There are an ever-expanding number of ways to pay your bills. On a personal level, most of us attempt to use our credit cards (either to get cash back or earn points) or pay via online banking (to speedily pay bills and save the cost of postage). Of course, debit cards are also very popular […]
Every few years, it is important to reevaluate all high-value cost contributors and see if there are opportunities for savings and/or performance improvement. Sometimes, this is dictated by corporate policy or if there is a compelling event forcing a decision. The following three scenarios are not uncommon and all require analysis and action, even if […]
I recently saw a local news story reporting that Connecticut is running out of landfill space, and disposing of trash is going to cost more. So it seems the days of easy and low-cost trash disposal (at least in Connecticut) are in the rear view mirror. We all know that physical mail requires trees, water, […]
Business is booming; revenues are growing by double digits; margins are expanding, and the company is hiring like crazy. If this describes your company, no need to read on. Unfortunately, the world is in a slow growth/slow inflation environment, which is having a multiyear impact (as in “drag”) on business. Low interest rates are hurting […]
DOCUMENT Strategy recently published their summer magazine. My article is on page 13: “Lessons from Document Strategy Forum”:
I recently attended a US Postal Service (USPS) Northeast Area Mailing Industry meeting where they shared some statistics on how well the Postal Service has performed lately. While the results are dramatically better than last year, the USPS is still not achieving its stated delivery goals for First-Class Mail delivery. USPS Percentage delivered on time […]
I recently read a provocative article by Tom Monahan in Fortune magazine called “Revving Up Your Corporate RPMs.” The speed of business is getting slower, not faster What struck me was his conclusion that rather than speeding up, business is slowing down. Decision-making is taking longer, and project completion times are extending. Some of it […]
Of course not, but… Every year, I interview high school students for my undergraduate university. The school gives me the contact information, email addresses and phone numbers so I can set up an interview at the local library. Over the last few years, I chose to make my initial contact via email. Of course, since […]
We’ve all heard about the paperless office, and now we’re hearing about a cashless society. The concept of a paperless office has been around for as long as I can remember. An early prediction of the paperless office was made in a 1975 Businessweek article. Of course, today, that dream of the paperless office hasn’t […]
Sometimes a picture really is better than words. A recent issue of Barron’s magazine featured a cartoon about the absurdity of usernames and passwords today. Try as we may, it is next to impossible to have one username and one password. I have a notebook with four pages of usernames and passwords, and I know I am […]