Management

Management (228)

Cecil in the Sunshine

Here I am in Southern Ohio once again, working with one of my clients on the expansion of an implementation. I continue to find it interesting that just when I think I'm going to run out of work to do, there's another call for help. I count my self fortunate to have a continuing stream of work. But while I'm in this region, I've found myself gravitating to my old favorite lunch-box; Skyline Chili. I'm pretty certain the 4-way has more content and more calories than the 2-way, but I justify it by believing that I get so much more out of the 4-way. Read more...

Cecil Smells Something Fishy

It's been a great Summer, and I've been traveling through the Northwest, meeting with my clients and sampling the tastes of the area. One of my favorite splurges is local fish. I'm not particularly enamored with the sport of fishing (seems like a lot of work and wetness), but I love the product. On a recent stop in the Klamath River area, I was able to sample some of the local salmon, and vowed to make a return trip there in October, when the fishing season is just winding down, but is said to be still at its peak. Read more...

Cecil Explains Work

A couple weeks ago I was pulling out of Denver, CO, heading East toward Kansas. I was anticipating a long, flat drive toward Kansas City. I stopped at Smokey's Cafe in the appropriately named Kanarodo (it's just on the border of Colorado and Kansas) and had a bowl of 'steer chili'. Strange enough, the cook was complaining about how much work it is to make the chili.  Read more...

Cecil's SaaSy Cloud Trip

I'm making my way west over the next few weeks, taking the I-10 route across the Southern States then up the California coast. The half dozen clients I'll see along the way have more in common than their convenient location along my route (and the fact that they share my love for local cuisine). All of them are either in the midst of evaluating SaaS based solutions for their EDI processes, or have already made the change. Read more...

Sell Your Idea

Do you ever wish you could get your point across to your boss, or your boss's boss? Whether it's selling an idea you have to improve your service offering, or trying to get a raise, promotion, or addition to your team, the points in this short article can be invaluable.

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Effectively Managing an Outsourced Mapping Department

worldOver the years EDI has proven to be an integral part of the strategic vision of many companies. Gaining systems integration with our customers and vendors allows us to decide and act more quickly, with more accurate and reliable data to the fluid movements of the business environment.   This in and of itself can be a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Read more...

Seven Keys to Managing Outsourced Mapping Services

7keysFinding process efficiency in business is no longer on the wish list, but a mandatory responsibility of management. Even with the great gains that we as an EDI department give to the organization, the mandate to find more cost effective methods in operations has not passed us by.  This in turn has lead many EDI teams to utilize third parties to handle some portions of their daily function. In my previous post, I began to discuss outsourcing the mapping function of EDI, and will wrap up with seven strategies that I have found to be useful when managing a third party mapping team.

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Doing it Wrong - Get it Right!

You only hear from your 'customers' when something bad happens, your sales department complains about how long it takes to 'hook up' their customers on marketplace connections, and you're constantly given grief by the SAP team about inbound documents erroring out in the interface. Is that just the nature of the EDI beast, or are you doing something very wrong?

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Some Learnings from Mr. Jobs

Istevejobsbion my copious free time over the holidays, I managed to knock off a few of the books that had stacked up on me. Although I tend to stick to mysteries, thrillers, spy novels, and stuff like that, I occasionally find a biography that interests me. I couldn’t wait to read the Steve Jobs bio written by Walter Isaacson, and it was a winner. Even if you don’t like Apple products and you may not give a hoot about its recently deceased leader, you’ll still find it fascinating.

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Managing the "IT Genius"

geniusIT management, like any other management, requires finesse and tact. People skills are essential when dealing with anyone, but IT people are generally more withdrawn than most. People who are naturally more "people-oriented" tend to gravitate to more customer service or human resource type positions. There are frequently less conversations over the water cooler in IT than in other departments. This is not to say that either group is "better" than the other, only different.

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