^The APQC Blog

APQC partnered with management consulting firm ScottMadden (and ScottMadden subject matter experts Brad DeMent and Trey Robinson) on our latest cycle of the finance shared services centers (SSCs) benchmarking study evaluating key performance indicators and practices (delivery model, scope of services, staffing, performance, and technologies leveraged) of finance SSCs. The survey population was robust and diverse, with 468 organizations participating from across industries, geographies, and organization sizes.

Imagine kicking back with some popcorn to watch Netflix and having to scroll through almost 15,000 available titles. Even with a good search engine and well-organized categories, sub-categories, and sub-sub-categories, you’d be likely to face decision paralysis—and finish your popcorn before you’ve picked a flick. Thankfully, Netflix knows what you like. Its smart recommendation system suggests movies and shows based on what you’ve already watched.

Last month we discussed digital transformation and where so many organizations go wrong. Mainly the misunderstanding of what it means to be “transformational” and the need to connect your digital efforts to an overarching strategy.

I recently spoke with Luis Lopez, manager of process improvement at the Port of Vancouver, to discuss the role that simulation technology has in process improvement, advice on piloting simulation software, and a few lessons learned from his hands-on experience with simulation technology.

What role can simulation technology play in process improvement work?

At APQC we talk to KM leaders who are doing great things to focus their programs, improve knowledge sharing and reuse, and motivate people to participate. But we also meet KM professionals who are making big—and avoidable—mistakes. Earlier this year, I sat down with veteran community manager, author, and speaker Stan Garfield to talk about the missteps organizations make in KM and how to avoid them. He zeroed in on five common blunders.

#1 Failing to start with a compelling vision.

A string of recent questions about “how to adopt the Process Classification Framework (PCF)^®” comes from companies engaged in software development, offering software as a service, and combinations thereof. This blog post is dedicated to you: software developers and high-tech mavens. Really, it’s dedicated to anyone who builds a “virtual” product, then sells “copies” of that product. OR perhaps performs that products for others.

A new marvel is sweeping across organizations, promising to positively transform work. It’s called the employee experience and its one of the most talked about developments in human capital management circles today. But, behind this talk, lies a lot of confusion.

What exactly is the employee experience and how can organizations get in on the benefits it promises?  

Talent acquisition is an executive concern as a scarcity of qualified job candidates threatens to limit productivity and innovation. As a result, organizations are going to great lengths to secure top talent:

The finance function continues to evolve and improve in response to the availability of new tools and technologies like RPA and AI, and corresponding changes in roles and responsibilities. APQC has spoken with numerous organizations of late in the process of investigating or implementing digital technologies, for example. While most employees desire to continuously learn and improve their processes, change due to the adoption of new tools and technologies (or due to any other kind of reason, like a change in organization structure) can involve a lot of uncertainty and sometimes fear.