Sorry folks but as a Murphy, I just can't resist the temptation - Irish rockers "The Dropkick Murphys" sing a song called "Shipping Up To Boston" - and that is exactly what I and my colleagues are doing September 22nd and 23rd to participate in Forrester's Application Development & Delivery Forum - a collection of the best and brightest folks in our industry. 

I am both a Murphy AND originally from the Boston area - Ahhhlington to be precise (that's Arlington for you non-native speakers), so I could not resist a reference to The Dropkick Murphys. Never heard of them you say? Boston Red Sox fans recall fondly how in 2007, Jonathan Papelbon danced a jig to "Shipping Up To Boston" when the Red Sox beat the Anaheim Angels to clinch the American League East title. Red Sox fans still treasure the moment, our friends in LA - not so much.

Why should you join us in "Shipping Up To Boston"? 

• Because we've entered an age where customer experience is king, but our applications are troublesome pawns on the IT chessboard - processes and data trapped in silos that do not fit the "outside-in" perspectives of customer-experience driven change.
• Because you're being pressured to keep pace with the business change driven by customer-experience, but you're falling behind a little bit more every day - you can't make any progress on tomorrow because you are consumed by today's issues.
• Because your business executives read airline magazine articles that say a simple hardware swap will end all of your legacy application problems - you know it's more complicated than that ... maybe.
• Because with one foot firmly cemented in yesterday's technology and another foot in today's technology, you've run out of feet - you don't have any toes left to test the waters of tomorrow's technology.
• Because you realize if you don't act, your business leaders will look elsewhere

Why will you join us in "Shipping Up To Boston"? Because you need answers and some fresh perspective. You want to know what the best and brightest of your peers are doing about customer experience, cloud, and mobile and how they affect your application portfolio. You want to network with analysts, colleagues, and peers to discuss how you can leverage their experiences - to jackhammer your feet free from yesterday's cement so you can move forward.