Daily Archives: April 13, 2009

Upcoming Events from the #1 Supply Chain Resource Site

The Sourcing Innovation Resource Site, always immediately accessible from the link under the “Free Resources” section of the sidebar, continues to add new content on a weekly, and often daily, basis. Unlike many “resource”, “best of”, or “portal sites” that are abandoned almost as quickly as they are thrown together, the resource site is actively maintained (and dead links are removed on a regular, usually weekly, basis). In fact, there have been over 50 resource additions in the past week alone!

The total number of unique, active resources exceeds the 2,600 mark, and breaks down as follows:

And includes the following upcoming events, among many others:

Conferences

Dates Conference Sponsor
2009-Apr-26 to
  

2009-Apr-28

HSCN National Healthcare
  

Toronto, Ontario, Canada (North-America)

HSCN
2009-May-3 to
  

2009-May-8

TDWI World Conference Spring 2009
  

Chicago, Illinois, USA (North-America)

TDWI
2009-Sep-23 to
  

2009-Sep-25

Growth & Innovation Forum 2009
  

Miami, Florida, USA (North-America)

Consumer Goods
2009-Oct-18 to
  

2009-Oct-21

Business & Technology Leadership Conference
  

Orlando, Florida, USA (North-America)

Consumer Goods

Webcasts

Date & Time Webcast
2009-Apr-15

11:00 GMT-05:00/CDT/EST

Guidance for the Industry: Good Importer Practices
  

Sponsor: CSCMP

2009-Apr-16

11:00 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

How to Boost Service, Cut Costs and Deliver Great Customer Experiences – Even in an Economic Downturn
  

Sponsor: Teradata

2009-Apr-22

14:00 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

Software as a Service
  

Sponsor: Synergy Resources

Training Classes

Dates Training Sponsor
2009-Apr-20 to
  

2009-Apr-20

e-Auctions in 10 Easy Steps
  

Solihull, England, UK (Europe)

CIPS
2009-Apr-20 to
  

2009-Apr-20

Skills for a Recession
  

Crawley, England, UK (Europe)

CIPS
2009-Apr-21 to
  

2009-Apr-21

FUNDAMENTALS OF PURCHASING
  

Schaumburg (Chicago), IL, USA (North-America)

Nahabit
2009-Apr-21 to
  

2009-Apr-24

Kaizen Promotion Office Workshop
  

Durham, North Carolina, USA (North-America)

TBM Consulting Group
2009-Apr-27 to
  

2009-May-1

Supply Chain Management Executive Education
  

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, USA (North-America)

Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University

which are all readily searchable from the comprehensive Site-Search page. So don’t forget to review the resource site on a weekly basis. You just might find what you didn’t even know you were looking for!

And continue to keep a sharp eye out for even more new content that will be coming on-line in the near future!

What to Look for in a Talent Management Application

A recent Industry Week article on talent management technology: automate and analyze your metrics claimed that the combination of technology, tech saviness, and concrete planning ultimately guarantees best-in-class talent management. Although I would disagree, as this leaves out the facts that you need a solid understanding of what “talent” is and what “talent” needs to do in order to effectively manage it, technology, tech savviness, and concrete planning are still necessary conditions of good talent management and any good advice you can get on these aspects is good advice you can use.

The article provided good advice in the form of five factors that you need to consider when selecting a talent management application, which will form the foundation of your talent management activities. The factors were:

  • Establish Clear Business Goals
    What are the primary goals of your talent management — better retention, improved knowledge management, ROI? You need to understand what you need before you can select the right application.
  • Think Smart, Think Strategy
    How is the tool going to help you? Performance evaluation support? Key trend identification? Surveys? Skill / Knowledge Tracking? This helps you select a tool with the right functionality.
  • Seamless Integration
    How well will it integrate with your current HR and Knowledge Management Platforms? If you have to rekey data through manual processes, it’s probably not the right solution for you.
  • User Friendly Software
    An application that isn’t easy to use isn’t used.
  • Proven Client Satisfaction
    Talk to long-term clients of the provider and make sure that the tool is still working for them after the initial shine has worn off. You want a solution from a provider who stands behind it for the long run.

And they are definitely factors you can’t overlook when selecting any software solution, not just talent management.