KnowledgeLeader Blog

Written by Ann Butera, president of The Whole Person Project, Inc.

 

By definition, “influence” is the ability to get others to act on your suggestions without pulling rank. Influential people can garner support for their ideas and they understand that being persuasive requires more than technical expertise and simply having facts to support a perspective. They can communicate their message in as many ways as necessary to appeal to the diversity of their audience. Persuasive people leverage their relationships with others and the information they possess to get others to act on corrective action plans and implement suggestions for increased efficiency. 

Topics: Human Resources, Training & Development, Internal Audit, Change Management

The "Holy Grail" for IT has always been to be closely aligned with business efforts. For years, business has encouraged IT to focus on delivering business priorities. At the same time, IT has tried to be an integral part of business planning and align IT efforts and investments with business priorities. Ultimately, effective IT alignment really does require the ongoing and engaged involvement of all key participants.

Topics: Project Management, IT Infrastructure, IT Strategy, Change Management

Information technology is critical to the long-term success of most organizations. It is a key driver for the cost of operations, which tends to be a vital component of overall profitability. It facilitates the introduction of new business initiatives, as well as the ongoing improvement of current processes and allows the management team to monitor and report on performance. IT enables business operations through connectivity, information processing and business intelligence. Lastly, and especially important to this audience, IT can contribute greatly to a company’s system of internal controls. 

Topics: Internal Audit, IT Audit, Reporting/Disclosure, Change Management

There are two main goals that companies with leading practices strive to achieve in the warehousing process: to provide value-added services such as product customization and to move those products through the warehouse into the hands of the consumers as quickly as possible. Companies that achieve these goals follow the leading practices discussed below.

Topics: Supply Chain, Change Management, Performance Management/Measurement, Inventory & Materials Management, Sales Process & Marketing

Performance is defined as the throughput of business transactions compared to user needs, expectations or requirements. IT performance risk is the risk that a company’s IT infrastructure will be unable to perform at required levels due to inferior internal operating practices, technology and/or external relationships that threaten the demand for the organization's products or services.

Topics: IT Audit, IT Infrastructure, IT Risk, Change Management, Performance Management/Measurement

It seems like everybody is wearing a lot more hats these days and finance leaders are no exception. Of course, this means that they are finding it increasingly difficult to balance the multitude of responsibilities and non-routine initiatives facing the finance function.

Topics: Project Management, Accounting/Finance, Change Management