<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<rss version="2.0">
	<channel>
		<title>Sourcingmag.com Blogosphere</title>
		<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/</link>
		<description>Outsourcing Blogs at the Sourcingmag.com Blogosphere</description>
		<language>en-us</language>
		<copyright>Copyright 2004-2013Sourcingmag.com, CTQ Media</copyright>
		<managingEditor>blogs@sourcingmag.com</managingEditor>
		<webMaster>blogs@sourcingmag.com</webMaster>
		<generator>CTQ Blog 1.0.5</generator>
		<lastBuildDate>Sun, 19 May 2013 13:52:30 -0700</lastBuildDate>
		<docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    	<ttl>60</ttl>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Demystifying Cloud Computing]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1528</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Open any respectable publication or market report today and you cannot escape the mention of “Cloud Computing” (See you got it here too !).   The media all around us is so full of this buzz word on the Gartner hype cycle, “Cloud Computing”. With so many different messages ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[ADM / IT&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1528</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Outlier Instances and KPIs Measurement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1522</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I was reading an article about how measuring Average Handle Time (AHT) in a Financial Services company, did not allow a very eager Financial Services Agent to provide the best service she could have provided a customer.The customer wanted to do something on the Financial Services company online website, but ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;F&amp;A&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;HRO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Jobs]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1522</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Pricing as a Solution for Process Improvements?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1521</link>
			<description><![CDATA[A simplification of Pricing your product or service could simplify a lot of your business processes and save you money in the long run! Hard to believe, but I can give you an example from my own recent experiences!Recently I was in both New York City and Washington D.C. In ...]]></description>
			
			<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;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1521</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Process Design/Redesign With a Clean Sheet]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1520</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Quite often, Process Design or Redesign are burdened with a lot of Legacy Thought! Sometimes, it may be better to start a Design or a Redesign of a Business Process with a clean sheet rather than make marginal improvements!Many processes just evolve from nothing, or have a lot of outdated ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Blogger Bios&nbsp;,&nbsp;BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1520</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Conflicts between Internal Controls and Lean Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1519</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Internal controls, like multiple levels of approvals for say Purchase Orders or Paying Invoices, are all necessary, but in many business processes they are the bane of Lean Process Improvement.From a Value-adding point of view, Internal Control hardly adds any value to the end customer, but may add value to ...]]></description>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1519</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Digitization - First Step in Process Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1518</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Even as we speak, the global corporate world is embarked on a silent, huge, effort in letting paper go not much beyond the mailroom!Digitization of all paper, whether coming in from customers as orders, or invoices from vendors is being undertaken on a huge scale. All documents coming into the ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1518</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Services and Handoffs]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1517</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Handoffs are encountered in Business Processes, whether they are In-house or Outsourced. Many are artifacts of the division of the different functions within a company. Like the Finance Department is responsible for the payment of a vendor on an Invoice even if the user has the budget and has approved ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Blogger Bios&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;HRO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1517</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Information Availability and Business Process Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1516</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Information Availability is half the battle in Business Process Improvement!First, it is the availability of information itself, in a central, easily accessible way, that can speed up Business Processes by an order of maginitude!Measurement and reporting of Performance Measures or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) themselves help Business Process Improvement. In ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1516</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Ease of Implementation Vs Payoffs in Lean Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1515</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The funny thing about Process Improvement, whether Six Sigma or Lean, is that not all Process Improvement efforts are equal to others.Some are "More Equal" than others!Efforts needed for different Process Improvement ideas may not be linearly proportional to their payoffs. Before jumping into Kaizen activities, it may be worthwhile ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1515</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Eliminating Time Wasted Looking for Things]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1514</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Whether it is the Factory Floor, or a Customer Service or Support Center, helping customers with their orders or help regarding anything, the amount of time wasted looking for things is amazing! Any lean improvement project has to look at this waste and come up with ways to eliminate them. ...]]></description>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1514</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Process Improvement in Tough Times]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1513</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Process Improvement has never been more important or more needed during tough times. The kicker may be the lack of funds to take up new efforts at this time when budgets are pared to the bone. However, surveys of Fortune 500 CIOs the past few years have shown Business Process ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1513</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Measuring The Unmeasurable in Business Processes]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1512</link>
			<description><![CDATA[There are many Unmeasurables in Business Processes such as Customer Support Effectiveness, Customer Satisfaction, Service Excellence, etc. However, State of the Art in Business Process Measurement and Analysis is that many of these Subjective Factors are converted into some sort of Objective Scores.For example, Customer Satisfaction Index (CSAT) may be ...]]></description>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1512</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Waste in Over Capacity]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1511</link>
			<description><![CDATA[We seldom think of Unused Capacity as a Wasted Resource! In fact, it can be a wasted resource that can be fatal to the long term survival of your company and even your industry!The Wallstreet Journal ran this story last Saturday - More Car Plants at Risk. It talks about ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[ADM / IT&nbsp;,&nbsp;BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;HRO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1511</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Business Processes and Information About Business Processes]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1510</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Fred Smith, CEO and President of Fedex is quoted to have said "Information about Packages are just as important, if not more important, than the packages themselves". Thinking this way has allowed Fedex to use this information to create new premium services such as being able to withdraw a package ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[ADM / IT&nbsp;,&nbsp;BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1510</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Data Quality more Important than Process Improvement Efforts]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1509</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Continuous Process Improvement, Lean Improvement or Six Sigma efforts can only be as successful or as reliable as the quality of data they use!Data Quality is a pernicious, persistent and widespread problem in every organization. On the surface, reports look neat, wrapped up, and reliable but quite often the data ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1509</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Systematic Process Improvement Vs Process Improvement Leaps]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1508</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Continuous Process Improvement is somewhat funny when it is actually applied. Sometimes it is highly discontinuous with leaps of insight, waste reduction and order of magnitude improvements in Efficiency and Effectiveness. Sometimes accidental improvements in technology makes these kinds of process improvement possible!Take the simple example of how Digital Photography ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1508</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Barcodes are Your Best Friend for Process Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1507</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I was pleasantly surprised by my recent visit to a Target Store here in California. I wanted to return something.I have never seen product returns go faster and easier than how they do it here. They scanned the barcode on the receipt, scanned the barcode on the product and the ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1507</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Recessions - Best Time for Business Process Improvement!]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1505</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Recessions are a great time to think about Business Process Improvement! In any case, you are already trying to cut costs, and you might as well take on larger efforts in cutting waste out of business processes. Of course, you can throw all kinds of new technologies like Document Management, ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;HRO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1505</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Potential of 5S in Services]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1503</link>
			<description><![CDATA[5S methodology is a Japanese set of methods to keep the workplace tidy - everything having its place and everything in its place.  In Japanese these terms are:1. Seire - Sorting. 2. Seiton - Get in Order. 3. Seiso - Sweeping or Shining 4. Seiketsu  - Standardizing 5. ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1503</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[True Cost of Lip Service]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1502</link>
			<description><![CDATA[If Detroit does not stand on the cusp of really traumatic possible bankruptcies of companies like General Motors and Chrysler, I would be tempted to play I-Told-You-So even more loudly!Two years ago, I wrote this blog in a sister blog of this one - The Cost of Lip Service , ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1502</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Leaning Processes Can Cause Problems Also]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1501</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Leaning or Elimination or Waste - either in Time, unnecessary physical movement or entire pieces of the process is usually considered good and beneficial, but may not be, always. Leaning can cause sub-optimization at an organizational level when performed within the perspective of a Department or just a workgroup alone! ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1501</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Process Modeling In Times of Great Change]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1500</link>
			<description><![CDATA[These are very turbulent times in the Banking, Financial and Insurance Services sectors the world over! Many banks are being restructured, some banks are being bought by other banks. Many Insurance companies like AIG are in deep trouble and may face a lot of changes in their internal operations.Wells Fargo ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1500</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Master Data Management (MDM) and Business Process Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1499</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Many organizations are busy implementing Master Data Management (MDM) solutions on top of all of their applications. Master Data Management unifies the concept of a Customer of a business or a Patient in a Healthcare System. MDM solutions unifies the data about a single Customer or a single Patient in ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Blogger Bios&nbsp;,&nbsp;BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1499</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Performance Scorecarding]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1498</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Measuring performance of one business process and comparing it to another, has always been a problem whether processes are in-house, or outsourced! How do you compare an Order Processing process to a Warehouse Shipping process? This is particularly interesting to Business Process Outsourcing service providers. They have the problem of ...]]></description>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1498</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Small Improvements vs Big Improvements]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1497</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Micro level improvements are usually used by Six Sigma efforts to calculate savings in $. But are these numbers always true? That’s an interesting question for which the answer seems to be ’It Depends".In many cases, small local improvements do add to an large overall improvement. Especially, if you look ...]]></description>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1497</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Want to Make Your Customer Happy? Consolidate and Eliminate Customer Touchpoints]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1496</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Everyone of us has been frustrated at one time or another paying for a service and getting it done from a service provider. The most ridiculous one was the provisioning of a T1 Internet line in San Francisco that I had to do as the CTO of a startup company ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1496</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Honda' s Flexible Plants - Lessons for Business Processes]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1495</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Here’s a fascinating article from the Wall Street Journal - Honda’s Flexible Plants Provide Edge  - Company Can Rejigger Vehicle Output to Match Consumer Demand Faster Than Its Rivals.Honda plants in the U.S use what are called Gray Robots that can be set up to manufacture Honda Civics, on ...]]></description>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1495</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Process Improvement Opportunities for BPO Service Providers]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1494</link>
			<description><![CDATA[BPO Service Providers, usually may not get an entire end-to-end business processes to be executed. They get bits and pieces of the business process, especially those steps that are manual, that they need to execute at their premises, in the same country or offshore.In Insurance Polciy Underwritiing or Health Care ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;HRO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1494</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Web-Services and Process Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1492</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Talking about end-to-end processes, one has the idea it is all a smooth flowing, highly automated system that keeps rolling on! Reality in most companies is that end-to-end processes are islands of automation in various departments, with manual links between these islands of automation. This is usually because of the ...]]></description>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1492</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Why is Process Data Collection Important and Challenges]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1490</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I once did a crude study, at our local library, of the Average Financial Performance of Public companies in various Industry codes. I discovered that out of every dollar earned by companies from Manufacturing to Service Industries they were spending an average of 40 Cents to 80 Cents on Operating ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;F&amp;A&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1490</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Mining Process Intelligence For Gold!]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1489</link>
			<description><![CDATA[When it comes to Business Intelligence and what it means within organizations, these days it is primarily Sales Intelligence - Slicing and Dicing data to get insights into which products are selling in which regions/areas/cities, which salespeople are selling which products, etc. They are all possibly different views of the ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1489</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Process Improvement And Design of Experiments (DOE)]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1488</link>
			<description><![CDATA[When you consider a process for improvement, there are a number of things you could do it - Train the people better, give them more latitude in decision making and keeping customers happy who bring in more business, invest more in a rules engine that automates many of the otherwise ...]]></description>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1488</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[California DMV - Stellar Example of Process Improvement Efforts]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1487</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Departments of Motor Vehicles around the globe are nightmares for people in every country. They will tell you horror stories about how they had to wait interminably for hours, how the DMV gave them the runaround while trying to get a new license or a driving license renewed. Getting your ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1487</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[The 7 Deadly Sins of Performance Measurement and How to Avoid Them]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1486</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Michael J. Hammer, the famous Management Guru, wrote this article - The Seven Deadly Sins of Performance Management and How To Avoid Them in the MIT Sloan Review in 2007. It’s written for the larger topic of Performance Measurement as in Financial or Sales Performance but is just as applicable ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;HRO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1486</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Four Key Lessons from Toyota Production System for Process Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1485</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The Toyota Production System (TPS) is much studied and emulated for use in other companies around the world. Unfortunately, many study the Toyota Production Systems’ Tools and Tactics such as the Kanban pull systems, cords, production cells, etc rather than the underlying principles!Ran across this very interesting article published in ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1485</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Notion of Value in a Service]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1484</link>
			<description><![CDATA[When applying the notion of Value and Value-Adding steps in a Service, the idea is not as clear-cut as in a product. For example, if you were to buy a car, fastening the door on to the car when it is manufactured is clearly a Value-Adding step for the end ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1484</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Approach to BPM Adoption - Europe Vs The U.S]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1482</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Paul Harmon of Business Process Trends writes a very interesting column - BPM in Europe -  about the differences he sees between Europe and the US, when it comes to adoption and use of Business Process Management approaches, tools, and techniques.Paul observes that Europe is probably more advanced in ...]]></description>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1482</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Number 1 Enemy of  Process Improvement - Current Organizational Reality!]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1481</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The Number 1 enemy of most Business Process Improvement efforts within organizations is current organizational reality! Ironically, those companies in the developed countries that have been the most avid technology adopters are the most cursed!. We have run into many such organizations that have a long history of adoption of ...]]></description>
			
			<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;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1481</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Collaboration 2.0 - A book review]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1480</link>
			<description><![CDATA[While not news for many of us, much of what is driving the developments in Collaboration and the developments in collaboration tools is the necessity to create a Virtual Team space (VTS).  Early in the book the authors define 10 trends in collaboration, the most interesting to me is ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1480</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Business Process Improvement is #1 Priority for CIOs in 2008!]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1479</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Gartner surveyed 1500 CIOs and published their results about their business priorities in their companies and the technologies that they were planning to spend money on in 2008. The #1 business priority is Business Process Improvement and the #1 Technology that they will be spending money on is Business Intelligence ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[ADM / IT&nbsp;,&nbsp;BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;F&amp;A&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1479</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Business Intelligence Always Precedes Process Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1478</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Before you can effect any Process Improvement you need to have a clear, accurate and reliable picture of the AS-IS condition of a Business Process in terms of its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These KPIs can be measured against SLAs if it is outsourced, or in the Shared Services context. ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Blogger Bios&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&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1478</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Value Innovation in Process Improvement]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1477</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Value Innovations are a very useful concept pioneered by people in Competitive Product and Services Positioning. Analyzing the various of dimensions of Value of products or services as perceived by customers leads to competitive positioning that can lead to success.McDonalds restaurants always sold very inexpensive coffee. However they wanted to ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;F&amp;A&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Buzz]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1477</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Mizen Boushi - Prevention of Mistakes in Business Processes]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1476</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Mizen Boushi is a Japanese term (Used in Toyota Product Development Systems and others in Japan) for Mistake Prevention or "designing in quality". It seems to be a cousin of Poke Yoke which is on a smaller scale, "mistake proofing",  on physical things. The notch in your Mobile Telephone ...]]></description>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Blogger Bios&nbsp;,&nbsp;BPO&nbsp;,&nbsp;Call Centers&nbsp;,&nbsp;Companies&nbsp;,&nbsp;Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Ploys and Tactics&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1476</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<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>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1474</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<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>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1472</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<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>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1468</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<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>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1466</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<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>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Cool Tools&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1461</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<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>
			
			<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>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1460</guid>
		</item>

		<item>
			<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>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Globalization&nbsp;,&nbsp;Offshoring]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blog.asp?bi=1459</guid>
		</item>

	</channel>
</rss>
