Category: Industry News

Posted on

News You Can Use: 9/14/2016

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  • 5 Tips For Sourcing Success When Your Employer Brand Is Poor

    Instead of: providing a generic pitch to candidates of what a great employer you are, what great benefits you have, how much people enjoy working there, when you know you can’t do so with any real enthusiasm,

    You may try to: accentuate the positive aspects by speaking glowingly of the hiring manager and how dedicated he is to mentoring his direct reports. Also, you may try to highlight how much the specific division the job sits in has been outperforming the rest of the company, the unique culture of this particular team, division, and office, and how much this specific position, with this specific hiring manager, in this specific division, in this specific office, presents an exclusive opportunity for the right candidate to advance his career.

    http://www.eremedia.com/sourcecon/5-tips-for-sourcing-success-when-your-employer-brand-is-poor/

  • The jobs we’ll lose to machines — and the ones we won’t
  • To avoid supplier disputes, VW reconsiders procurement strategy

    The Irish Times explained that it is a popular practice within the auto industry to try and steer clear of relying too heavily on a single supplier. This decision, the source noted, is fueled primarily by the dispute that occurred between VW and Prevent – the parent company of the car maker’s two suppliers, Car Trim and ES Automobiluss – when Prevent licensed Car Trim to manufacture parts for luxury brands of vehicles. People familiar with the matter, the source explained, said that Prevent “retaliated by moving some of Car Trim’s financial claims against VW to Automobilguss.”

    http://www.strategicsourceror.com/2016/08/to-avoid-supplier-disputes-vw.html

  • GE buys supply chain software provider ShipXpress

    ShipXpress provides cloud-based software solutions, which allow transportation, industrial, and commodities businesses to effectively operate and collaborate with their supply chain partners.

    The deal is said to expand GE Transportation’s portfolio of solutions into the logistics value chain, helping to deliver information and transaction services for railroad customers across the globe.

    http://supplychain.logistics-business-review.com/news/ge-buys-supply-chain-software-provider-shipxpress-310816-4992923

  • If You Work From Home, Do This Every Day

    The art of not working requires discipline of a different sort than working. You have to discard the entrenched belief that being present at a desk is the same as being productive. And you have to become intimately acquainted with your mental needs. When it’s time to rest, you need to learn to do so without guilt. As a native New Englander raised with the classic Puritan work ethic, I can attest that this is harder to do than it looks.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/280641
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Photo: Ian Schneider

Posted on

News You Can Use: 9/8/2016

sn_buildings_Rikki Chan

  • 3 Examples of When Being Cheap Is Costly for Your Business

    Your employees are critical to the success of your business. Their skills affect the quality of your products or services. And since they interact with customers, clients and vendors, they are the ambassadors of your company. You get what you pay for. Investing more money in your employees can help avoid damage to your business reputation.

    If you need additional help in the future, you can bring in some entry-level workers, knowing you invested in a core staff with knowledge and skills to train them. In fact, fewer well-paid employees can often do the jobs of many lesser-paid ones.

    Moreover, it is very costly, both in real dollars and opportunity costs, to retrain employees. Be willing to pay a bit more to hire and retain people with core shared values and great work ethics.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/281195

  • How to give a great research talk

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/academic-program/give-great-research-talk/
  • How To Build A High-Performance Sourcing Department

    There are times when sourcing staff can feel overwhelmed with work. If a sourcing leader sees their staff drowning in a high req load; it would be a good idea for that leader to roll up their sleeves and help their employees out. Not only will the employee respect their manager’s success at filling reqs; this approach can help reduce the turnover of over-worked sourcers. To quote Vince Lombardi, “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”

    http://www.eremedia.com/sourcecon/how-to-build-a-high-performance-sourcing-department-part-5-leading-by-example/
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  • Why Middle Managers Are Secretly the Superheroes of the Workplace

    Managers already have considerable control over employee engagement efforts. We don’t see any reason for this trend not to continue, especially with the number of middle managers working in the U.S. and around the world (The Economist reported in 2011 that Lloyd’s Banking Group would layoff 15,000 middle managers — which begs the question how many they had in total).

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/280573

  • 7 Steps to a Perfectly Written Business Plan

    Whether you’re sharing your plan with an investor, customer, or team member, your plan needs to show that you’re passionate, dedicated, and actually care about your business and the plan. You could discuss the mistakes that you’ve learned, the problems that you’re hoping to solve, listing your values, and what makes you stand out from the competition.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/281416

Photo: Rikki Chan

Posted on

News You Can Use: 8/31/2016

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  • After IBM & GE, even SAP ditches annual reviews

    SAP’s human resources head for Germany, Wolfgang Fassnacht, said Europe’s biggest software maker had found the annual review process, with its focus on separating over- from under-performers, was often counter-productive to the goal of constructive dialogue.

    “Grading workers did not work. People are open to feedback, also to harsh criticism, until the moment you start giving scores. Then the shutters go down,” he told Reuters.

    SAP is testing a new process, which includes more regular check-in talks, on about 8,000 of its workers and aims to implement it for all of its almost 80,000 workforce next year.

    “The old system is too static,” said Fassnacht. “It no longer reflects the dynamic circumstances we are operating in.”

    http://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/corporate/after-ibm-ge-even-sap-ditches-annual-reviews/53671429
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  • Supply Chain Performance and….. Sleep?

    I just finished reading The Sleep Revolution by Arianna Huffington, CEO of theHuffington Post.  She makes a great case for how we have become a culture that treats sleep as wasted time and as optional. But more and more professionals are making the connection between sleep and performance.  We already know that truck drivers and airline pilots can be dangerous when they don’t get enough sleep. Collegiate and professional athletes and Olympians are now tracking their sleep patterns against improved performance results. Some athletes have recorded as much as 8-10% improved batting averages, basket shots made and race times when they get eight or more hours of sleep.  In addition, academic scores improve and in a corporate setting, decisions are better.

    http://www.scmr.com/article/supply_chain_performance_and.._sleep#When:13:44:00Z

  • Laptops most often stolen from most unlikely place

    When Kensington asked respondents where company employees had experienced IT theft, the No. 1 response was ‘cars and transportation’ at 25 percent. But the No. 2 response, coming in ahead of ‘airports and hotels’ (15 percent) and ‘restaurants’ (12 percent), was the office (23 percent).

    http://www.cio.com/article/3107865/security/laptops-stolen-from-office-more-frequently-than-from-airports-or-restaurants.html<
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  • Supply chain risk hits three-year high

    “The UK’s departure from the EU could lead to some of the most dramatic shifts and severe implications for global supply chains in the coming years,” said CIPS economist John Glen. “While the full impact of the leave vote is still unfolding, confusion and uncertainty surrounding the current situation has already driven supply chain risk to a worryingly high level.”

    “In the short term, supply chains will be exposed to exchange rate volatility risks which may be difficult to hedge. It may therefore be appropriate to crystallize exchange rate exposure by paying suppliers ahead of contracted payment days.

    http://www.cips.org/supply-management/news/2016/august/supply-chain-risk-hits-three-year-high/

  • How to Think Like an FBI Negotiator?

    Former FBI negotiator Chris Voss sheds light on communication and indirect messages, the value of empathy in business and in life, and when and how to walk away from a deal. Chris Voss is the author of “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It”

Photo: Nico Beard

Posted on

News You Can Use: 8/24/2016

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  • Why outsourced call center roles are coming back onshore

    While companies must pay more for onshore call center agents (offshore labor rates are typically 40 to 55 percent of onshore rates), increased automation has helped defray some of the extra expense of local labor. “While companies are ready to pay more for better quality services, increased technology leverage in a traditionally labor-intensive contact center space has offset some of the additional cost,” Bhargava says.

    In addition, companies are increasingly adopting a work-at-home model for agents, which incurs lower operational costs than onshore full-time-equivalents (FTEs). Work-at-home agents are typically 5 to 10 percent cheaper than on-site professionals in the U.S., Bhargava says.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3106821/outsourcing/why-outsourced-call-center-roles-are-coming-back-onshore.html

  • What’s Next After Supply Chains?

    http://www.onenetwork.com/2016/08/whats-next-after-supply-chains/
  • More airline outages as carriers grapple with ageing technology

    The reservations systems of the biggest carriers mostly run on a specialized IBM operating system known as Transaction Processing Facility, or TPF. It was designed in the 1960s to process large numbers of transactions quickly and is still updated by IBM, which did a major rewrite of the operating system about a decade ago.

    A host of special features, ranging from mobile check-ins to seat selection and cabin upgrades, are built on top of the TPF core, or connected to it.

    “They have surrounded that old industry infrastructure with modern technology,” said Bob Edwards, United Continental Holdings’ former chief information officer until 2014. “Those systems have to always reach back into the old core technologies to retrieve a reservation or to figure out who flies between Dallas and New York City.”

    When a power outage shuts off that reservations system – as happened on Monday to Delta Air Lines’ “Deltamatic” system – TPF falls out of sync with the newer technologies that passenger service agents use to assist travellers, Edwards said.

    http://www.business-standard.com/article/international/more-airline-outages-as-carriers-grapple-with-ageing-technology-116081301175_1.html

  • Exclusive: Honeywell explores acquisition of JDA Software

    The acquisition would illustrate how Honeywell, a U.S. diversified industrial conglomerate, is keen to boost its automation portfolio after it agreed last month to acquire Intelligrated Inc, a U.S. distribution systems and logistics company, for $1.5 billion.

    JDA Software’s majority owner, buyout firm New Mountain Capital LLC, has already explored a sale of the company to private equity firms, and there is no certainty its latest talks with Honeywell will result in a deal, the people said on Monday.

    https://www.yahoo.com/tech/exclusive-honeywell-explores-acquisition-jda-software-sources-200622953–sector.html

  • SAP Targets Terrorism With AI

    SAP National Security Services, which describes itself as an independent subsidiary of the German-based software giant that’s operated by U.S. citizens on American soil, works with homeland government agencies to find ways to track potential terrorists across social media.

    “One [use] is the identification of bad actors: People that may be threats to us—people and organizations,” says Mark Testoni, president and CEO of SAP NS2, as the company is known. “Secondarily, once we’ve identified those kinds of players and actors, we can then track their behaviors and organizations.”

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3062259/sap-targets-terrorism-with-ai

Photo: Nico Beard

Posted on

News You Can Use: 8/17/2016

sn_chains_Joey Kyber

  • Filler Words Like “Um” Aren’t All Bad, and Can Be Used to Your Advantage

    But, according to the experts, there’s still a right and wrong way to use them. Fraundorf recommends you try to use only a few when you talk, noting that too many can make comprehension harder. And Steven D. Cohen, assistant professor of communication at the University of Baltimore, suggests you use “like” and “I mean” as fillers instead of “uh” or “um.” People tend to be more forgiving of words that suggest contemplation as opposed to words that draw attention to a loss for words. Cohen also points out that filler words used in the middle of a sentence are less likely to be noticed, and a silent pause may be the best form of filler if you’re looking to have a dramatic impact on your listeners. If you want to read more on the benefits of filler words, check out the link below.

    http://lifehacker.com/filler-words-like-um-arent-all-bad-and-can-be-used-t-1784468757

  • Don’t Follow Your Passion by Mike Rowe
  • Brainstorming Is Dumb

    The old brainstorming method infiltrated the American workplace over half a century ago, after an advertising executive named Alex F. Osborn coined the method in the 1940s. As companies all over the country adopted the method, psychologists started to wonder: Does brainstorming actually work? Many scientific studies later, they had their answer: a resounding no. Study after study found that people who use this group technique produce fewer good ideas than those who ideate alone.

    But there is an alternative that works better:

    Over the past 20 years, researchers have discovered a collection of group techniques that they’ve found are more effective than both brainstorming and working alone. One of the best ones they’ve devised is brainwriting—it’s a kind of like brainstorming, except that group members write their ideas on pieces of paper instead of sharing out loud. People then pass those sheets of paper around the group and read each other’s ideas while they continue to write down their own ideas. This method allows the kind of group interaction that’s constructive (i.e., sharing ideas and building on them), while avoiding the pitfalls of face-to-face brainstorming.

    http://www.fastcodesign.com/3062292/evidence/brainstorming-is-dumb

  • 7 Ways to Cut Travel Expenses

    Small savings add up when it comes to long funding rounds and weeks at a time being spent on the road. For example, say that you and your partners need two hotel rooms, for a total of 21 nights, across various cities. Saving just $25 per hotel room per night will equal savings of $1,050. That’s a significant amount for a fledgling startup.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/279734

  • Supply chain profile: Daniel Myers

    Q: What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen during your career?

    A: I have seen us move in the industry from a siloed [view] to sharing information. We call my division the “integrated supply chain” because breaking down divisions is the secret to business success. We’ve got to be consumer-driven and optimize the total value chain to succeed, moving from silos to a focus on common metrics. The Information Age allows you to do that.

    Q: What hasn’t changed?

    A: The focus on having leaders of integrity who can build trust and “followership.” You can sense when you have a great leader because people want to be there. That’s true for all generations; Millennials want to work for something greater than money—they want to work for something they’re proud of.

    http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20160810-supply-chain-profile-daniel-myers/

Photo: Joey Kyber