Author Archives: Chris Niccolls

For “Resistance Is Futile”, Press 1

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Let’s face it, we have a very confused relationship with technology. Not just as individuals, but as a species. We are who we are as a species because of the technology we use. Too many other animals are faster or … Continue reading →

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eBay… The New King Of Procurement?

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

A few blogs ago we were talking about how the next generation of Cloud services will evolve. To make a long story short, the best candidate would be large scale, on-line merchants with a lot of excess  computer capacity. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Improvement, Continuous or Not | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

It’s Summer, It’s Hot And It’s Time For The Crazy Season!

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Boy Is it hot outside! OK, it’s the summer and the summer is supposed to be hot, but 2011 looks like it’s going to be a sizzler this year in New York! When the heat goes up, that’s when we … Continue reading →

Posted in Backup Plans, Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Return Of The J Curve: A Lesson From Netflix

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Nothing is free… or at least not free forever. The same goes for the lowest price. Eventually it goes away. Either a new, lower price is found, or the price rises. As the economy continues to rebound, free is no … Continue reading →

Posted in Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Are Outsourcing Obstacles Too Big To Swallow?

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Last week I saw a question on Linked-In that I thought was particularly interesting. The question was, “What are the top five challenges in BPO transitions that  need to be addressed in the outsourcing/offshoring industry?”  If there were any “winners” … Continue reading →

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Higher Clouds: Learning From Amazon’s AWS Strategy

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Last month, Amazon had a conference in New York to show off its latest web services. At the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Conference a number of very experienced executives presented some exceptionally impressive technology.  Still, as they day wore on … Continue reading →

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Gramdma Has Left The Kitchen!

Posted on June 25, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

I remember a commercial from a few years back, I think it was for spaghetti sauce. It showed an Italian family’s kitchen as the Sunday meal was being made. In the kitchen, there were several grandmothers working away over a … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Expectations and Rewards, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Learning and Development, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Creative Projects: A Few Ideas And Tools!

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Every now and then you run across some really useful tools, or fascinating trends, that can help you with your operations.  Six months later you may forget about these tools, or they may be replaced by something better. (Hey Facebook, … Continue reading →

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Social Networking for Service Managers

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Want less face time on Facebook? Tired of being a twit on Twitter? Don’t care if you can Google it? I think we’ve all had occasional overload from Internet social media. Yet, everywhere you go you’re told how this is … Continue reading →

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4th Sigma: Project Charters, Part 3 – Building Consensus

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

A Project Charter is a document that describes a project, names the people who will perform the project, what their roles will be and the name of the project sponsor (the individual that requested the project). Any book on Six … Continue reading →

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