Timing Is Everything

In the world of business and procurement, what time it is and what time zone you are in can make a lot of difference.

Right now, we’re going through one of those wacky times of year where clocks around the world are moving seemingly at random, willy nilly, and it pays for a diligent Procurement Hero to take note!

For example:

If you have suppliers in Australia, being below the equator and all, they are moving into summer, which means Daylight savings time. Oh yeah, it began October 3.

Do you work much with South America? I sure do. Brazil sprung ahead to Daylight Savings time on October 17th. Add an extra hour to the difference when setting up meetings.

My boss in London? Well he moved his clocks back to standard time yesterday. The US hasn’t gone to standard time yet, so what once was an eight hour time delay is now only seven. For one week. Then it’s back to eight, because all of us special little snowflakes in the US move our clocks forward this upcoming Sunday, November 7th.

And what about India? A country that doesn’t even observe daylight savings time, but tacks on that “offset” timezone of a half hour? My math skills are taxed!

And don’t EVEN get me started on just one time zone away Arizona who doesn’t *do* daylight savings time (insert air quotes with your fingers as you read that, please) so today I can call home using the same clock, but next week, I have to think about it!

My VCR is so confused. Poor ancient beast.

Take heed, Procurement Heroes, your whip smart knowledge of world time zones makes you valuable to your organization and your boss. Be the smartest one in the room and explain what time it is in even the remotest of your company’s locations!

Or, barring the ability to recite to that depth of knowledge, use an online time zone converter…