to compare notes with peers on effective quality monitoring practices and strategies for leveraging QM investment to its fullest potential. Completed September 2011.
All meeting assets»

First-time attendee?

Visit our FAQs for first-time meeting attendees»

To help you prepare for your first UWEBC event, we've prepared some answers to frequently asked questions. If you would like additional assistance, please email events@uwebc.wisc.edu.

Beth de Garcia photographInterested in becoming a member? Contact Beth de Garcia, Membership and Corporate Sales Director, for more information at 608-265-0645 or beth.degarcia@wisc.edu.

Questions about events? Contact info@uwebc.wisc.edu.

Quick Contacts

Executive Director: Dr. Raj Veeramani, raj.veeramani@uwebc.wisc.edu, 608-262-0861

Director: Doug Barton, doug.barton@uwebc.wisc.edu,
608-890-1052

Membership and Corporate Sales Director: Beth de Garcia, beth.degarcia@uwebc.wisc.edu,
608-265-0645

Director, Practice Area Development: Roger Paulson, roger.paulson@uwebc.wisc.edu,
608-261-1161

Customer Service Practice Director: Matthew Cone, matthew.cone@uwebc.wisc.edu, 608-263-0635

Information Technology Practice Director: Heidi Rozmiarek, heidi.rozmiarek@uwebc.wisc.edu,
608-890-1291

Marketing Practice Director: Tom Hershberger, tom.hershberger@uwebc.wisc.edu,
608-265-3299

Supply Chain Practice Director: Jenny Patzlaff, jenny.patzlaff@uwebc.wisc.edu,
608-890-1298

Events Coordinator: Pema Bhutia, pema.bhutia@uwebc.wisc.edu, 608-262-5566

Marketing Specialist: Taryn Johnson, taryn.johnson@uwebc.wisc.edu, 608-262-1476

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