Analyst Analogy   

In the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise’s character—a workaholic sports agent—decides that he’s had enough of trying to sign as many athletes as possible with his “show me the money” attitude and opts instead for fewer athletes on his roster where he will create a more “personal relationship” with them. He decides to write what he calls his “mission statement”—hoping the other sports agents in his organization will follow suit with his idea. Instead he gets fired!

The point I’m trying to make here is that Jerry felt that if he proposed this idea to others like him (those in his chosen field), that it would resonate well with the others and that he could make a “difference” in the way they do business. This is what I plan to accomplish with this blog; make a difference to our readers by merely suggesting (through a mission statement of sorts) to find more time for the things that really matter.

So here’s “my mission statement”—the miniature version that is. Hopefully it won’t find me packing up my personal belongings once it gets published. Read the rest of this entry »

Boy, we have come a long way in the search for talent. Long gone are the days where company’s would place an advertisement in the classified ad section of their local newspaper’s and wait for the perfect candidate to call and request an interview—although some organizations today feel this is still a very effective recruiting method and often use it in conjunction with other channels.

Today, it’s more about what I like to call “cyber recruiting”—using social media tools for attracting and finding the right person to fill a job. Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter are some of the main social media tools used by today’s forward-thinking organizations and allow recruiters to target the exact skill sets required for often difficult-to- fill positions. Candidates that were once far beyond the recruiter’s reach are now right there at their fingertips. Read the rest of this entry »

There was a time when school was the place for learning. Thirty-five years ago—when I was a young girl—children went to schools where the curriculum included such basic subjects as mathematics, reading, writing, and music and the forums available to us consisted of text books, encyclopedias, and newspapers.

The global introduction to the personal computer (PC)—as early as the mid 1980’s—gave us a whole new way of learning. Educational study suddenly stretched far beyond the walls of our schools and made its way into our homes (the PC) and communities (via the local library).

Today, the pace at which learning technology is evolving has changed the way in which educational content is created, delivered, and used in learning institutions, business, and society. Organizations and institutions are using newer channels for delivering these learning experiences through such means as on-line learning, learning on-demand (anyplace/anytime scenarios), virtual classrooms, and more. Read the rest of this entry »

Labor management systems (LMSs) are used primarily as a way for distribution operations to manage and track its labor activities. This includes real-time interaction with warehouse management and warehouse control systems in order to collect data on what workers are doing, how many locations they have visited, what inventory they have handled, what equipment they have used, and what paths they have traveled.

Most often used within the supply chain, an LMS helps a distribution operation improve worker productivity by providing the ability to

•    report on all labor activity;
•    compare labor activity to historical data; and
•    report labor activity against established labor standards. Read the rest of this entry »

‘Twas the night before selection, and all through the place,
Enterprise software was a decision we faced.
Our requirements are gathered, BPM is all done,
Now all that’s left is a choice; only one! Read the rest of this entry »

This year, I had the honor of attending the 12th Annual Human Resources (HR) Technology Conference held at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois (US). While many of the events at the three-day conference piqued my interest, none did so more than the 2nd Annual Talent Management Shootout. This shootout reminded me of TEC’s very own shootouts and showdowns, done several times throughout the year. While our shootouts are a little less “extravagant” (in the sense that we don’t have the players live on stage), we still find them to be highly effective in allowing our readers make better-informed decisions about the software they choose.
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“Truth is one; paths are many.” - H. H. Sri Swami Satchidananda

Buddhism and software selection. Say what? Yes, you read that correctly. As an “aspiring Buddhist,” I’ve come to learn that Buddhist philosophy can find its way into virtually every aspect of one’s life. While ancient Buddhism still remains a mystery to many, it could certainly help shed some light on a few modern-day dilemmas! Choosing enterprise software for your business is one that comes to my mind.

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As a research analyst for TEC and a contributor to its Blog, I sometimes get the opportunity to mix business-related issues with common everyday pleasures. This past weekend (that incidentally turned out to be a complete write-off weather-wise), and being the movie buff that I am, I decided to sit back and watch a few classic films. After having done so, I was curious about what some of the past Oscar winners were for Best Picture. So I sauntered over to my computer and printed out the list. Reading through it, I just had to laugh, because many of the titles struck a chord with me in terms of some of my experiences with software implementation projects. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re currently involved with your company’s software selection and implementation project, then I’m sure you can appreciate how difficult this process is. From figuring out what you want your new system to accomplish, to “go-live”—and everything in between—enterprise software selection is no easy feat. In fact, it can be downright grueling.

To start your software selection project off on the right foot, you must first define all of your current business processes—and then document them. This task alone can take months. However, with the right methodology and tools, the time spent doing this can be cut down significantly. If you are using your own methods for gathering requirements, your list of business processes must be structured in such a way that allows vendors to easily apply them to their products and determine whether they can support certain functionalities.

Again, no easy feat!

Many organizations often start a software selection by first choosing a vendor and then working in tandem with the vendor throughout the process of identifying and modeling their business processes on software capabilities. This is all fine and dandy—but who knows your business better than the people who perform these processes day in and day out? You, your department managers, and IT staff. Why put the onus on the vendor to perform this task and then risk not being certain that everything your new system may need has been identified? Not to mention the cost this type of vendor service could carry!

So what’s a software selection project manager to do?

Let’s take a look at how you can build a comprehensive request for information (RFI) by first reviewing the basics principles of business process modeling (BPM) and how it correlates to the RFI. Read the rest of this entry »

The Cost of Learning—a Very Brief History

Training (or learning) has always been viewed as a cost center (representing a cost of doing business similar to other employee costs such as salary, commissions, and benefits). That’s why many organizations in the past have struggled with the challenge of justifying the cost of training in their budgets.

Today, organizations are making significant investments in technology—which includes solutions for training staff and further developing their career opportunities. Through e-learning, businesses can now reach many more people within their organization with a lot more content—for the same cost. It’s important to note, however, that while investments in e-learning do not reduce overall costs, they do allow these costs to be leveraged more efficiently across the organization. Read the rest of this entry »

“Come gather ’round people, wherever you roam, and admit that the waters around you have grown. And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you is worth savin’ then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone. For the times they are a-changin’.” – Bob Dylan

The Global Recession

Re-ces-sion \ri-se-sh?n\ “a period of reduced economic activity”1

Recession: it’s an ugly word, but unfortunately a fact of life—especially these days. The current economic crisis not only affects individuals and businesses in North America, but those around the globe as well.

Nearly every day during the last six months when I’ve opened up the newspaper, there’s been some story about a company that has laid off its employees. The sad truth is that many of these layoffs are targeted toward individuals who have been working for the same company for many years and now are finding themselves looking for work in a job market for which they may not possess the skills required.

So what are these individuals and businesses doing to weather the storm? Well, I guess you could say it depends on the individual and what business he or she is in. Some industries have been harder hit than others (e.g., construction and manufacturing), but one thing is certain—the recession’s effect is being felt by everyone everywhere.

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So, you’re the guy/gal who’s been put to the task of choosing your companies next enterprise software solution? Well, if you’re reading this, you’re most probably well on your way to choosing that software by now. You’ve made your proposal to your stakeholders; you’ve gathered your requirements and prioritized them; you’ve gotten a handful of software vendors to complete your RFI. So now what? Well, there’s still one very important step that needs to be taken: seeing the shortlisted products in action!

Read the rest of this entry »

EIM/ECM 101: Cutting through the Confusion

If you’re like many people who’ve been put in charge of looking for your company’s next compensation solution, you may be somewhat bewildered about the different applications available. There has long been a confusion surrounding enterprise incentive management (EIM) and enterprise compensation management (ECM) solutions. The reason is that, technically, both types of solutions enable some of the same results—one of which is to provide a payment to an employee for services rendered. However, the reasons behind these payments can differ substantially (e.g., commissions versus bonuses versus spiffs, etc.). Read the rest of this entry »

Customer relationship management (CRM) is more than a technology. It’s a business strategy that aims at identifying customers and their needs and then creating sales and service strategies that are unique to them.

Here is a quick look at CRM—from buzzwords to trends, to some recommended solutions. Read the rest of this entry »

As a TEC research analyst, I get to see a lot of really interesting (and some not so interesting) stuff when it comes to enterprise software and the like. With technology changing at the speed of light, there’s always something new that I haven’t seen before, that grabs my attention and makes me say “Wow, that’s cool”!

Like this past week for instance. I had a product briefing with a company called Saba to get an overview of their learning management solution (LMS). I was fortunate enough to have Kenyatta Berry (Saba’s Director of Product Marketing) speak with my colleagues (TEC’s team of analysts) and I to show us Saba’s suite of enterprise software offerings. Along with that we received an overview of the company and its unique strategies for training its clients on how to use its software.   

This leads me back to my opening remark about ”something I haven’t seen before”; that something is called Saba University.

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