Given the maturation of the outsourcing industry, it’s likely that several of your transition team members have already gone through at least one transition. And that they’ve done so – albeit on different teams, even at different companies – can be highly advantageous to your initiative. They fully understand the complex and grueling nature of a transition, know many of the pitfalls you can encounter during the journey, and appreciate the criticality of finely-tuned plans and processes.
However, the fact that they have prior transition experience can, in and of itself, also result in unexpected challenges. Does this sound counterintuitive?… Read the rest
The function of the CFO organization is evolving from being a support organization to driving the strategic decision making in the organization. The financial planning and analysis (FP&A) function plays a key role in this evolution, helping the business navigate the turbulent macro-economic environment as well as the demand shift with its competitive pressures. FP&A is not about stating the obvious; it’s about finding the reality, analyzing it and then telling the organization what to do; these are critical tasks organizations need to drive organizational growth. In other words, a robust FP&A function is critical because it not only analyzes… Read the rest
How do you convince first timers that outsourcing will solve their intractable business problems? Outsourcing community, please help me!
The back story: As most of you know, I live in Las Vegas. Having been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the economic boom, Clark County, the municipality we live in, is paying the price. Big time.
Clark County, for the last three years, has been the per capita foreclosure capital of the U.S. That translates into a revenue shortfall to the state because of precipitously declining property taxes. The state legislature had no choice but to slash all state services… Read the rest
The heavily regulated and IP-driven life sciences industry operates in a state of continual flux. This dynamic nature of the industry throws a diverse mix of powerful challenges and equally promising opportunities at the pharmaceutical executive all the time.
Some of the key challenges facing pharmaceutical companies at the moment are:
- A patent cliff
- Dwindling pipelines and late-stage attritions
- Rising cost of commercialization
- A host of healthcare cost containment measures adopted by regulators and payers across key markets
To offset the revenue loss triggered by major patent expirations, companies have moved towards innovative therapies—often biologics—for niche indications with… Read the rest
As the job situation in America stubbornly refuses to improve, people look for scapegoats. We in the outsourcing world have long been a prime suspect.
Now two professors at M.I.T have just published a book that serves as a beautiful rebuttal when people blame outsourcing for the lost jobs. In their eBook, “Race Against the Machine,” the professors predict more jobs for machines, not people. In other words, it’s automation, stupid!
Erik Brynjolfsson, an economist and director of the M.I.T. Center for Digital Business, and Andrew P. McAfee, associate director and principal research scientist at the center, are experts on… Read the rest
The retail sector is a significant contributor to a country’s economy. In 2010, retail consumption accounted for two-thirds of the U.S. gross domestic product at $4.35 trillion. In the UK, retail sales were over £293 billion, according to the British Retail Consortium.
The retail industry has seen upheaval with the global economic crisis and intensely competitive environment, where margins are slimming down and customer loyalty is constantly fluctuating. It is critical for retailers to obtain insights to decide how much and what merchandize to stock, how to operate, and which customers they should fight to retain so that they can… Read the rest
Analytics beyond patterns
All successful Financial Service providers are exploring analytics to manage business. An important aspect of analytics is to use historic patterns to determine future trends. Thus the knowledge of fraud patterns can be used to strengthen fraud management.
Regulations changing risk analytics needs
Maintaining an organization or individual risk score card was once confined to larger organizations. Bureaus filled the gap by offering a unified approach to scoring based on behavioral attributes, which appealed to smaller firms. The evolution of business intelligence and analytical tools has helped smaller organizations adopt analytical insights and risk-grid-based pricing to… Read the rest
What will the future bring in terms of HR technology? Jason Averbrook, co-founder and CEO of Knowledge Infusion, and Naomi Lee Bloom, managing partner, Bloom & Wallace, attempted to define that future during the second annual “Great Technology Debate” at the HR Technology Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas on October 4.
Here are some nuggets from the lively 90-minute discussion. N.B: Their sage insights are universal, applying to technology in general.
About HR data and analytics:
Bloom: “We have a bunch of sludge sitting at the bottom of our databases. HR has postponed the inevitable. But now is… Read the rest
It is a Formula One Grand Prix. Crew members are crunching data from the sensors attached to the car. In a single season, a team will burn 200,000 liters of fuel in testing to identify 50 slightly different blends of fuel additives. Subject to predictive and simulated models, the crew should be able to give the right blend of power boosting additives to touch the finish line!
Similarly, your banker, insurer, telecom provider or retail store could be tracking your buying behavior to offer you an optimal product/service mix. With Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and other social media being tracked,… Read the rest
Beans, blueberries, broccoli, green tea and Omega 3-rich fish are all hailed as health super foods. In my book, the competitive commercial sector’s super food is knowledge process outsourcing (KPO). And I’m not talking research here – although research certainly has its value – but analytics, predictive analytics. An increasing number of companies are using it to identify risks and opportunities, determine appropriate price points and ultimately gain a leg up against their competitors.
One highly-publicized predictive analytics initiative was Overstock.com’s May 2011 launch of a competition wherein the team that can improve its recommendation engine by 10 percent or… Read the rest
Recent Comments
“Great interview with a top professional! Shared. Mel, alldayPA ”
“I like your orchestra analogy. I would like to start a discussion on knowledge transfer as a focus group for my ...”
“I am a university student studying alliance collaborations that involve sourcing of work internationally and would like to start a ...”
“Yes I totally agree with you price benchmark every year would be a great idea to keep up. ”
“nice share liked this article ”
“definitely cloud is there and its there to stay and also providing so many opportunities in it outsourcing ”
“Cloud computing is surely the new way of outsourcing. With IAAS, its takes the burden off the small and middle ...”
“I don't even understand how I stopped up right here, however I assumed this publish used to be great. I ...”