Your IT Consultant May Not Be Qualified for What You Need
After decades implementing ERP and other applications, a logical assumption would be there is an abundance of qualified, highly skilled consultants and business analysts available to assist with projects. But this is not the case, as the rate and complexity of implementations increase at a steady rate.
Source: AMR Research, http://amrresearch.com
E-Invoicing Has Its Own Expensive Barriers to Adoption
The reason that invoice processing is so inefficient is elementary: paper invoicing is labor intensive, uneconomical, error prone, outdated and expensive.
In fact, paper invoice processing can cost between $5 and $25 per invoice; in time lost due to postal delays, lost items, incorrect data entry on receipt, and multiple checks along the way. The subsequent delays mean that it can take weeks just to get the information into the buyer's computer system, leaving the buyer without a good view of commitments in the meantime, and with the supplier unlikely to be paid on time.
The inefficiencies of paper based invoicing are clear, but why has it taken so long for electronic invoicing to evolve? There have indeed been many attempts to solve the inefficient nature of invoicing, but since there are no universal data standards and no uniform template, computers cannot communicate and the process is therefore hard to automate.
For many years, business-to-business electronic commerce has been conducted through electronic data interchange and while this has been used for invoicing, it was proven to be expensive and difficult to implement. Few companies managed to automate more than 5 percent of invoice volumes.
Source: CRM Buyer, http://www.crmbuyer.com
Help, My Supply Chain Is Leaking!
Product returns cost U.S. manufacturers and retailers $100bn every year in lost sales, transportation, handling, processing and disposal. Looking at it another way, customer returns can reduce a manufacturer's profitability by an average of 3.8 percent.
Many manufacturers have yet to identify exactly where and how the reverse logistics "leak" exists within their operations. A good starting point is to figure out what a company's actual return rate is, and then determine what return rate is acceptable.
Source: Industry Week, http://industryweek.com
Is Your Procurement Staff, Strategy Too Parochial?
Procurement people buy globally, so it is essential to take the wider economic and geo-political conditions into account. However, in many industries procurement officers pay scant attention to important global economic and geopolitical factors when developing their strategy. Many are running their long, complex 21st Century supply chains with a parochial, 20th century outlook. Often, procurement managers don't stop to think about how an event such as a war or a change in tax policy in a distant part of the world can have a significant impact on the availability of a commodity or service their company needs.
Source: Booz Allen Hamilton, http://www.boozallen.com
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Small Business May Get Another Sarbanes-Oxley Reprieve
More than 6,000 public companies face a serious dilemma about their Sarbanes-Oxley compliance: Should they use the current version of Section 404 now in reviewing internal controls over their financial reporting? Or should they wait until the Securities and Exchange Commission and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board issue final revisions later this year?
Decision time is approaching fast. Small businesses--or so-called non-accelerated filers--have until they file their 10-Ks for fiscal years that end on or after Dec. 15, 2007, to meet 404's management assessment requirement. It's a deadline that the SEC has extended several times, including that of the auditors' attestation reports (non-accelerated filers don't have to complete those documents until their 10-Ks are filed for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2008). And small-business advocates are hoping the SEC will extend those dates once again.
Source: CFO, http://www.cfo.com
So Everyone Can See Your Business Calendar on Google?
Google Inc. is working on making privacy warnings around its Calendar application stronger amid concerns that some users of the service--including businesses--may unintentionally be exposing more information than they mean to.The Web-based calendar was launched last year. Similar to other desktop calendar applications, it allows users to store event information, contacts and other data. The information is kept online by Google and can be accessed over the Net from anywhere. Users have the choice of making their calendar entries private--the default choice--or allowing public searches of the information.
The idea is to give users an easy-to-use tool for discovering and sharing event information with others, according to Greg Badros, engineering director of Google. "We wanted to make the settings as easy as possible to make a calendar public," Badros said. It is currently used by "millions" of users worldwide, a spokeswoman said.
The problem, however, is that people sometimes appear to be storing information on the calendar that they might not have intended to share with others.
The problem is not restricted to personal data. Even a few corporate calendars can be found on Google Calendar, with meeting dates, project code names and dial-in information for internal conferences.
Source: Computerworld, http://computerworld.com
Mergers Present Challenging IT Integration Problems
Of all the compelling facts and figures about corporate mergers and acquisitions, the most astonishing may well be one that hasn't changed in years: the failure rate of these transactions. The gospel has long been that approximately 70 percent of mergers do not succeed, for a host of reasons, and there is no reason to believe that abysmal success ratio has changed. Research by A.T. Kearney, for example, analyzing deals over the past decade reveals that fewer than 30 percent of all mergers create substantial shareholder value after the first couple of years, and only half create any value at all. All of which makes integrating separate companies, with their complex IT systems, a daunting challenge.
Source: Chief Executive, http://www.chiefexecutive.net
Here's Why You Should Care About RFID Standards News
Most standards ratifications in the technology industry don't generate much excitement. But the recent ratification of EPCIS could give a big boost to the RFID industry, by finally giving businesses a standard way to capture and share information collected by radio-frequency identification chips.
EPCIS, or Electronic Product Code Information Services, provides a standard set of interfaces for EPC data. Chris Adcock, president of the standards organization EPCglobal, calls ratification as potentially having more impact than the 2004 release of the UHF Gen2 Passive RFID standard. Those are big words, since the Gen2 standard led to the development of considerably cheaper and better performing Gen2 RFID chips. Executives from such companies as IBM, Procter & Gamble, and Wal-Mart are applauding the EPCIS ratification.
Source: Information Week, http://www.informationweek.com
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Finding Local Business Leaders in Emerging Countries Is Difficult
When Joe Carson, the former chief procurement executive at Lucent Technologies, went to speak to his new procurement team in China several years ago, he was shocked to find himself "looking across a sea of foreheads." It was at that moment that Carson knew he had to find local business leaders to help lead his team in China. He says he understood that the Chinese employees were showing him deference by not making eye contact, but "I needed an energetic, wide-eyed team who would challenge me, ask me questions and look to push others to achieve and perform." Carson believed local leadership would help him meet those goals.
The challenge of identifying and developing local business leaders in emerging economies, especially those in the Asia-Pacific region, is one that U.S. companies face today as they strive to grow their business operations. And the challenge is not only to find local business leaders, but to develop and retain them.
While developing leaders can be difficult in any country, the leadership gap in emerging countries is broader and deeper.
Source: Inside Supply Management, http://www.ism.ws
Red Tape Keeping India from Becoming the Next China?
Reports that India would become the next China may have been greatly exaggerated, at least as far as the electronics industry is concerned. There is no question that the electronics industry in India is growing. Revenue from electronics manufacturing there will grow from about $10.4bn in 2006 to $22.3bn in 2010, according to market researcher iSuppli. However, the growth rate is being slowed down by government red tape, a lack of infrastructure and scarce supply of components made in India to support electronics manufacturing.
Source: Reed Business Information http://www.purchasing.com
'Chindia' Bloc Becomes a Potent Force
Extensive travels in China and India lead one to explore how the pair creates alliances in specific markets under what's coming to be known as the Chindia bloc. Such alliances are already evident in IT services, automotive components, and other sectors. For example, Bharat Forge/FAW is a joint venture that has created competitive stress on the world's forging companies as they try to win business in the rapidly developing Chinese and Indian economies.
The bilateral economy of China and India is in its infancy. Yet the momentum seen there suggests a powerful relationship that will keep building in the next five years. Access to complementary skills and resources will make it possible for Chindian enterprises to lead many global markets.
Source: Optimize, http://optimizemag.com
How Green Is Your Materials Handling Equipment?
As sustainability becomes the next buzzword in business, companies looking to reduce energy consumption and emissions at their facilities may want to look at automated materials handling.
Source: Modern Materials Handling, http://www.mmh.com
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New Company Focuses on Demand-Based Order Fulfillment
Pelion Systems, a maker of lean software, and JCIT International, a demand-flow educational and consulting services company, say that they will unite under the name DemandPoint. The combined company will provide consulting services and develop products geared toward the use of lean principles and technology in a demand-driven environment.
Specifically, DemandPoint will focus on demand-based order fulfillment among manufacturers looking to improve cash flow and working capital by streamlining the value chain and collapsing the order-to-cash cycle.
Pelion brings to the union software that addresses functions such as scheduling, value-mapping, and process optimization. JCIT boasts a patented algorithm that it uses to assess customers' facilities and implement demand-flow processes that improve the entire value chain, from operations to sales and marketing.
The merger comes at a time when many companies have turned to lean concepts in their manufacturing operations. "The challenge for these companies now is that they have great operational efficiency using tools, but many have yet to leverage that across the value chain," says Tony Gorski, JCIT's CEO, who will serve as president of DemandPoint. "All of the good operational work they are doing doesn't tie into the business model."
Source: Managing Automation, http://www.managingautomation.com
Retail ROI: Return on Inventory Fast turns, proper placement and continuous product flow are just some of the factors that go into inventory performance, a profit-determining metric for retailers. Improving Return on Inventory requires sophisticated inventory management techniques as well as rapid-response solutions from transportation and logistics providers.
In the June issue of Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies magazine.
