Category: Industry News

Posted on

News You Can Use: 11/23/2016

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  • Are Women In Procurement Still Earning Less Than Men? It Seems So

    A female CPO, for example, can expect to earn around 94% of a male colleague’s salary. For regional category managers, women have been found to earn only 69% of a man’s wage.

    This tends to get compounded by the ‘glass-ceiling effect’, in which women find it difficult to break through into the higher levels of an organisation. Only 14% of our CPO sample last year were women.

    http://www.procurementleaders.com/blog/my-blog–jonathan-webb/are-women-in-procurement-still-earning-less-than-men-it-seems-so-649336

  • 7 Ways to Politely Shut Down a Conversation
    This one is my favorite…

    5. The ‘pass off.’
    When you are trapped in a rambling conversation, pull in another person to join you if possible. Introduce the topic to the new person, and once the other two get a conversation going, politely excuse yourself and don’t look back.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/284492
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  • DOD in ‘knife fight’ over supply chain, security chief says

    Department of Defense (DOD) officials increasingly view the Pentagon’s supply chain as a key vulnerability within the defense enterprise, with bad actors seeking to affect systems and steal innovative technologies. This risk extends beyond prime contractors, which have extensive resources to invest in security to medium and small contractors, which in turn may not have those resources.

    The Pentagon’s emphasis on affordability often pushes suppliers to use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) items, said Frank Kendall, the DOD’s undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics.

    “All of this presents an opportunity for somebody with a nefarious purpose to get at our products,” Kendall said. “The thing that makes me most nervous is a high-end adversary who finds a way to hide something in our weapons systems and lets it sit there until it can be activated at the worst possible time.”

    https://about.bgov.com/blog/dod-knife-fight-supply-chain-security-chief-says/

  • Hang in there (from Seth Godin)

    Showing up day after day, week after week, sometimes for years, as your movement slowly gains steam, as your organization hits speed bumps, as the news goes from bad to worse…

    Showing up, it turns out, is the hardest part of making a difference.

    Make a list of the organizations and voices and movements that have made a difference. How old are they? How long have they been at it?

    Creating impact, building something of substance, changing the culture… this is the work of a lifetime, not merely a fun project.

    http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2016/11/hang-in-there.html
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  • Amazon’s logistics venture has yet to make up for costs

    “A full-blown Amazon parcel delivery operation would likely take years to complete, so we believe [FedEx] and UPS would have time to react,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahoney previously told Retail Dive. Similarly, although UPS and FedEx have decades of experience, Amazon’s entry to the logistics market comes with a learning curve, particularly when it comes to aircraft operations and regulations.

    The earliest signs of success, however, may come through the cost-to-sales comparison made by Seeking Alpha. If Amazon seeks to compete with UPS and FedEx, the company needs to see a downward trend in the metric, which would indicate the logistics services are driving profit to the company.

    http://www.supplychaindive.com/news/Amazon-logistics-UPS-FedEx-cost/429408/

Photo: Katie Montgomery

Posted on

News You Can Use: 11/16/2016

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  • Workaholism Is the Threat That Masquerades as Dedication

    The difference between working 40 hours per week and working, say 55 or more, shows up in the quality of the work. In the ‘80s, the Whitehall II study in Great Britain highlighted a drop in cognitive function for those working longer schedules. Teams that spend more hours at their desks but get progressively less effective aren’t benefiting the business.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/282134

  • The working life is changing fast, companies need to catch up

    Explaining that work “doesn’t really work today”, Katherine von Jan, MD of strategic innovation at Salesforce, highlighted the better experience that customers have over workers as a hint that things aren’t right.

    The customer experience is at an all-time high, with ease of service from ordering to delivery of products and services – meaning our expectations are probably too high when we get into the office.

    https://www.siliconrepublic.com/video/salesforce-future-of-work-inspirefest

    The message is really good, but this poor woman is so awkward…

  • What It’s Like When a Coworker Tells You to Smile

    It seems that when I walked about the campus, I had failed to smile at the people who would determine my status as faculty or reject. It also turned out that I did not dress appropriately; interrupted men when they were talking even if they paused for breath and it seemed to me they were done rambling on and on; spoke out about controversial issues like presidential campaigns, civil rights, lack of diversity in both employees and courses; and a host of other things I did that identified me as a “left-wing feminist.” I knew I had an EEOC case when the female faculty member assigned to be my “mentor” explained to me that “you have to dress to please the men” in order to get tenure.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/10/what-its-like-when-a-coworker-tells-you-to-smile/505493/?utm_source=feed

  • Robots and AI won’t cost you your job anytime soon

    Robots function a lot like reptile brains. Technology hasn’t come far enough in biomimicry to create the right movements, expressions and thought patterns to bring AI to where it can work alone. Current AI technology, whether it’s an actual robot or just software, almost always need a human guide. At best, robots are relegated to one specific task that they can repeat multiple times.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3136563/emerging-technology/robots-and-ai-wont-cost-you-your-job-anytime-soon.html

  • Why Do Millennials Hate Groceries?

    Economists have found the same shift toward restaurant dining and away from old-fashioned grocers. Using Census data, the economist Mark J. Perry calculated that for the first time on record, Americans are spending more money at restaurants and bars than at grocery stores.

    Also:

    But today’s shoppers are springing for options in a market that supermarkets once monopolized. Modern shoppers divide their shopping among superstores like Walmart, supermarkets like Giant, specialty shops for bread and coffee, and online shopping for all of the above. It is what industry analysts are calling “grocery channel fragmentation,” and nothing in this retail sector is growing faster than than the low-end. In a reflection of the slow recovery, dollar and convenience stores accounted four in five new food retailers that opened since 2013.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/11/millennials-groceries/506180/?utm_source=feed

Photo: Karsten Würth

Posted on

News You Can Use: 11/9/2016

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  • Why CIOs should take mentor programs seriously

    Wood takes a structured approach to mentoring. He and his senior team meet regularly to identify high potential people who, with the right coaching, could advance to the next stage in their careers. “Whether they are on a technical or a management track, we identify those people who are doing well in their current jobs, but could also do a job one or even two levels up,” says Wood. “We put those people into a formal mentoring program, but we also make it clear that if anyone else wants to be a part of the mentoring program, all they have to do is raise their hand.”

    http://www.cio.com/article/3132019/careers-staffing/why-cios-should-take-mentor-programs-seriously.html

  • What is takes to be a great boss

    The point is, you can be the nicest guy in the world who treats his employees like gold. But, if you and your team are not cutting it in the eyes of your company and its stakeholders, I don’t care how likable, friendly, giving, sharing, approachable, communicative or empathetic toward your employees you are, you’re still a lousy boss.

    If, on the other hand, you challenge your employees to excel at their jobs and lead your team to exceed expectations on a consistent basis, you’re probably well on your way to becoming a great boss.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/284153
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  • 3 Steps to a Well-Structured Presentation

    We ourselves have written thousands of presentations and business documents in our careers. And, in our experience, the most important step is what we call “hanging the document.” In simple terms, you need an outline. However, this can’t be just a list of random points. The document has to have a structure. It has to hang together in a way that makes your point as clearly as possible.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/282260

  • 4 reasons why nobody is looking at your presentation

    When you deliver a presentation in the form of a story, it becomes more relatable and helps your audience develop an emotional connection with the material. This in turn coaxes memory into action. What’s more, using images to metaphorically support the story you’re telling can reinforce that effect even further. When your listeners feel connected, they’re not only more likely to remember, they’re more likely to take action.

    https://www.fastcompany.com/3064802/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/four-reasons-why-nobodys-paying-attention-to-your-presenta

  • Why Visionary CEOs Never Have Visionary Successors

    After running Microsoft for 25 years, Bill Gates handed the reins of CEO to Steve Ballmer in January 2000. Ballmer went on to run Microsoft for the next 14 years. If you think the job of a CEO is to increase sales, then Ballmer did a spectacular job. He tripled Microsoft’s sales to $78 billion and profits more than doubled from $9 billion to $22 billion. The launch of the Xbox and Kinect, and the acquisitions of Skype and Yammer happened on his shift. If the Microsoft board was managing for quarter-to-quarter or even year-to year-revenue growth, Ballmer was as good as it gets as a CEO.  But if the purpose of the company is its long-term survival, then one could make the argument that he was a failure as CEO, as he optimized short-term gains by squandering long-term opportunities.

    https://hbr.org/2016/10/why-visionary-ceos-never-have-visionary-successors

Photo: Vincent Guth

Posted on

News You Can Use: 11/2/2016

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  • New Comcast data caps spotlight disturbing trend

    Data caps are becoming the norm, and that’s very bad news for consumers, who increasingly choose to stream video instead of paying exorbitant fees for pay TV. No other reason exists to impose such caps than the desire to increase profits. Here’s how Comcast justifies its data caps: “Our data plans are based on a principle of fairness. Those who use more Internet data, pay more. And those who use less Internet data, pay less.”

    Sounds fair … except it isn’t true. Unlike wireless providers, broadband ISPs have capacity to spare, and Comcast admits as much. In a memo leaked last year, Comcast told its sales people that data caps were not related to network congestion.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3128922/internet-service-providers/new-comcast-data-caps-spotlight-disturbing-trend.html

  • How a 100TB hard drive works:
  • How To Tell Your Boss You’re Completely Overwhelmed

    Feeling like you’re personally contributing, connecting with others, leveraging your creativity—or whatever your role means to you—is an anchor for the work you do. It’s why you do what you do. Without personal meaning, you’ll start to wear down from relentlessly throwing yourself into the churn and pulse of things. You can’t sustain this kind of disconnected, meaningless work for very long.

    https://www.fastcompany.com/3064498/work-smart/how-to-tell-your-boss-youre-completely-overwhelmed

  • Are We Solving the Right Problem with Supplier Risk Management?

    An agile supply chain means that you can be reliable even though an increasing number of things are going wrong. You can only do this if you can avoid those things in the first place or recover from them when they happen. Either way, this requires supply chain risk management, not just supplier risk management, and certainly not just supplier viability management via financial statement monitoring.

    http://spendmatters.com/2016/10/10/solving-right-problem-with-supplier-risk-management/
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  • A Tour of WeWork’s New Coworking Space in Philadelphia

    The office space is just minutes away from the Old City District, the home of Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and many other historical landmarks. The Market-Frankford Line has a stop on Girard Avenue, a five-minute walk from the office. There’s also a parking lot located diagonally across the street. Attracting a wide range of businesses, this Philadelphia office space is a great option for artists, designers, and other young entrepreneurs, as well as corporations looking for a local base of operations”, says WeWork

    http://www.officelovin.com/2016/10/10/tour-weworks-new-philadelphia-coworking-space/
    Philly getting some co-lo love…

Photo: Chirobocea Nicu

Posted on

News You Can Use: 10/26/2016

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  • The Sobering Stats You Need to Know When Seeking Your Next Job

    Don’t be discouraged by the “one-in-100” stat. According to Lever’s breakdown, your best bet is to be referred to a new company. Referred candidates have a one-in-16 chance of getting hired. Using a third-party agency can also better your odds — those submitted by an agency have a one-in-22 chance of being placed. Whatever you do though, forget about applying through a company’s careers site: only one in 152 candidates gets hired this way.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/283338
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  • Applying Deep Machine Learning to Spend Analysis

    Not only can its deep machine learning identify tail spend suppliers, company specific categories, and even individual items coded in obscure ways, but it can learn over time and adapt to different data models, especially since it can use evolving knowledge bases. Whereas the majority of first generation classifiers used naive statistical classification that could not learn and had to map to a fixed (UNSPSC) model, Spend360′s uses deep machine learning (based on LSTM and encoder/decoder technology) that maps to custom data models using extensible knowledge bases (which can be created and maintained by the organization) that can encode organization and industry specific knowledge (and negate the need for custom mappings or override rules).

    http://sourcinginnovation.com/wordpress/2016/10/14/spend360-applying-deep-machine-learning-to-spend-analysis/

  • In buyers’ market, acquirers look to lock in management teams longer

    Steve Fletcher, a managing director at the global investment bank GCA, notes that it’s “hard to say” whether it’s universally the case that management teams are getting locked into longer contracts with acquirers in this market. “I don’t think anyone has a large enough sample size to say that,” he notes. But he adds that of the deals he is seeing, there is a move to sign on incoming talent for a longer period, sometimes “three or four years as opposed to [the previous standard of] 18 to 24 months.”

    https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/06/in-buyers-market-acquirers-look-to-lock-in-management-teams-longer/?ncid=rss

  • A Reminder From Mark Zuckerberg: ‘Put People First’

    Zuckerberg explained that the way in which tech tools are structured today — as suites of apps — will not last long into the future. When a group of people is communicating or working together, they often toggle between a chat app, a video call and a shared document interface, for instance. The need to switch from one app to another doesn’t produce a seamless experience, and it makes each interface the focus, as opposed to the people working within it.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/283433
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  • IT moves to open workspaces, but not everyone is happy

    What’s needed, both sides agree, is a range of workspace options that address organizational goals while still meeting employees’ needs — meaning physical space that allows for private meetings and quiet concentration in addition to community seating. Even more important: Corporate culture likewise has to value collaboration and innovation if IT organizations are to truly reap the benefits of open space.

    http://www.computerworld.com/article/3127789/it-management/it-moves-to-open-workspaces-but-not-everyone-is-happy.html

Photo: Paul Gilmore