Wordpress

Now posting Hybrid's updates to Wordpress... new blog domain coming soon but in the meantime http://hybridconsultinggroup.wordpress.com/ is the new site for Hybrid Updates...

RFPME.com

www.rpfme.com now working with a beta group to begin gathering data for the social network..

Tech Cocktail May 29th Chicago IL

Check us out at Tech Cocktail on May 29th at John Barleycorn Wrigleyville 7:30-10pm!!
http://techcocktail.com/home/

H-P in talks to buy EDS, In Challenge to Rival IBM

Hewlett-Packard Co. was close Monday to acquiring Electronic Data Systems Corp. for about $13 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, setting the stage for a challenge to IBM's dominance in computer consulting and services.
The rest of the article can be found here on the Wall Street Journal...
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB121061881292685875.html

How to be a better negotiator...

A team of researchers have come up with interesting answers in a report published in Psychological Science. They conducted a series of experiments with150 MBA students who had just enrolled on a ten-week course on negotiations. Analysis showed that when the buyer in particular had a perspective-taking ability it could predict a successful outcome.
Perspective-taking is the ability to consider the world from someone else's point of view, whereas empathy is the ability to connect with them emotionally. What this indicates is that taking the other person's perspective can produce a better overall outcome for both sides.
You want to understand what the other side's interests are, but you do not want to sacrifice your own interests, says Dr Galinksy. A large amount of empathy can actually impair the ability of people to reach a creative deal.
How do you become a better negotiator through perspective? Try to understand what the supplier is thinking and what his interest and purpose was in selling. Don't try to understand what the seller was feeling and what emotions he might be experiencing.
So don't emphasize with your suppliers, get inside their head, you'll be a better negotiator.
http://www.buyeranalytics.com/purchasingblogs/2008/5/2/how-to-be-a-better-negotiator.html

Strategic Sourcing

Found a great article from www.purchasingblogs.com that came from a recent article in the WSJ that made a case on how the skills that are needed for Procurement have significantly changed..

Due to the transformation of procurement, buyers now need the ability to:

Manage Technology:
Managers must understand that technology and be able to implement it effectively

Find Suppliers Globally:
Supply-chain managers must be able to source materials, components and services on a global basis.

Managers must develop deep "market intelligence" about global suppliers, factors that drive cost and supply-and-demand dynamics -- and they must be able to communicate all that to key stakeholders in the company

Have a "Big Picture" View:
Just call this strategic sourcing

Build Teams - Externally and Internally:
Teams are becoming a favored method of dealing with the heavier workload, as employees from different parts of a company are brought together to handle a task, and then sent back to their respective departments

http://www.buyeranalytics.com/purchasingblogs/category/strategic-sourcing

Google's Friend Connect

Awaiting Google's Friend Connect Release on Monday as reported on TechCrunch..
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/09/threes-company-google-to-launch-friend-connect-on-monday/#comment-2286578
I like the idea of combining all of the social networking sites on one site to organize and keep track. Information/contact collaboration is so important here in our information technology field amongst many other fields. Information Technology people do not have any place to compare pricing, talk about best practices of IT procurement etc. We will see what happens with this new release but hopefully it is a step in the right direction for rfpme.com 's upcoming release.