Virtual teams (otherwise known as distributed, geographically dispersed or remote teams) have become the norm as more and more businesses decide to tap into the many cost, skill and productivity benefits that come with being able to hire the best of the best. An added benefit of virtual teams is the flexibility that they offer to scale up or down, as required by the needs of a project, without having to consider the traditional overhead…
With continuous improvement being the key to maintaining a competitive advantage, many companies are turning to software solutions to help streamline their business processes. But as much as software can help to reduce costs and improve productivity, selecting the wrong software vendor can have quite the opposite effect. Here are 7 questions we suggest…
Business processes, whether formal or informal, have a direct impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of your business. When business processes fail to deliver they not only waste time and money, they can also lead to poor service delivery and substandard product quality. Business process improvement focuses on improving the quality, productivity and responsiveness of business processes by removing activities that…
In today’s business age customers are expecting more value from products and services without having to pay more or wait longer. In order to support this expectation of a continuously improving value proposition, businesses have to take a long, hard look at their processes in order to identify ways in which they can be improved. LEAN is a customer-centric methodology which…
A consultant is defined as a person who provides expert advice professionally. But when does it make sense to hire one. Many businesses struggle with this question. Cost usually plays a factor, as well as the concern that hiring an external party will create the impression that your own skills are lacking. But the advantages of using consultants far outweigh these types of concerns…
Popularised back in the late 90s by American cryptographer, computer security & privacy specialist and writer, Bruce Schneier, the concept of “people, process & technology” has been around for quite some time. In fact, it has been the cornerstone of ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) since its very early days. It has also been referred to as the “golden triangle…
As project and analysis consultants to a wide range of South African companies, we’ve seen our fair share of project struggles. Whether it’s time or cost overruns, or just not being able to meet the project objectives, we’ve jumped in to assist with quite a few tough situations. The interesting thing, however, is that despite their completely unique goals and nature, projects usually fail for the same reasons, and it almost…