Tag Archives: corporations

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 →

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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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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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4th Sigma: Project Charters, Part 2 – A Step by Step Guide

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

When you’re ready to start a project you need to create a Project Charter. In our last Blog we went over the consequences of not having a charter. Today, we’re going to cover the steps you need to take to … Continue reading →

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The 4th Sigma: The Paradox of Customer Service

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

You’ve probably heard about it elsewhere, and if you haven’t in these Blogs we’ve discussed how the Six Sigma framework defines waste as any activity that doesn’t contribute value. For example, in “Is Quality Control A Waste of Time?“ we … Continue reading →

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Good News, We Have A Customer Complaint!

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

We’ve all had it hammered into us… improve services, eliminate complaints, make the customer happy. We all want to provide a service that makes our clients happy, and never receives a client complaint. If customer satisfaction has been your big … Continue reading →

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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

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 →

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A Cloud Story II: Data With A Side of Miso Pork

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Yesterday we spent some time going over a brief definition of the Cloud, some of its history and why everyone is scrambling to adopt Cloud services. Today, we’re going to take a practical look at what it means to the … Continue reading →

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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 →

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