July 1, 2013 from Logistics Management – “Shippers continue to grapple with the age-old dilemma of having to choose between ERP-developed supply chain software and those targeted solutions produced by best-of-breed providers. Here are a few tips that could make the choice a little easier…” Read more 180 View – We are always running into the question of ERP vs. Best of Breed. As my MBA professor often said, the answer to the question is “it depends.” There will be situations when the needs of an organization compel it to invest in a best of breed solution as the ERP […]
13 Tips to Get Business Teams to Use Your CRM System
March 27, 2013 from CIO – “Congratulations on that purchase of a new customer relationship management (CRM) system. Now if only the people on the sales, marketing and customer service teams would use it…” Read more 180 View – The article does provide good tips but misses the elephants in the room when it comes to reasons for not using CRM systems. Employees often don’t see any value in using it. In fact, there are disincentives. They spend time entering information with no value to themselves and they give away information that they consider useful in establishing their importance to […]
11 signs your IT project is doomed
May 6, 2013 from InfoWorld – “The IT world is no stranger to projects that go down in flames. In fact, anyone who has had the unenviable pleasure of participating in a failed IT effort likely sensed its demise well before the go-live date… We have gathered 11 red flags to look for in assessing IT project health. Be proactive whenever you encounter one — or if you can, simply walk away. You career depends on it…” Read more 180 View – The signs are not limited to just IT projects. Although the article is useful regarding the red flags, […]
Dakuwaqa’s Garden – Underwater footage from Fiji & Tonga
180 View – Amazing Check it out […]
How the internet works
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Lesson Learned – Get on 1st Base
I was assisting a large company operating in one of the Caribbean islands. The company was involved in a wide variety of industries and used a home grown system to run their operations. My job was to help them select a new system. Although I followed what I consider best practice in selecting a new system, I did not appreciate the limitations of what was possible. I was trying to hit a home run when the best we could ever do would be to get on 1st base. So the lesson (learned) is that best practice for one organization is […]
Interview with Mark Canes, President of Blue Link Associates Limited
March 4, 2013 – Mark identified eCommerce, Cloud Computing and more automation as major trends at least for his target market which is small and medium sized (SMB) wholesalers and distributors which have outgrown QuickBooks. Mark has noticed a significant shift by his clients to eCommerce. Some clients have embraced it strategically and others have done it reluctantly. The reluctant ones may have selected something like Go Daddy or Shopify for online shopping carts which may be a good way to get started but will be a problem with lots of orders because of the lack of integration with the […]
California ends contract with SAP over troubled IT project
February 8, 2013 from Computerworld – “California has terminated its contract with SAP in connection with a $371 million software system that was supposed to overhaul the state’s payroll system but instead ended up mired in major delays and cost overruns… The state has paid SAP $50 million so far, and is withholding about $7 million in additional payments…” Read more 180 View – There is not enough information in the article to know what went wrong. But it is unbelievable that it could happen in the first place. The article includes the observation that “Despite SAP’s history with project […]
2012 Sports Illustrated Kids Winner
180 View – Inspiring video – you should watch it. Check it out […]
Manufacturer sues IBM over SAP project ‘disaster’
November 9, 2012 from Computerworld – “IBM has been slapped with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by chemical products manufacturer Avantor Performance Materials, which alleges that IBM lied about the suitability of an SAP-based software package it sells in order to win Avantor’s business… IBM represented that IBM’s ‘Express Life Sciences Solution’ … was uniquely suited to Avantor’s business,” the lawsuit states. “The Express Solution is a proprietary IBM pre-packaged software solution that runs on an SAP platform.” But Avantor discovered a different truth after signing on with IBM, finding that Express Life was “woefully unsuited” to its business and the implementation […]