Why Six Sigma?Written by Peter Peterka
The simple answer is to improve your business methodology so that you reduce defects, thus reducing costs and increasing quality, thus increasing efficiency and ultimately, customer satisfaction and loyalty.The fundamental objective of Six Sigma methodology is implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction through application of Six Sigma improvement projects. In essence, Six Sigma is a business improvement strategy. It seeks to identify, reduce, and eliminate defects from every product, process and transaction. It uses a structured systems approach to problem solving and strongly links initial improvement goal targets to bottom-line results. Six Sigma is a way to achieve strategic business results. When an organization undertakes Six Sigma they will see distinct and measurable benefits through standardized improvement methodology. Productivity will increase, cycle times will be reduced, processes will have higher throughput, defects will be reduced, and high levels of outgoing quality will be achieved. Across organization, a set of techniques and tools will be in place that will simplify improvement efforts, greater customer satisfaction and dramatic improvement in "bottom-line."
| | Imagine If Everyone Working In Your Office Was In Synch?Written by Cavyl Stewart
Microsoft-Outlook is a pretty amazing program. So much more than simply an e-mail client, it provides a task list, a powerful calendar with recurring scheduling capabilities, wonderful electronic sticky notes, mail-merge capability with MS-Word support and so much more. The problem is, it is a little stingy with its data and doesn’t like to share it with any of your employees unless you’re willing to invest in expense and headaches involved with running a Microsoft Exchange Server. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could use MS-Outlook to coordinate meeting across multiple peoples’ calendars, share tasks and delegate project responsibilities right from Outlook even if you were working from road? How about managing discussion groups, sharing documents, synchronizing updates and even creating an organization-wide shared contact list? These are kind of advantages that Fortune 2000 employees have at their fingertips every day and take for granted. But those less fortunate small business owners end up taking notes and sticking them all over their monitors, playing voice mail tag writing phone message on paper airplanes which they toss at their co-workers in next cubicle. Office automation, collaborative work tools, open data environment and remote access – these are all buzzwords that appear in business magazines every day but whose functionality continues to elude small business owner. Does a small business’s size mean that their clients are any less important than those of big boys? Are sales contracts any less urgent? Are meetings any less productive? No, of course they’re not. The problem is that high technology usually means big budget expenditures that average small business owner cannot afford. Up until now, that is. Sometimes it takes a small business to solve another small business’s problem. And that’s exactly what folks at 4Team.com have done with their flagship product, 4Team for MS-Outlook.
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