It’s time to break down the silos

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by David Poole

In the BPO industry, there’s a lot of talk about breaking down silos. However, the counter-intuitive truth of it all is that the BPO industry also creates silos.

Traditionally, BPO has been transaction-based, and limited to a specific service offering or function – like Collections or Accounts Receivable. Yet horizontal back office processes such as Finance and Accounting (F&A) and Procurement exist in every customer life cycle. As well, there are also a number of processes and sub-processes that support every customer interaction. Continue reading →

The Case for Women on Boards – SXSW 2014

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One morning at SxSW, Jody Greene moderated a panel with three bay area powerhouse women, Trish Costello, founder of Portfolia, Theresia Gouw, founder of Aspect Ventures and Fran Maier, founder/chair of TRUSTe. Each having been previous entrepreneurs, now investors and board members of public companies. The conversation was multifaceted on the topic from the viewpoint of board members and entrepreneurs. Continue reading →

4 Steps to Building a Culture of Accountability

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by Gwen Moran

When it comes to managing your company and serving your customers, you need to be confident that things are getting done. If you don’t build a culture of accountability, holding your employees and yourself responsible for behavior, follow-through and values, it could soon start affecting your bottom line. Continue reading →

Stop Blabbing About Innovation And Start Actually Doing It

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By Aaron Shapiro

These days, every established company is at risk of having its industry–and its own business–disrupted by a startup. Cognizant of this, companies devote a lot of time to talking about how important it is to innovate. But here’s the truth: most companies can’t innovate because everyone is paid to maintain the status quo.

This is the single biggest reason companies fail to do anything new or exciting. You and everyone else are maxed out making sure your company is doing what it’s supposed to do; innovation is what the weekends are for. Continue reading →

Why Work Is Lonely

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80-gianpiero-petriglieri-2 by Gianpiero Petriglieri

There is an old cartoon I often show to the managers I work with. It portrays a smiling executive team around a long table. The chairman is asking, “All in favor?” Everyone’s hand is up. Meanwhile, the cloud hovering above each head contains a dissonant view: “You’ve got to be kidding;” “Heaven forbid;” “Perish the thought.” It never fails to provoke awkward laughter of self-recognition.

I have a name for this cocktail of deference, conformity and passive aggression that chokes people and teams. I call it violent politeness. Continue reading →