Blogs
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Archiving and Human Readability
by Nigel Taylor, Head of e-Invoicing, GXS
In my last blog, I examined how electronic data interchange (EDI) and digital signatures fare against one another when it comes to data processing and integration. In this blog, I will examine how effective EDI and digital signatures are for archiving e-Invoices and enabling human readability.
more
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
The role of the relationship manager
by Andrew Humphries and Linda McComie, SCCI Ltd
The Relationship Manager (RM) will play a pivotal part in ensuring the smooth running and therefore, the performance of business-to-business relationships.
more
Thursday, May 24, 2012
AI think, therefore AI am
by Terry Walby, UK MD of IPsoft
Last week saw the 2012 Loebner prize take place, the competition in which computers attempt to convince judges that they are human. A few years ago, the results of a competition to demonstrate a machine mimicking a human may have seemed inconsequential to our everyday lives, but today the story is becoming more and more relevant.
more
The UK coalition Government is not the only relationship under stress…
by Graham Beck, sourcing expert at PA Consulting Group.
As we read about the strain between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in the UK coalition Government, it is worth remembering that clients and suppliers in an outsourcing arrangement often feel a similar level of stress.
more
Is data the new creative?
by William Mellis, MD of Sky IQ.
Marketing wisdom dictates that to make headway with the consumer, marketers need to be creative. Too often businesses believe that the secret to a successful marketing campaign is witty and hard hitting messaging. But that’s not always the case. It’s fair to say that until recently creative ruled the roost.
more
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The global marketplace: too big an opportunity to miss?
by Tony Collins, Chairman of OPAL, specialists in outsourced administration, product launches and distribution services for the fin
We live in an increasingly globalised world, particularly when it comes to financial services. However, it does open the way to a number of opportunities for firms to overhaul and perfect their business models in order to emerge from the downturn in a prominent position on the global stage
more
Monday, May 21, 2012
A catalyst for change: why businesses need to start preparing for auto-enrolment
by Mike Bull, Customer Support Manager at Sage UK
Mike Bull, Customer Support Manager at Sage UK outlines why organisations of all size need to start rethinking their approach to pensions
more
Outsourcing Governance: I say tomato, you say that’s not in the contract
by Paul Hart, IBM, Practice Manager & Senior Managing Consultant
In this series of blogs, Paul Hart, IBM, shares his observations and thoughts on outsourcing governance to consider during your next governance meeting.
more
Friday, May 18, 2012
Time Management Across Cultures
by Jeff Toms, Marketing and Client Services Director, Farnham Castle
Meeting deadlines and managing project workflows when working with people from different nationalities across the world can be one of the most challenging aspects of managing intercultural business relationships. This is because alternative cultures have very different perspectives of time.
more
Outsourcing and the gender diversity issue
by Sue Brooks, Managing Director, Ochre House
The ever accelerating pace of change, combined with the need for sustainability, has pushed gender diversity and the women in leadership issue up the agenda for outsourced recruitment and talent management processes.
more
Thursday, May 17, 2012
EDI vs Digital Signatures - Data Processing and Integration
by Nigel Taylor, Head of e-Invoicing, GXS
We discussed in my last blog post that a correctly implemented electronic data interchange (EDI) system can be more effective than digital signatures at securing the confidentiality of data contained within e-Invoices. Digital signatures, on the other hand, can be transmitted by various means and consequently, it is harder to guarantee a secure document exchange. In this blog, I will be looking at how both methods compare in their data processing and integration capabilities.
more
Four Ways to Make Social Data Work For You
by William Mellis, Managing Director of Sky IQ.
If you’re reading this blog post you’re probably a social media convert – like most British adults you’ve probably got a Facebook account to keep up with friends and family, you might even do some tweeting, and as a professional you’ve almost certainly got a LinkedIn profile..
more
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
What is relationship management?
by Andrew Humphries and Linda McComie, SCCI Ltd
Management of relationships is vital to the well being of the organisation and its up-stream and down-stream partners. The most valuable of all business relationships are likely to be those that are collaborative.
more
Monday, May 14, 2012
Outsourcing Software Licence Compliance
by BCS Ltd
It is generally accepted that the global financial crisis is affecting the revenues of all commercial companies, including all the largest software authors. Consequently, industry analysts predict a significant increase in vendor driven audits during 2012. So what are the risks of non-compliance and how do customers find themselves in a position where they are being reported as under licenced?
more
Security scanning: the case for outsourcing
by Thomas McDonald, Associate Director at NCC Group
Hacking and the issues that surround it are rarely out of the news at the moment – it’s a very current and pressing problem. Cyber crime has never been more of a threat, with websites and organisations great and small all at risk.
more
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Have You BCDR’d Your Business?
by Denis Martin, CTO NaviSite
Prioritising the IT and technology needs of a business, while ensuring the IT budget is being used effectively, is arguably the biggest challenge facing CIOs and CTOs today.
more
Outsourcing trends
by Maxine Park, DictateNow
Business process outsourcing (BPO) has grown rapidly over recent years. As technology continues to develop and businesses continue to seek out faster, cheaper and more efficient ways of doing things, so outsourcing providers evolve their offering to match
more
Learning to share: best practice for the implementation of shared services
by Mathew Wells, Managing Consultant at ICT consultancy Hudson & Yorke
‘Shared services’ typically refers to the provision of a shared business function by a single team where it was previously handled by parallel teams in separate organisations, cost savings sometimes take years to be recognised, and implementation isn’t always straightforward.
more
Thursday, May 03, 2012
Taking the Agile approach
by Iain Levein, Group Director of Comet Global Consulting
Agile. Look it up in a dictionary and you’ll find it means ‘able to move quickly and easily, able to think and understand quickly.’ Try a thesaurus, and you’ll see ‘alert, lively, and energetic’ as some alternative suggestions. When you’re implementing an IT programme or software update, you need a way of working that is all these things. You need the Agile approach.
more
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Offshore, onshore and in-house – the evolution of software testing
by David Hallam, director, NCC Group.
The vast majority of organisations across the globe heavily rely on software and applications to carry out their day-to-day operations. The smooth running of this software is something that cannot be taken for granted, especially when the consequences are considered.
more
EDI and Digital Signatures - Data Confidentiality
by Nigel Taylor, Head of e-Invoicing, GXS
In this blog, I will focus on how effective EDI and digital signatures are at keeping your data secure
more
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Managing Diverse Teams
by Jeff Toms, Marketing and Client Services Director, Farnham Castle
The first step in the successful management of outsourced multicultural teams is to establish a good level of understanding between members. This understanding is based on the strength of relationships which in-turn leads to trust. A good relationship and a high level of trust means when the pressure is on, team members will pull the stops out for one-and-other to keep the project on track when it really counts.
more
