Procure IQ

I’ve told you many times that spreadsheets, the cockroaches of the workplace, can cost you billions, but I’m not sure that you’ve been listening. So I’m going to remind you of two situations where poor spreadsheets literally cost a company billions. As per this classic article in CIO on eight of the worst spreadsheet blunders ever: Fidelity Loses $2.6 Billion In January 1995, an accountant omitted the minus sign on a net capital loss of $1.3 Billion when transcribing the net realized gain from the funds financial records from one spreadsheet to another. As a …

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Ever since the recession hit full swing, it’s been working capital this and working capital that. And I’m getting tired of it. And it’s not because I don’t like working capital management. In theory, when it’s done right, working capital management is worth its weight in gold. The problem is, at most companies, it’s still done very, very wrong, and ends up being the lead weight that drags the company down until it drowns. Here’s what usually happens. The company starts by: Paying some invoices early …

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Copyright Geek and Poke …

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A few months ago, the CPO Agenda published the transcript for its roundtable in London in May 2010 on budgeting for a wider influence. While this post is not going to summarize the transcript as it really doesn’t say anything that this blog hasn’t been telling you for years, buried within the transcript is a very interesting quote by David Noble, the Chief Executive of CIPS. If we do not have the ability to get in there and hold the door, we will lose it and be back to where we were 10 years ago. In other …

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I was astounded to find that a Chief Procurement Officer of a major electrical retailer used the word “squillion” in the CPO Agenda Executive Roundtable this past May in London on budgeting for a wider influence. In order for Procurement to get a seat at the table, it has to first impress the CFO. To do that, it not only has to speak the language of finance, but use real numbers! In North America, and in the general scientific community, these are the units of the Base 10 number system. …

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Today on Dilbert, Scott Adams uses Dogbert to effectively illustrate what happens when you use a Walmart consultant. What you have to remember with consultants is that you get what you pay for. If you pay a cut rate, you get a job with corners cut, as illustrated today in Overboard … … and you get the pleasure of the consultant blaming you for their incompetence! When hiring a consultant, it’s important to remember that it’s all about the value they can deliver, directly or indirectly. For example, a consultant with the skills and to …

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Sheesh is Right! The average analyst doesn’t have a clue how to properly evaluate a technology offering. But what should you expect considering most of these individuals come from a liberal arts background and think “C” is for Cookie? And if you don’t believe me, maybe you should read those tragic quadrants, graves, and benchmarking futiles more carefully … because the reality is that an evaluation scheme based on chicken-with-its-head-cut-off bingo would likely be just as accurate as the rankings in the average analyst report these days. But back to the point. Recently, over on Spend …

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If you looked up and saw this, would you put up with it? And if you saw this swarm of locust coming toward you, would you stay put and let them swarm all over you? What about a swarm of killer bees? Would you still just sit there? I’m guessing the answer is no, hell no, and get me the flamethrower! So why are you still letting spreadsheets run your life? Given that 80% and 90% of spreadsheets contain serious non-trivial errors, that could cost you millions, …

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Put Employees First! I was absolutely thrilled to see this recent article over at Knowledge @ Wharton India that said that Winning More Business in a Recession Means Putting Employees First. In the interview with Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies — a company which grew 21% year over year in operating profit and revenues, he noted that their customer satisfaction rate rose 43% and that they were rated #1 in employee satisfaction. Simply put, a happy employee goes the extra mile to make customers happy. And a happy customer …

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