Earlier this year, Outsource editor Jamie Liddell had the privilege of chairing a roundtable dinner hosted by Capgemini, and attended by some of the most prominent advisors in the UK outsourcing community. The evening saw a huge variety of topics covered - but took place under Chatham House Rules, meaning that the conversation did not take place "on the record".
Carbon footprint reduction is a major focus of the beverage industry. The major challenge for this industry is to reduce the carbon footprint while still increasing production in this growing sector. In July 2015, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, along with more than a dozen US companies pledged to invest more than $140 billion in efforts to cut carbon emissions as part of Obama’s climate change initiative. These two companies are multinational conglomerates and the global leaders in the consumer beverage industry.
Many, many moons ago we put out a call for outsourcing acronyms, humorous or otherwise, for a future Top Ten feature – and then, as submissions completely failed to flood in, we pretty much forgot about it and moved on. Until now… An odd flurry last week means we have a full complement – and very pleased we are too, as some of these are genuinely eye-opening (not to mention extremely droll). Do you know your vodka from your ZIPPO? Your Mimi from your Batgirl?
Several times throughout my career, people have queried of me, “How do you manage to get so much done?” I think there are a few factors, working in concert, that have enabled me to get more done, often with less, and for less. Much of what I have done and done well, I give credit to my mentors throughout my life. Many of them did not know the high regard in which they were held by me, and others. True leaders do not do it for the praise, they do it because it is inherent to their character.
When we talk about ‘robotics’, we are no longer talking about plugging in ‘dumb’ machines to mimic human action. Enterprise process robotics has evolved to a point where it can be integrated into existing systems, talking directly to applications with a built-in understanding of process best practice. However, despite this, perceptions often remain outdated.
For as long as I can remember, arguments about outsourcing have played a part in the US election cycle. In the final stages of the presidential election the two candidates will make promises they can’t keep and declarations about how bad outsourcing is for the American economy.
Tony Strong is the CEO of UK-based multi-channel service provider Parseq. Way back when we launched our oNexus platform, Parseq were one of the founding oNexus partners and we were promised an interview with Tony - and now our paths have finally aligned.... Outsource caught up with him at last to hear his thoughts on his new role as CEO, the invaluable importance of organisational culture - and consolidation in the customer contact industry.
It has already happened. Digital technology has taken over. When it comes to global sourcing, job opportunities, branding, company cultures, it is all transparent. Job-seekers can see straight through you and your company before they walk through the door and shake your hand.
Globalisation has sparked a shift in production to third parties. Savvy manufacturers are tapping digital networks to maximise opportunities and minimise risk.
Recently, Genfour conducted a survey amongst UK and US business leaders on their views about robotics and automation.
Faced with a seemingly endless cycle of disruptive technology and increasingly inflexible budgets, IT executives have their work cut out when it comes to making decisions about how to improve operations and meet demanding business needs without driving costs up. Today's heavy-handed drive for cost savings necessitates that IT services are demonstrably aligned with business priorities.
Consumers are becoming both more loyal and trusting of their banks and insurers according to a survey of 3,000 consumers in Germany, Spain and the UK. The research, titled Youbiquity Finance 3, is the latest in the BT- and Avaya-supported series begun in 2012. It finds that the increasing use of technology is coinciding with improved relations between consumers and banks and insurance companies.
Another month, another great Outsource Talks webinar… This week it was my profound pleasure and privilege to welcome Vested’s Kate Vitasek, KPMG’s Don Ryan and ‘Art of Procurement’ host Phil Ideson to the Outsource Talks sofa, where the hour fairly flew by in a wonderful discussion of sourcing business models, GBS, challenges facing CPOs, “two-tier” procurement profession
Last week, Delta Air Lines faced a technical hitch. On the surface it wasn’t an enormous problem - a power outage at their Atlanta data centre caused a switchgear to fail (like a circuit breaker in your home). However, the backup systems didn’t come online correctly and the failure of this one piece of equipment then caused a complete shutdown of the Delta IT systems globally.
