Newsletters

On a regular basis we inform you via a Newsletter on interesting topics and events from the field. Not discriminating on source, we strive to give you value content on the topics we care about in our professional lives.

8 Ways Leaders Can Demonstrate Business Value From Data Strategy
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I read an interesting article in the MIT Sloan Management Review today.

Titled “8 ways chief data officers can demonstrate value” by Beth Stackpole, it details many of the recommendations from the renowned Tom Davenport, visiting scholar at …

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Shared Services, Cybersecurity, Lobsters and Shells
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I spent a couple of days this week in Las Vegas.

I’m not a gambler or a fan of mega shows, so I left without too much financial pain. (Although everything IS expensive!)

I attended and participated in workshops at …

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The Cost Conundrum – Operational Efficiency vs Process Effectiveness?
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I read a great article from two former Procter & Gamble executives, Tony Saldanha and Filippo Passerini, yesterday.

“The Hidden Dangers of Focusing Excessively on Operational Efficiency”.

They share some classic examples.

It got me thinking.

We are in

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When Working Capital is King, “Cash Fitness” and Credit Matters!
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When Working Capital moves center stage, as it is currently with turbulent interest rates and raw material prices, sluggish demand in some markets, it is a great time to “sharpen the saw” with regard to cash.

“Cash Fitness” is an

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Global Business Services – Extinction or Explosion?
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No less than 3 pieces of research on Global Business Services hit my screen on return from a brief holiday/vacation.

It was lovely, thank you.

Two pieces celebrated the explosion of opportunities grasped by GBS leaders today, whilst one offered …

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Does Your ICFR/SOX Program Have Too Many Controls?
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I discussed the “Disk of Risk”, and our apparent difficulty in thinking “end to end” about risk and controls, some weeks back.

Ruminating over this, I was fascinated by a commentary by the distinguished Norman Marks, the evangelist

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The “4 Perils” of Purchase to Pay (P2P) and 13 Best Practices . .
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“What, in your experience, is the most significant “root cause” of Purchase to Pay (P2P) process failure, other than human behavior?”

The “Spend Cycle” or Purchase to Pay, is regarded as the business process most susceptible to systemic process breakdown.…

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Solow and the Productivity Paradox
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I read a fascinating short article from Tom Goodwin, which introduced me to the Solow Paradox” and got me thinking.

This is something that I am sure we have all thought about at some point in time.

When I …

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“Better”, Notes on Performance
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“We always hope for the easy fix”

“The one simple change that will erase a problem in a stroke.

But few things in life work this way.

Instead, success requires making a hundred small steps go right . . .

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Digitization, AI & the “Doorman” 
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The “Doorman”? More about them later . . .

I was spurred into action this morning by a discussion “The CEO’s Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) on AI” started by Pedro Berrocoso.

It is not just CEOs!

The cost of

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