It is always interesting to attend a conference in a totally different role from the one you had when you were last there. It is even more interesting when the conference itself undergoes a dramatic change as a result of an industry crisis or major event. Such was the case when I recently attended the American Securitization Forum’s (ASF) annual 2011 conference in Orlando, FL. At its peak, the ASF conference was held in Las Vegas and was a raucous event attended by thousands of bankers, investors, lawyers and vendors. At that time, I was working at Standard & Poor’s and responsible for commercializing S&P’s structured finance analytical models and data. Now, the tenor at the conference is much more subdued as most panel sessions focus on how to revive many of the asset backed securities markets that essentially imploded in 2008 and have yet to show any significant recovery more than two years later. And my new role is heading up the Debt Capital Market (DCM) efforts for IntraLinks.

In today’s working environment, companies are geographically dispersed in multiple locations, often separated from customers, colleagues and partners. To avoid the need to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to meet in person, collaborative tools could be the answer. Companies are increasingly seeing the benefit of these technologies and with the introduction of methods such as VoIP, instant messaging and web conferencing, individuals can communicate in a virtual environment, creating increased productivity and improved business process workflow.

IntraLinks is well ahead of the game and has provided collaborative technology in the form of IntraLinks Exchanges for over a decade, enabling the secure exchange of critical information. We recently exhibited at Solutions Intranet et Travail Collaboratif, a conference focused on collaborative work solutions in Paris, to showcase our solutions and to meet with customers. To understand more about the impact collaboration tools have on the market, I attended a workshop called ‘Collaboration in business, real cure for the crisis’ presented by Patrick Schambel, Managing Director from Silverpeas.