- Why the customer is not always right
There are two fatal flaws in this model, both having to do with managing expectations. First, clients need to understand that they are unlikely to get every deliverable without some compromise – particularly in custom software, where nobody knows exactly what’s involved until the project is more than half done. Second, the project lead on the consultant side must actively manage expectations during every client meeting. If the project lead on the client side is weak – technically or politically – s/he will not successfully propagate the realities of prioritization and negotiation to executives in the client organization. This means the project is in trouble before it starts … and, worse, the trouble can be totally invisible to the client until it’s way too late.
http://www.cio.com/article/3020698/it-industry/why-customer-is-not-always-right.html#tk.rss_all
- Can blockchains drive supply chain transparency in 2016?
Background:In short, a blockchain provides a shared database that is both transparent and tamper-proof. Specifically, it is a public ledger of all Bitcoin transactions that have ever been executed and has complete information about addresses and balances right from the genesis block to the most recently completed block.
How it relates to Supply Chain:
Baker said: “We have three levels that we are thinking about. The first is the business level: so who is this company? What do they do? Do they pay tax? Then the product level, which is around supply chain mapping. The blockchain component is more item level tracking, so is this particular item what it says it is? Is it really organic? Has it really been made by this company, in this place? So it’s a bit of a hybrid.”
- Despite Social Media’s Popularity, Most Americans Don’t Want to Give Up Private Data
Of the six outlined scenarios, respondents were uncomfortable with the privacy tradeoffs required to access free social media. In that scenario, Pew outlined a social-media site — a clear Facebook stand in — which gives users free access in exchange for the ability to sell them ads using their personal data. Only a third of respondents thought this tradeoff was “acceptable,” 15 percent said it depended on the situation, and 51 percent found the tradeoff “unacceptable.”
- 5 Healthcare Supply Chain Trends to Watch in 2016
1. Operational Experimentation: Now that most hospitals have identified the supply chain as an area not only for cost savings, but also as a resource for significantly improving patient outcomes, 2016 will mark the start of major operational experimentation. Backed by sophisticated, enabling supply chain technology, hospitals will embrace process and product flexibility to find the right formula for both patient- and business-focused success.
http://hitconsultant.net/2016/01/14/healthcare-supply-chain-trends-to-watch-in-2016/
- You Might Be Getting the Basics Right, but That’s Not Enough
Similarly, it’s not enough to do a proper, verbal, invitation over the phone, give the supplier a chance to include references, case studies, and suggest alternative proposals, if you know that one of the critical requirements of the bid or organizational preference (or prejudice) would preclude the supplier from getting the award. It’s not professional to invite the supplier unless you believe the supplier has an honest chance.
- Shakeup at Citrix continues: CloudStack products sold off
When Citrix announced in November that it would spin off its popular GoToMeeting and affiliated products into an independent publicly traded company, some questioned if other parts of the company may be destined for change as well.
Today, Citrix announced it has sold its two cloud infrastructure management products: CloudPlatform and CloudPortal Business Manager, both of which are based on open source CloudStack.
Citrix is selling the cloud products to Accelerite, which is owned by Persistent Systems. Accelerite focuses on cloud backup and recovery as a service. Persistent has a broader portfolio of cloud and other IT consulting products and services.
- 3 open source tools for supply chain management
The last tool in our supply chain management roundup is Odoo, which you might recognize from our previous top ERP projects article. In fact, a full ERP may be good fit for you, depending on your needs. Odoo’s supply chain management tools mostly revolve around inventory and purchase management, and connectivity with e-commerce and point of sale, but it can also connect to other tools like frePPLe for open source production planning.
Odoo is available both as a software as a service solution, as well as an open source community edition. The open source edition is released under an LGPL version 3, and the source is available on GitHub. Odoo is primarily written in Python.
https://opensource.com/business/16/1/open-source-tools-supply-chain-management
- “Never Touch Things Twice”
This is lovely in thought, impossible in the real world. Additionally as someone who writes, you have to walk away and come back to things.Never touch things twice. That’s it. Never put anything in a holding pattern, because touching things twice is a huge time-waster. Don’t save an email or a phone call to deal with later. As soon as something gets your attention you should act on it, delegate it, or delete it.
Photo: Gerrit Vermeulen