 ____________________________________________________________________________________
Business
Process Management Articles
Cause
and Effect Diagrams and Lean in Service
Processes
Nari
Kannan, Ajira Technologies, Inc, iSixSigma
Newsletter and Website, March 5, 2007.
To achieve the best Lean improvement in service processes,
efficiency and effectiveness must be appropriately
balanced.
Can
Six Sigma and Business Process Management
Co-Exist?
Marvin Wurtzel, Marvin M.Wurtzel
Associates, BPMInstitute.Org Newsletter and Website, February 21,
2007.
One of
the most powerful ways to improve business performance is combining
business process management (BPM) strategies with Six Sigma
strategies. BPM strategies emphasize process improvements and
automation to drive performance, while Six Sigma uses statistical
analysis to drive quality improvements. The two strategies are not
mutually exclusive, however, and some savvy companies have
discovered that combining BPM and Six Sigma can create dramatic
results.
BPM
and Six Sigma: Innovation Behind the Scenes
Phil Samuel, Breakthrough Management Group,
BPTrends
Website and Newsletter, March,
2007.
In
his Column, Dr. Samuel proposes to expand the current discourse on
the synergy between BPM and Lean Six Sigma beyond entitlement
performance to include innovation approaches which create new value
through creativity and redesign.
Rush
to Enact Solutions Sabotages a DMAIC
Project
Leah Lutz, George Group,
iSixSigma Financial Services Website and Newsletter, February 21,
2007.
A small and relatively young technology company attempting to
implement the Sarbanes-Oxley Act finds that rushing to solutions
before finishing its own Six Sigma DMAIC project can cost time and
money. But the example does provide lessons for
others.
Process or
Data-Centric
Jim
Ericson, BI
Review Website and Newsletter, February 22,
2007.
"People,
processes and technology" (note the distinction between "process"
and "technology") has been the mantra of the industry for many
years, so going forward a question becomes whether we interpret
these terms as a single or separate entities. More to the point, do
these three terms relate in a hierarchy or do they represent
different entry points to addressing a business problem? The usual
answer to this question is, "We're getting closer," but given the
volume of information we address today, the widespread approach is
dependent on Information Technology and its ability to organize
things and "fix" problems.
Business
Process Outsourcing
Articles
Sourcing
Inside Out: From Lift and Shift to Fix and
Mix
Geraldine
Fox,
Compass,
Sourcingmag.com Newsletter and Website, February 26,
2007.
The premise of off-shoring is simple and straightforward:
Reduce costs and gain a competitive edge by seeking out labor
markets where skilled, well-educated workers are willing to be hired
for a fraction of what comparable talent commands in the home
market. Obvious right? But data shows that there's lots of money
being left on the table, as projects are often poorly managed and
could (and should) be reaping significantly greater benefits. In
this article sourcing expert Geraldine Fox explains why "lifting and
shifting" needs to give way to "fixing and
mixing."
Revenue
Cycle Management:India Set to Take
Off!
ValueNotes Database Newsletter and Website, February
24, 2007.
Revenue cycle management
(RCM) offshoring is a relatively young industry in India. While
medical transcription was one of the earliest elements of the RCM
services to be offshored, vendors are now gearing up to offer the
entire gamut of services.
Sizing the emerging global labor
market
McKinsey Global Consulting, February 2007
(Free Membership Required)
MGI's analysis provides a panoramic view of the
off-shoring of services, as well as a number of useful conclusions,
including: a. Offshoring will probably continue to create a
relatively small global labor market—one that threatens no sudden
discontinuities in overall levels of employment and wages in
developed countries. b. Demand for offshore labor by companies in
the developed world will increasingly push up wage rates for some
occupations in low-wage countries, but not as high as current wage
levels for those occupations in developed ones. c.Potential global
supply and likely demand for offshore talent are matched
inefficiently, with demand outstripping supply in some locations and
supply outstripping demand in others.
Report: Offshoring to Have No
Sudden Bad Effects
Deborah Perelman, eWeek Website and Newsletter, February 22,
2007.
While offshore outsourcing is expected to
affect wages and employment in developing countries, it won't have
any sudden negative impact on developed countries' economies,
according to a report released Feb. 22 by the McKinsey Quarterly,
the business journal of the global management-consulting firm
McKinsey & Company.
10
Tips for Managing Projects with Offshore Teams
Yousuf Ahmed, Sourcingmag.com Newsletter and
Website, February 7, 2007.
How do you go about team building
when the team is halfway across the world and coming from a
completely different cultural background?
Notable
News
Survey Reveals Global Sourcing
Trends
James E. Powell, Application Development Trends
Magazine Website and Newsletter, February 21,
2007.
A survey last month of lawyers within key markets within the
U.S., Europe, and Asia offices of the international law firm of
Morrison & Foerster’s Global Sourcing Group sheds new light on
the state of global outsourcing in 2007. A year ago, the firm predicted the further
expansion of business process outsourcing (BPO), the growing
maturity of the offshore market, and the growth of multi-sourcing
over “mega-deals.” Those trends are expected to continue this year
at a faster pace and with slight—and
interesting—changes.
Deconstructing
the Business - A Special Report
Anthony O'Donnell,
Insurance & Technology, February 2,
2007.
Business process management software and process discipline
are providing the means to introduce new levels of efficiency and
transparency of insurance operations. But while interest in BPM
began with cost-cutting, it has become a weapon of strategic
opportunism.
Business
Intelligence Making Headway in Banks' Profitability
Efforts
Maria Bruno-Britz, Banking & Technology, February
22, 2007.
Imagine being
able to look at all the data on your customers across your
organization to determine the best ways to increase the
profitability and loyalty of those clients. Nothing new there --
banks have been doing this in some form for years. It's called CRM,
right? Not quite. Although customer relationship management
and the technologies that have
grown around it provide banks with some value around data
interpretation, the future of analytics lies in business
intelligence (BI).
Six
Sigma Reduces Turnover Time for Spine
Surgeries
Heather Anderson, Marilyn Brazda, Stephanie
Struble and Carolyn Pexton, iSixSigma Healthcare Website and Newsletter, February
28, 2007.
A multi-disciplinary Six Sigma project team was
assembled to identify and solve the problems when surgeons at a
Houston hospital began to express dissatisfaction with the length of
time required to prepare the operating room between cases. Through
Six Sigma training and project completion, one of the most important
lessons the team at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital learned was
the value of looking at data in a different way. Instead of
concentrating on averages, which can be misleading, they are now
able to view processes in terms of defects and variation. Lessons
learned during the first wave of projects are being applied to other
clinical and operational initiatives throughout the
system.
Daylight
Savings Time Change Problematic for Insurance
Carriers
Nathan Konz, Insurance & Technology, March 5,
2007.
A new law that will extend Daylight Savings
Time by four weeks may adversely affect many common insurance
industry business processes by confusing time-sensitive computer
applications. The problem is similar in nature to the Y2K bug that
threatened computer systems worldwide in 2000, but much smaller in
scope and risk.
To
Keep Consumer Trust, Try Tokens and Smart
Cards
Michael
Singer, Bank Systems and
Technology, February 22, 2007.
Customers turn their
backs on Internet banking if they perceive that identity theft and
other types of online fraud are a threat, analysts
suggest.
Notable
Events
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