There is a prediction that by 2017, 33% of Fortune 100 companies will experience information crises due to lack of adequate testing measures. To prevent this, the robust testing approach must be used. Developing a well-planned data warehousing, testing process will help in minimizing such risks. And while moving to agile, we can do more testing in comparison to traditional projects. The testing being done during development in parallel aids to agile development, because development and testing can be completed in a single sprint. The roadmap for building agile data warehouse will consist of following steps-

·         Build business conceptual model

·         Grass roots Data governance

·         High-level architecture with repeatable design patterns

·         Strong testing tools

·         Robust data quality program

·          Self-managing teams.

Read the full article here http://www.cio.com/article/3012097/data-warehousing/take-testing-seriously.html

At a time when software is at forefront of all business activities, it is surprising to know that very few business minds truly comprehend the practice of software development and options that are available to them. Among the two most widely used methodologies-Agile and waterfall, picking up the suitable one and adoption of the same is extremely crucial for business. However the responsive and flexible nature of agile methodology is what is desired at present day businesses and for this reason agile is fast becoming the preferred approach. Continuous communication and collaboration, minimal documentation, increased efficiency are some of advantages of agile methodology. Read more:  http://www.information-age.com/technology/applications-and-development/123459702/how-being-more-agile-can-help-you-juggle-your-business-demands-more-efficiently

Internet of Things has taken the world with a storm. It has delivered opportunities to almost every industry and function. Supply chain is not an exception to this. With the increasing number of online businesses, the importance of this function of management has increased multifold. Combining internet of things with this has introduced us to a vast expanse of opportunities and made the supply chain smarter.

Maha Muzumdar, in his article at Industry Week has shared a list of supply chain opportunities that companies can exploit by leveraging IoT technology. They are:

• Better Predictability of Demand & Inventory Visibility
• Better Tracking & Efficiency
• Accelerated Innovation & Product Support
• Improved Alignment & Collaboration
• Sustainability & Quality

He has also stressed upon the fact that supply chain executives must adapt IoT in their processes as soon as possible to gain its maximum benefits.

To know more, please visit the following link:

http://www.industryweek.com/supply-chain/internet-things-iot-opportunities-smarter-supply-chains?page=1

Agile is the buzzword in industry today. Simply put, it is a better way of managing teams and projects by self organizing and cross functional collaboration.

Ming Chan, Founder and CEO of The1stMovement, in his article at Forbes, has shared his experience of transition to agile and benefits achieved from it in an agency context.

In his words, “Transition of moving from Waterfall to Agile as a business nearly killed our agency, but once we pushed through the steep learning curve, the implementation of Agile into our day-to-day workflow, and most importantly, our culture, undoubtedly took us to the next level.”

According to him, this transition yielded the following benefits:

• Project Profit Margin
• Client Satisfaction
• Employee Happiness

To learn more from his experience, please visit the following link:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2015/06/01/the-benefits-of-adopting-an-agile-approach-in-an-agency-setting/

“Analyzing and streamlining the supply chain is one way to help companies respond more quickly to the fast pace of business today while boosting operational efficiency.”

- Glenn Johnson

Efficiency in supply chain management provides an extra edge to any organization as it helps in reducing costs, speeding time to market, better customer experiences as well as flexible operations. Glenn Johnson, in his article at smartdatacollective.com has shared 5 tips for streamlining supply chain that will result in more profitable operations. They are:

1. Review and optimize supply chain processes
2. Integrate your supply chain
3. Leverage existing systems
4. Abolish duplicate data
5. Understand the big picture

To understand them in detail, please visit the following link:

http://smartdatacollective.com/magicsoftware/312051/5-tips-streamlining-supply-chain

According to Bill Baker (President/Owner, Speed to Excellence), manufacturing companies need to be innovative.  They need to keep on finding new ways to do a task. Companies and individuals need to be agile and flexible in gaining new skills. In manufacturing industry only three things matter. They are:

• People: Employees are the most valuable assets of the organizations. They can find innovative ways to make processes more efficient.
• Technology: It keeps on changing. To be competitive you need to adapt new technologies.
• Process: Process can be improved by reducing waste time and by improving quality and to improve process you can use lean six sigma.
Read more at: http://www.industryweek.com/leadership/what-does-future-hold-manufacturing

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

- John F. Kennedy

Change management is an important part of today’s business. Poor change management can lead to a loss of an important opportunity. This problem can be handled by equipping project managers with the skills and abilities to manage change. But are they ready for it?

According to Mike DePrisco, Vice President for Academic and Educational Programs at PMI, “We’ve seen the losses shrink over the past nine years. Part of this is due to having more engaged sponsors for change initiatives, but it also has to do with learning leaders making sure project managers have better skills and strategies.”

For training the project managers in this, PMI relies on the PMI Talent Triangle which includes the following 3 elements that lead to their holistic development:

• Technical Project Management
• Leadership
• Strategic and Business Management

Besides these, Satish Subramanian, author of “Transforming Business with Program Management”, identifies lack of sustainable vision as a problem which change leaders face. For this, he has suggested few management tactics that learning leaders can apply with project managers in their change implementation plan. Some of them are:

• Articulate the plan
• Deliver the right training
• Get leadership on board

To know more, please read the following article by Kate Everson, Associate Editor at Chief Learning Officer, at clomedia.com:

http://www.clomedia.com/articles/6249-turn-project-managers-into-change-managers

There is a continuous fall in number of manufacturing industries due to lower profit margin or problem in operation. Here are some problems faced by manufacturing companies with their solutions:

 •    Organizations won’t able to find skilled labor:

·         They need to train them for building required skills, and train employees to solve daily problems.

·         Can’t keep track of all the regulations: Companies need to have Quality legal counsel.

·         Problem with suppliers: Apply lean, six sigma or analytics to reduce waste cost and lead time.

·         Competitive Advantage: Continuous Innovation and lean product development are the need of manufacturing industry.

To know more about these problems and their solution read an article link “Manufacturing: It’s Where and How, Not If” by Becky Morgan (President, Fulcrum ConsultingWorks Inc.): http://www.industryweek.com/strategic-planning-execution/manufacturing-it-s-where-and-how-not-if

Agile represents a group of software engineering methodologies which promise to deliver increased productivity, quality and project success rate overall in software development projects. Now, the scope of agile methodologies has increase more than just software development. They are increasingly being used in aviation, construction, pharmaceuticals, defence and the financial sector. This methodology divides the project in parts and focuses on each part rather than one single deadline.

According to Steve Messenger, Chairman of Agile standards body DSDM, “Agile takes a more fundamental approach to problems, enabling you to move forward with versions as you go along. Rather than try to design everything upfront, your experience and knowledge will increase as you go.”

This article by Tim Adler at business-reporter.co.uk explains in detail about agile methodology, compares it with previous technologies- Prince 2 and Waterfall Technologies. It also talks about an upcoming methodology – Prince 2 Agile.

To know more, please visit the following link:

http://business-reporter.co.uk/2015/04/28/project-management-why-it-pays-to-be-agile/

Agile practices can help companies navigate in this dynamic global economic environment. However, only a few companies are adopting these practices to improve their supply-chain performance and their results show the benefits that they achieve from them.

According to a research conducted by McKinsey of over 250 global companies, across 5 industries, Companies with more agile supply-chain practices had service levels that were seven percentage points higher and inventory levels that were 23 days lower than their less agile peers did.  Those companies did well in areas such as demand forecasting, labor flexibility, and the optimal placement of inventory across distribution networks also.

An example of application of these agile practices is Amazon, which adjusts prices and inventory levels in real time in response to competitors’ moves, among other things.

To get more insights in this subject, read the following article by Raoul Dubeauclard, Kerstin Kubik, and Venu Nagali at mckinsey.com:

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/operations/how_agile_is_your_supply_chain

Lean Six Sigma eliminates waste of physical resources, time, effort and talent, while assuring quality in production and organizational processes. Research has shown that firms that successfully implement Six Sigma perform better in virtually every business category, including return on sales, return on investment, employment growth, and share price increase.

To know more, read the following article at isixsigma.com, which lists out 8 steps that should be followed to implement “Lean Six Sigma” in an organization:

http://www.isixsigma.com/implementation/success-factors/8-steps-successful-lean-six-sigma-implementation/

According to Saritha Rai (Contributor), e-commerce companies like Amazon, Snapdeal, ShopClues, Flipkart etc. find innovative solutions to timely delivery of their products by collaborating with Kirana stores, Dabbawallas in Mumbai, post office for reaching especially in rural areas and gas stations in Delhi and Mumbai. In a Morgan Stanley Report, Indian e-commerce market is expected to boom up to $100 billion in revenue by 2020. Timely delivery in the cities of India is a big challenge for e-commerce firms as roads are congested, streets are not numbered sequentially and customers many times don’t write zip codes or landmarks.  Finding these innovative solutions will not only benefit the e-commerce firms but it will also benefit local sources. To know more about these innovative solution read at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/saritharai/2015/04/15/from-dabbawallas-to-kirana-stores-five-unique-ecommerce-delivery-innovations-in-india/

According to Larry Fast (president of Pathways to Manufacturing Excellence), inventory remains a key area where we want to improve processes and eliminate waste. In the manufacturing industry, we basically have three types of inventory (raw material, WIP and finished goods). If we have an excess inventory it means that processing issues are hidden. CI (continuous improvement) strategy in an organization generally reduces their average cycle time by 70.4%, reduce scrap by 50%. Read more at: http://www.industryweek.com/ask-expert-lean-leadership/are-you-overlooking-inventory-focus-process-improvement-and-waste-reducti

Lean Thinking is a form of structured thinking that aims to provide a new way to think about organizing processes to deliver benefits to the organization while eliminating waste. Understanding this concept forms a base for deciding what actions to take, what to change, what to do. 

Pascal Dennis, in his book Getting the Right Things Done, has easily explained lean thinking in 10 words:

· “What should be happening?”

· “What is actually happening?”

· “Please explain.”

      To know more, read this article by Mark Rosenthal: http://theleanthinker.com/2015/02/13/lean-thinking-in-10-words/

Stephen Covey, the renowned management thinker, said, “Start with the end in mind.” Every organization aims at meeting few common ends i.e. safe workplace, save money, save space, save time in launching new processes, and increase flexibility. The means to achieving these ends is designing the process in such a way that it is lean as well as waste is minimized. If done at the starting stage, this will be more useful in cost reduction as per the Rule of 10.Robert H. Simonis, senior consultant, KCE Consulting LLC in his article in IndustryWeek, talks about how reducing different types of wastes bring benefits to the organizations. 

Read more at: http://www.industryweek.com/lean-six-sigma/design-out-waste-and-build-lean

Technologies are changing how things are designed, made, and serviced around the globe and they have the potential for disruptive change. They can create value by connecting individuals and machines in a new "digital thread" across the value chain. Digitizing the value chain facilitates innovation and can directly improve the top line. Digital manufacturing is already proving its potential. For example: Coca-Cola applied a flexible packaging process in its "Share a Coke" campaign, which helped to increase the company's soft-drink volumes across world markets. Read more at: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/manufacturing/digitizing_the_value_chain

From a napkin to a 3D model every product development starts with an idea. Time, money and expertise is required to bring that idea to a marketable product. With the fantastic renaissance of innovation creating professional looking design with a little help is now easier and cheaper. Knowing your product inside out is very necessary. Putting initial pieces together gives you an idea about manufacturing details and also about speaking with professionals’ investors. It takes a little time to build and master the software but costs are less than that of a development firm. 

A number of companies have spawned and acquired hacker collectives as well. Thingiverse.com  even feature their homemade designs on their site which includes toy cars to salt and pepper shakers to robotic arms, with more ease and collaboration DIY modelling today acts almost as a natural prelude to prototyping. To know more about this aspect, follow this link:  http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/12/how-to-develop-a-prototype.html

5S is a methodology used initially to organize workplaces to be more efficient and streamlined thereby consistently striving for more outputs, lower costs and less waste. So in essence, as this is what Continuous Improvement is mostly about, 5S is one of the commonly used Continuous Improvement tools. 5S is widely believed to have originated or least initially widely used in Japan and the term 5S is derived from 5 Japanese words- seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke which loosely translated into English stand for: sort, simplify, shine, standardize and sustain. The principle activities taking place at each of the stages are: Sort - All unnecessary items, parts, files, supplies are removed from the area

Simplify – (or Set in Order) – A place is created for everything and everything is stored in its place

Shine – (Sweep) – Clean up the area

Standardize – Apply the same standard throughout (to other similar areas)

Sustain – Maintain the new standard and avoid slipping back to old habits

To know about practical recommendations to make 5S a key part of the Continuous Improvement machinery, regardless of the type of business visit:http://smallbizkaizen.com/index.php/2010/08/5s-business-benefit

The service sector constitutes 62% of the world’s total GDP. It has grown by leaps and bounds over the last two decades. The service sector employs around 40% of the global labour force. The four unique features of services are Intangibility, Inseparability, Perishability and Variability. Service operations are often labour intensive and susceptible to variations. These variations often lead to complexities and customer dissatisfaction. The big challenge is to deliver consistent quality of services across all platforms.  Demand Planning is another big challenge. Services are dynamic and perishable in nature and this can often lead to instances of idle capacity or opportunity loss. Further, the quality in service environment is an experience and not just a measurement against specification so defect definition can tricky. To overcome these challenges, as in other industries, the service industry needs to innovate and continuously improve its processes. Here are four suggested process improvement techniques for services industries:

• Develop a Process Manual

• Automate Processes

• Reduce Failure Demand

• Conduct a Service Blueprinting exercise

To know more about the four suggested process improvement techniques visit:

 http://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/innovation/articles/four-key-process-improvement-techniques-for-servic/

Continually changing markets affect all industries; sooner or later the world will move on. Any product or service will eventually become obsolete if it is not refined to keep up with these ever-changing market demands. Staying still is not an option. A good Continuous Improvement process will deliver rapid evolution into any business. If one can improve faster than their competitors then they will be able to secure more of the market in future. The four basic requirements needed to develop a flourishing Continuous Improvement culture are stating your intention to improve, harvesting opportunity ideas i.e. initiating a continual improvement process, empowering the workforce i.e. deploying a continuous improvement culture, which is easy where the staffs are empowered to improve and measuring the improvement culture by the number of identified success and celebrating the success. To know more about these four requirements go to:

http://adaptivebms.com/How_to_establish_a_Continuous_Improvement_Process/