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		<title>Sourcingmag.com Blogosphere</title>
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		<description>Outsourcing Blogs at the Sourcingmag.com Blogosphere</description>
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		<copyright>Copyright 2004-2008Sourcingmag.com, CTQ Media LLC</copyright>
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    	<ttl>60</ttl>

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			<title><![CDATA[The effort to innovate, is it worth it?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1475</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Innovation has always been a top buzz word of outsourcing, often mentioned but rarely achieved. When outsourcing was in its infancy everyone perceived that innovation was just another deliverable to be defined in the outsource contract. When it was never actually delivered upon the clients blamed he vendors without asking ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 08:55:49 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1475</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Traffic Jams and Capacity Planning for Processes]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1474</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Accidents and Traffic Jams have a lot to teach about Capacity Planning for Business Processes!Whether it is Claims Processing or Home Loans or Help Desks, processes invariably deal with traffic jams.Usually, there could be long, serene periods, when things are flowing smoothly; no customer is waiting on the phone long ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2008 19:50:09 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1474</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Innovation in outsource projects]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1473</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In the first generation of outsourcing contracts this term was a bit of an oxymoron. If it was mentioned at all in was purely as a side note in the contract. Neither party knew how to, nor planned on delivering this aim, but the lack of achieving it is still ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2008 12:34:19 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1473</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Process Interleaving - Lessons from Toyota Product Development System]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1472</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Automobile Design is a very intense process in a very intensely competitive industry. Design of new cars used to take five years plus, even as far back as ten years. Now the industry average is becoming around 3 years and the Toyota Prius design cycle was slightly less than two ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:02:34 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1472</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Call centre screening software, (next step marriage guidance)]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1471</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Apparently a Sapporo based company, Digital Technologies Corp, has developed a software that can analyse the mood of callers phoning into call centres.According to a report on Nikkei.net, the software can establish whether the person on the other side of the line is sober, slightly outraged, or simply barking madIt ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Glen Stidolph]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[The Funhouse]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:08:06 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1471</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Yahoo outsourcing to Google]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1469</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In a recent article from Alley Insider the author questions whether the recent deal in which Yahoo will outsourcing its Ads to Google. The article questions whether this 2 week test is actually illegal and does this matter in the context of the Microsoft bid for Yahoo. There is no ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:49:06 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1469</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Process Towers - Could Spoil The Process Improvement You Achieve?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1468</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Steven Arbogast has written a seminal article about Process Towers and how they can spoil the Process Improvement you can effect in any part of an end-to-end business process.Steven uses an excellent example of a waiter taking your order at a restaurant with many variations, and special requests you may ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:11:29 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1468</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Key pitfalls in vendor selection]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1467</link>
			<description><![CDATA[One of the most critical processes during an outsource project is vendor selection. There are numerous companies that will take at least part of that responsibility away from you but ultimately it is you signing the contract. When deciding on a vendor here are some points to keep in mind. ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:42:17 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1467</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Want Process Improvement? Don't waste your time on Coaching Individuals]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1466</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The Futility of Call Center Coaching is a very interesting and thought-provoking article on how spending more money on coaching individual agents in a Call Center or on other business process participants is essentially a waste of money!The author says that spending more money in improving the entire system, adding ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:52:03 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1466</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Lean Improvement Is Green Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1465</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Green Enterprise is on the agenda of most corporations and organizations these days. Even the usually conservative Wall Street Journal published a whole section on Green Energies and Green Enterprise iniatives (Subscription may be required to see all the articles).In one of the interviews featured here, there is a very ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;HRO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:34:31 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1465</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Lessons in Process Improvement from the Government?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1464</link>
			<description><![CDATA[From the Government? That too from the Judicial Branch!!!Judge Jon Tigar must be one of the coolest, most efficient judges in California and he taught me some lessons on how business processes can be improved on the fly, even in Government!Usually we complain about Governments not working for us properly, ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:58:18 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1464</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Everyone should profit]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1463</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In a recent article from Computer Weekly it discussed the recent trend of clients demanding large discounts from providers, sometimes up to 24%. This is counter productive as large discounts will only harm the relationship in the long term. Negotiating a ‘win, win’ scenario means that everyone is happy in ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:42:29 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1463</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Vendor IT strategist for SME clients]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1462</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In this article from Computing SA the author reports on the need for an IT strategist in SME outsourcing vendors. The stated reason for this is that most SMEs outsource IT because they view it as a cost centre and not a value add. There are often issues that interfere ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:52:43 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1462</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Internal Controls May Contribute to Runaway Processes]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1461</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Last Sunday’s Dilbert comic strip shows a very funny situation at the office but is all the more common than funny in real-life!Dilbert wants to make a change to an approval system. However he needs to undergo a course in making changes to the approval system before he can do ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:25:38 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1461</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Process Improvement meets Performance Management]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1460</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Recently there has been a spate of articles that hit the same theme: In order to improve business processes, you need to look at Operational Inteligence or Performance Management Information. Small surprise! Slicing and Dicing of Sales Data to understand which of your products are selling in which regions or ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:35:28 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1460</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Book Review - Offshoring Secrets]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1459</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Offshoring Secrets – Building &amp; Running a Successful India Operation  Author: Utkarsh Rai   Paperback: 160 pages   Publisher: Happy About (August 22, 2007) In recent years I have read a number of books about offshoring, outsourcing, offshoring to specific geographical locations, etc. Offshoring Secrets falls in ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Emmy Gengler]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:44:49 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1459</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[BPO Collaborations – There is a pressing need for them, but are they possible?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1458</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Dynamics of doing business in the BPO world are fast changing. Clients are increasingly seeking –  ·         Global delivery with emphasis on near, mid and offshore locations comprising both established and new geographies, ·        ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Rajesh Dhuddu]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Blogger Bios&nbsp;,&nbsp;BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:26:48 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1458</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Free vendor selection application]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1457</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Outsourcing Mentor has just released a new free application that can assist in the vendor selection process. This application poses a series of questions in 4 main pillars of vendor selection. ·         Quality – How much does quality matter when thinking about ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Funhouse]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:08:01 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1457</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Lean Before Six Sigma]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1456</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I have seen many Six Sigma Projects that collect data at a very minute level (at a sub process level) and try to effect improvements at that level. In many cases, these may not account for much in the overall scheme of things. This happens more in the context of ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 16 Feb 2008 03:22:56 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1456</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Internet hinders more than helps SMEs]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1455</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In a recent article from vnunet the author talks about the issues many small companies feel when it come to the internet. They have to be using it or will fall behind the competition as customers are increasingly savvy and have the skills to quickly shop around.  The article ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:55:38 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1455</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Capture teams and business fluctuations]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1454</link>
			<description><![CDATA[A trend that has been increasing over the last few years is that of a capture team outsourcing model. This is usually where an outsource vendor provides members of his own staff as a permanent team for the client. In this way the vendor supplies all the logistical requirements of ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:19:30 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1454</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Vendor Ploy: Making an Impression]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1453</link>
			<description><![CDATA[After the Getting to Know You and Mirroring ploys are in play (described in my earlier blog entries), the vendor will likely next use the "Making an Impression" ploy.  The ploy is exactly what it sounds like—it’s an attempt to impress or awe you.  The intent is to ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Stephen Guth]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Ploys and Tactics]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:39:03 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1453</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[SOA and Lean Process Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1451</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In March 2007 there was an interesting article titled SOA and BPM seen creating a Lean/Six Sigma machine.It touched upon some of the obvious advantages of System Oriented Architectures(SOA) and using them in combination with Business Process Management (BPM) tools to orchestrate the whole process. This article talked about how ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 04 Feb 2008 07:51:49 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1451</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[IT Outsourcing &amp; the SME]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1450</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In a recent article from processor.com the author discusses the various pitfalls that can befall outsourcing relationships. He initially starts the article focusing on SMEs and moves to general issues. Those focused on in the article are. ·         Multisourcing and the issue ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 04 Feb 2008 05:39:27 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1450</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Outsourcing and the recession]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1449</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The body of evidence and industry pundits all seem to point that the world is heading towards a recession. The majority of industries know what to expect; manufacturing will slow down, consumer spending and retail will reduce significantly, whereas basic goods and services will generally weather the storm. Where does ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:25:17 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1449</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Vendor Ploy: Mirroring]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1448</link>
			<description><![CDATA[So, what comes after the "Getting to Know you" vendor ploy I discussed in my last blog entry?  Well, now that the vendor has gathered some personal information about you (such as your age, marital status, educational background, and hobbies), the next step is for the vendor to make ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Stephen Guth]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Ploys and Tactics]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:26:30 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1448</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Creative Shortcuts in Lean Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1447</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Lean Improvement need not have to do ONLY with improving business processes as they are currently. True Lean Improvement may come from some creative shortcuts also, sometimes.Lean Improvement may not just have to do with doing something more efficiently. Instead of asking the question, "How can I do this faster ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:22:43 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1447</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Emerging outsource countries should focus on SMEs]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1446</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The outsourcing press loves stories about up countries entering the outsource arena. These countries want to emulate the successes of India and China, and rightly so. There are obstacles in their paths of course, language, education levels, size of work force, infrastructure, geographic location, political stability, etc, which means these ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:24:07 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1446</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Vendor Ploy: Getting to Know You]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1445</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The "Getting to Know You" is a starting ploy for vendors, meaning that it occurs at the onset of a new relationship between vendor and prospective customer.  Just like the name of the ploy indicates, it’s all about vendors getting to know you so that they can gather information ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Stephen Guth]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Ploys and Tactics]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 20 Jan 2008 09:00:40 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1445</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[The Contract Negotiation Handbook: Ploys and Tactics Explained]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1444</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Some of the ploys and tactics that I'll describe in this blog are explained in greater detail in my book, The Contract Negotiation Handbook: An Indispensable Guide for Contract Professionals.  The book contains more ploys and tactics, as well as counter-tactics to vendor ploys.  You can get the ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Stephen Guth]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Ploys and Tactics]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 20 Jan 2008 08:47:33 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1444</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Process Improvement?  Dont Throw People at the Problem!]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1443</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The Associated Press reported that over 2007 summer, there was a huge surge in applications for U.S. Citizenship. Rep. Charles Schumer of New York pushed for hiring retirees from the Homeland Security Department’s Immigration Services Division back to reduce the backlog.This is a classic case of throwing people at the ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:25:11 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1443</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Complex scorecards Vs Simple SLAs]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1442</link>
			<description><![CDATA[There are as many opinions as there are options when it comes to monitoring outsource relationships, and they basically break down into 2 options, simple Vs complex. When a company outsources a function the first thing they have to give up is control. They no longer run that function on ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:19:51 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1442</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[A fresh approach to SME outsourcing]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1441</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In a previous recent blog entry I discussed the various consulting styles that could be applied to outsource projects. The majority of industry analysts believe that the largest growth area in outsourcing over the next 5 years will be within the SME sector. Most MNCs are already outsourcing and the ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:05:41 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1441</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Costco Prescanning - Good Examples of Reducing Waste]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1440</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I was standing in line at our local Costco behind four or five people. Was pleasantly surprised to see a Costco person come by and "Pre Scan" all the items in your cart before you reach the checkout counter! She had a wireless checkout handheld. She scanned the membership card ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:50:57 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1440</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Tactics and Ploys]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1439</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Hello Fellow Purchasing Professionals!In my blog postings, I'm going to focus on negotiation tactics and ploys.  So what the heck are "tactics and ploys!?"  Quite simply, purchasing professionals (you) use "tactics" and the dark side (vendors) uses "ploys."  In other words, tactics are good : ) and ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Stephen Guth]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:31:43 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1439</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[SME outsourcing for business continuity]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1438</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In this article from Computer Weekly the author talks about the common issues many SMEs face when considering business continuity. Their IT systems are so centralised that issues can bring the business to its knees. Even companies in multiple locations rely on centralised systems. Without a solid, tested, business continuity ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:09:27 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1438</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Consulting styles in outsourcing]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1435</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The old adage "you’ll never get fired for hiring x" rings as true now as when it was first coined. This often pushes companies into hiring the wrong consulting company, who might choose the wrong methodology. The cookie cutter approach often many adopt by consultancies means they overlook the potential ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:32:17 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1435</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Measuring The True Impact of Process Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1434</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The Usual way to measure the impact of Process Improvement is to do Before and After measurements.However here is a recent study that says, that doing just a Before and After measurement may be underestimating the true impact of Process Improvement. Here is the abstract of the study, The competitive ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Blogger Bios&nbsp;,&nbsp;BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:30:24 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1434</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[About Blogger: Stephen Guth]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1437</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Stephen Guth has experience with TCS, Satyam and Syntel, and was Director of Outsourcing at Ryder System, Inc. in Miami, Florida. Stephen has over 12-years of negotiation experience, domestically and internationally, as both a buyer and a seller, and has worked for Ryder System, Dell Computer, and Aflac Insurance. He ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Stephen Guth]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Blogger Bios]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:57:46 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1437</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[About Blogger: Jason Creighton]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1436</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Jason Creighton is director and principle consultant with Outsourcing Mentor, a consultancy specialising in assisting SMEs along the path of outsourcing. He has over 10 years experience in outsource both near and offshore. In this time Jason has worked with Global players like Microsoft and GE down to small, sub ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jason Creighton]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Blogger Bios]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:39:31 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1436</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Illicit Process Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1433</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Nothing lightens up the Holiday Season like a funny story about Process Improvement!While most Process Improvement articles may be staid and boring, once in while you run across a funny story about Process Improvement and what is stranger than fiction? A True Story.This story on Illicit Process Improvement is something ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:14:16 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1433</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Guinea Pig for 80/20 Rule - Passport Applications Processing?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1432</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The U.S Government around Jan 2007, required citizens travelling to Mexico, Canada and the Carribean have a U.S Passport.This brought in a huge record number of passport applications and the passport application backlog grew and grew! During the middle of the year, the wait times were sometimes 8 weeks to ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:44:59 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1432</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[The True Cost Of Business Processes]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1431</link>
			<description><![CDATA[What percentage of a company’s revenues are spent in Business Processes - 5%, 10%, 15%? Guess again. It may be more like 30% to 60%. I did a little study about two years ago and wrote about it also here.The traditional knee jerk approaches to increasing a company’s profitability are ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;HRO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:39:59 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1431</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Lazy Evaluation as a Business Process Improvement Method]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1430</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Lazy Evaluation is a very useful and innovative method in Computational Science. It involves delaying computing certain things till you are absolutely sure you need the value of that computation to proceed further. Programming Languages, applications and even system software like screen display painting algorithms in User Interfaces have used ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:10:50 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1430</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[About Blogger: Michael Young]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1429</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Currently principal consultant at Accelrus Technology Group, a technology sourcing advisory company.  I am especially interested in sourcing strategies and the best practices for managing outsourcing providers.Prior to Accelrus:VP, Marketing at Mechanical Dynamics, Inc. (engineering software, $75M revenue, public co. acquired by MSC Software).Co-founder and VP, Product Mgt. at ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Young]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Blogger Bios]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:42:22 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1429</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Optimization in Services Management]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1428</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I ran across an interesting paper  - Multidisciplinary Optimization in Services Management  by George Moldaveanu and Octavia Thor Pleter of The University Polytechnica of Bucharest. This paper gets into the use of Genetic Algorithms to manage the Costs, Quality and Speed of Services Management.However, companies are dealing with ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:06:36 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1428</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[&quot;Managing Without Walls&quot; - A review]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1427</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The case for many workers in the US and around the world is that they have been working in virtual environments for some time now. The virtual environments may vary; from completely virtual where the person is working independently from home or a small office and rarely sees the people ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Emmy Gengler]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 25 Nov 2007 16:25:22 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1427</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Value Analysis applied to Process Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1426</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Value Analysis is deployed widely in the Toyota Production System as well as Manufacturing in general. In its purest form, Value Analysis digs deeper into whether any activity on the manufacturing floor adds Value to the End Customer. For example, on the manufacturing floor, fixing the car door on a ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:32:07 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1426</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Importance of Business Process Modeling in 2008]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1425</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Gartner Research has a new interesting report on The 10 Most Important Technology Areas for 2008.The most interesting Technology Area among these ten is Business Process Modeling. The Gartner Report says that the Business Process Modeling solutions also need to be friendly towards Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). The roots of ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:03:55 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1425</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Don't look at TAT, look at Waiting Time]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1424</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Most Process Improvement efforts start usually looking at Turn-around Time (TAT) for each step in a process. This is useful but not as useful as looking time that is wasted in between process steps. This article shows how a hospital in Dallas reduced the waiting time to be admitted into ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Nari Kannan]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[ADM / IT&nbsp;,&nbsp;BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;HRO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:56:36 -0400</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1424</guid>
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