Category Archives: Delivering Services

How to deliver world class services

Outsourcing Analysis Part II: That’s My Core?

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

In our last Blog we talked about how we source for a function, which is to say the process of deciding (and executing) the “how and where” a function is performed. In the last few years the movement has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Uncategorized, Unique Ideas | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Outsourcing Analysis Part I: How Far Out Do You Outsource?

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Everyone talks about Outsourcing, but much of the time the talk seems to treat all Outsourcing as the same, with teh assumption that all projects end up with everyone working in a call center in India. Outsourcing predates India and predates “offshoring”. In fact, on of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Uncategorized, Unique Ideas | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Grime and Punishment: Why Best Practices Matter (Part II)

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Yesterday we looked at CLI’s (Central Line Infections), a type of infection that results from the use of a Central line, the needle and flexible tube used to insert an intravenous drip bag. CLI’s are extremely dangerous and expensive, infecting … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Learning and Development, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Tail Of The Dancing Rat: Exposing Services to User Scrutiny

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Metrics are all around us, all the time. In fact, some of them are pervasive we forget that they’re metrics. 20 or 30 years ago, if you were in the mood for something to eat you might go to your … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Unique Ideas | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Cloud Story III: Leapfrogging Isn’t Just For Kids

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Perhaps the most important outcome of Cloud migrations, the real game changer, is that Cloud services can level the playing field. This is not necessarily good news for service managers in big firms. Fortune 500 firms are largely in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Cloud Story I: The Coming of the Cloud

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

We’ve all hearing stories about Cloud based services and how they’re going to change the way we live and work. If you manage services in a large firm you’re probably hearing little snippets here and there about Cloud projects that … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Well Managed Core

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

The nuclear disaster in Japan is the case study that just keeps on giving. Putting aside the policy and planning issues about the reactor itself, there is another problem, the extent of which  we still don’t know. The power plant, … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Do Outsourcers Know What Time It Is?

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Today, I was puttering around on the Internet, on a site that I frequently visit, Linked-In. I decided that I would take a look at their “Answers” section, which lists questions by members that other members are invited to answer. One of … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Expectations and Rewards, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Learning and Development | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

S’what’s a SWOT?

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

A lot of perfectly respectable management theory has been left to marinate in too long in strange acronyms and hard to remember buzz words. Good management doesn’t need to be complicated, and it doesn’t need a special language. There’s a … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Unique Ideas | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cloud Watching…

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

There’s definitely a lot of talk about the Cloud, what it is and what it means for you. In fact, I recently viewed a YouTube video that stars a very animated Larry Ellison (Oracle’s CEO) opining on the definition of … Continue reading →

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