Do we have a disaster preparedness plan for this? Can we stop our customers from hoarding products? What can we do today? Due to some unfortunate circumstances, the answers to these questions are now needed for B2B businesses, especially those who depend on ecommerce for their day-to-day activities. Though we hope this COVID-19 outbreak will […]
Operations
Quick Tips on Successful Remote Working
The world is going through an unprecedented and challenging time. As part of the global effort to support our healthcare system and limit the transfer of the COVID-19 virus, many organizations are asking employees to work from home if they can. For those organizations that don’t have a mature practice or policy on remote work, […]
Software Asset Management (SAM) Module using ServiceNOW
Software Asset Management (SAM) Software asset management is a business practice that involves managing and optimizing the purchase, deployment, maintenance, utilization, and disposal of software applications within an organization. SAM IN TERMS OF SERVICENOW The ServiceNow Software Asset Management (SAM) application systematically tracks, evaluates and manages software licenses, compliance, and optimization. You can reclaim unused software […]
DevSecOps – Reference Architecture
DevSecOps Reference Architecture When approaching a complex DevSecOps implementation, it is often useful to consider a Reference Architecture as a starting point. As illustrated in Figure 1, the automation activities can be broken up into three major areas: Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment (CD) and Continuous Compliance (CC). Each of these areas encompasses a separate […]
DevSecOps and Release – Operations Coordinator
The Operations Coordinator plays a key role in DevSecOps. In my previous post, DevSecOps and Release Coordination, I introduced the idea of four key responsibilities in the DevSecOps mediated release management process. The idea is to consolidate the validation and approval steps from a “gated” process involving many approvers, and shift the actual work of […]
[Guide] The Executive’s Guide to Intelligent Automation
Intelligent automation isn’t accomplished by a single technology working independently, but by a combination of different technologies working in concert: process orchestration, robotic process automation (RPA), and artificial intelligence (AI). Automation is a driving force of digital transformation. Enterprises of all sizes pursue automation for a number of reasons, such as to increase customer satisfaction […]
Manage Your SaaS
Software as a Service (SaaS) adoption is continuing to increase in most businesses. If your experience is like mine, your daily work and personal life illustrate this trend. About a decade ago, Office 365 was my first work-related and personal significant foray into this space. But SaaS offerings have multiplied over the last several years […]
Self-Service Receipts for Organizations without Inventory Management
Self-Service Procurement provides the capability to shop catalogs, shop external suppliers or marketplace sites, create purchase requests for internal or external sources, approve requests and create receipts. As self-service implies, the user is empowered to perform all transactions related to purchase requests and subsequent receipts. Consequently, ‘My Receipts’ application is structured to present information specific […]
Using Predictive Analytics in a Smart Factory
So you want a smart factory? Something that drives greater value by combining business processes and physical machines. Update your manufacturing processes from legacy automation to a fully connected stream of data. The solution translates a specific business problem into a data problem that can be solved with predictive analytics. Many manufacturing systems operate at […]
Agile Street Smarts Series: Agile Estimation Levels and Techniques
This blog is part of a series exploring Agile methodologies. Read the last post in the series here. This post will explore Agile estimation and the different estimation techniques. Estimation is more the “art” than the “science” of program management so polish the crystal ball and let’s get started. Agile estimation is fundamentally different from […]
Agile Street Smarts: Insights from an Agile Practitioner
According to Merriam-Webster, “Agile is marked by ready ability to move with quick easy grace.” Of course, this not only describes the adjective, but also the methodology. I’m an Industrial Engineer with an affinity for data and numbers and a Jersey Boy who realizes the need to break free from conventional approaches in order to […]
Cloud Procurement Approval Management
Cloud Procurement offers a new interface defining approval workflow for Requisitions, Purchase Documents (Order, Blanket, Contract) and Supplier Management. Approval rules are managed in a user friendly interface that integrates back-end Business Process Management (BPM) while keeping a logical and complete setup in front of the user. While relatively simple to define rules in Approval […]