Isolated Storms and Winds of Change Posted at: Archive for December 17, 2020 Posted in: All A year like 2020 can be seen as the perfect storm, a ‘blip’ and an inflection point. What we’ve lived through during the COVID crisis is thankfully a unique experience in most people’s lifetimes. But smaller scale crises are more frequent than we realise. A recent study shows that companies can...
Nothing Stays the Same Forever – Last Year’s Predictions Posted at: Archive for December 17, 2020 Posted in: All December 2019 seems a world away when I look back to writing Interesting Times? Just Get it Done! in the immediate aftermath of the General Election. My theme then was that the only constant of recent times would seem to be uncertainty. I mused that whilst economic uncertainty was undoubtedly a threat...
Low Code, No Code and Digital Dilemmas Posted at: Archive for November 13, 2020 Posted in: All We have talked before about creating value through transformation in Enlightened Approach – Business Perspective. Technology transformation is a big undertaking and many are put off. The disruption, time taken to deliver, level of investment required can be enormous. It also carries a lot of risk – 70% of digital transformation initiatives fail...
Performance, Penalties and Fundamentals Posted at: Archive for November 13, 2020 Posted in: All The COVID crisis has meant that governments worldwide have had to make spending decisions at levels rarely seen in peace-time and to build infrastructure and services in record time. In the UK, building the Nightingale hospitals in weeks was a massive feat of procurement and project management – lauded as “18...
Quick Wins from Digital Transformation. Really??? Posted at: Archive for September 17, 2020 Posted in: All In previous articles on cost reduction we have covered the full spectrum of approaches from Quick Wins to Changing the Way You Do Business to eliminate cost and simultaneously improve performance. The spectrum roughly spreads from immediate and easy to complex and longer-term. One such approach that we...
JMCL Host Procurement Middle East Webinar Posted at: Archive for September 17, 2020 Posted in: All JMCL’s Malcolm Smith has significant experience & expertise in a wide range of challenging sectors as a both functional leader and consultant. This, together with an engaging personality, means he’s a regular and popular speaker – regarding Procurement and Supply – on the conference circuit particularly for more thought provoking...
Recalibrating Spend: 10-part Series Posted at: Archive for September 7, 2020 Posted in: All, Recalibrating Spend In our recent Focus on Costs Programme we examined the elements of a professional cost reduction programme – sharing the models, techniques and tactics required. In Recalibrating Spend we home in on some specific opportunities for cost reduction in the here and now. Recalibrate Your Costs: Surfing a New...
Focus on Costs Programme Posted at: Archive for September 7, 2020 Posted in: All, Strategic Focus on Costs Programme The ‘Focus on Costs’ Programme came from our thinking on the way into the 2020 COVID-19 crisis. As the crisis struck during early March and we moved into full lock-down we pulled together a series of articles that built into a 10 point programme for reviewing and reducing costs...
Direct Costs are not immune… Posted at: Archive for July 8, 2020 Posted in: All, Recalibrating Spend In recent weeks our series of articles on Recalibrating Costs for the “next normal” has focussed on Indirect costs i.e. those that aren’t directly related to sales. The Direct costs of goods sold should similarly not be immune from cost-cutting efforts. There is often a reluctance to pursue hard-hitting reductions...
What to do when your fleet is stuck on a drive Posted at: Archive for June 17, 2020 Posted in: All, Recalibrating Spend Covid19 has turned many peoples working lives upside down. What was once considered normal has completely changed in these unprecedented times. Nowhere is this more starkly illustrated than your business’s company vehicles. Many fleets have been effectively mothballed with drivers forced to stay at home and face-to-face meetings all but abandoned. Even...