Business Challenge Archives

Delivering the Difference

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

If you’re a patient in the emergency room, you definitely want that hospital or trauma center to have all the necessary supplies on hand — from IVs and blood plasma to bandages and syringes. But the hospital can’t keep everything on hand; it’s in the patient care business, not inventory warehousing. So the doctors and nurses rely on medical distributors to be sure they have what’s needed — or can deliver it in a couple of hours for an emergency. Many of them depend on Owens & Minor, Inc. (O&M) and, in outsourcing their supplies process to O&M, they enjoy the added advantage of reduced costs.

Riding a Wave of Success

Chris Pryer, Business Writer

There are certain times when a confluence of events can create an environment like no other. The moon in the seventh sky, or Jupiter aligning with Mars, for instance. In today’s fast-paced and constantly evolving business world, successful companies must be vigilant and nimble in order to respond quickly and take advantage of such favorable conditions when they present themselves. If these companies don’t possess the necessary resources in-house to accomplish their business objectives, they collaborate with another company who does.

Decreasing Delivery Headaches

Jerri L. Ledford, Business Writer

Any company doing business on a global scale knows what a hassle supply chain management can be. Everything from procurement to receiving becomes a difficult task when multiple currencies, customs departments and logistics are considered. And it’s that difficulty that drove Hong Kong-based global logistics management company, United States Consolidation (USC), Ltd., to look to an outsourcing supplier to ease the pain of supply chain management (SCM).

How Outsourcing Helped AT&T Lower Its Energy Costs

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

With supply shortages creating a surge in natural gas prices and deregulation jacking up electricity costs, big power users found their energy costs soaring this year. The bills did go up at AT&T, but not by the magnitude of other corporate users.

Outsourcing a Process Co-Generates Savings

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

It all started with deregulation. Outsourcing the entire process fuels savings.

Supplier Supplies Capital, Engineers to Save Energy and Money

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

Farmland Industries, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is the largest co-op agribusiness cooperative in the U.S. In addition to the brand Farmland Foods, the company makes nitrogen- and phosphate-based fertilizers. Because the company uses a tremendous amount of natural gas, it has its own risk management operation. Its energy traders evaluate the price situation, working with various commodity traders, and then take futures positions in the natural gas commodity market.

Coping with Increased Development Cycles

Jerri L. Ledford, Business Writer

In the world of packaged software, upgrades usually happen about once a year, sometimes less, and those upgrades are usually pretty extensive. But in the world of an application service provider (ASP), one of the benefits of offering a centrally located application is the ability to upgrade more frequently. And because upgrades can be performed without disturbing a user’s systems, they can be done on a more direct, incremental basis.

Barking Up The Right Tree

Outsourcing Center, Bruce McCracken, Business Writer

National retailers face a challenge when they enter the professional services sector. In the area of medicine, many customers view multiple location clinics with apprehension. They conjure up images of inexperienced, overworked and underpaid interns dispensing medical solutions on an assembly line.

The Heat Is On for Energy Management Outsourcing

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

California’s skyrocketing energy costs and energy price volatility all across the U.S. have turned the spotlight on energy costs, and that’s a good thing for energy management outsourcing providers.

Linking Inbound and Outbound Marketing

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

Has this happened to you? You receive a letter in the mail describing a special promotion. You visit the Web site and notice the details are different. You visit the store and no one there knows anything about the vaunted promotion. Frustrated, you call the toll free customer service number and the person who answers the phone is clueless, too.

Research & Insight