Twas the day after Christmas

When all through the land

People were still smiling and happy

Because their holiday had gone just as planned

With malls to be visited and unwanted gifts to return

And exercise to be done and all those extra calories to burn

Most offices are still quiet as their staff s celebrate

While others rush to close out their years business before it’s too late

There’s a new year  coming full of lots of new stuff

We all hope with this congress life doesn’t get any more tough

For businesses public and private and individuals too

Who would all rather focus on what’s exciting and new

Like jobs and raises and a positive end of year review

So, on Trump and goodbye Pelosi with congress hopefully in tow

Let’s get back to Washington

And end this year with some glow.

Happy Holidays from SafeSourcing

If you can indentify these folks below, We hope they grant you and yours all of your wishes.

Today’s post is by Ron Southard, CEO of SafeSourcing and a US Air Force Vietnam Era Veteran.

What an appropriate sentiment for today November 11, 2025 Veterans Day. That quote which has been paraphrased a lot is actually “Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting”. This author believes it may be attributed to William Buckley. At least the first time I heard it.

Today is a day that we don’t expect those that have given so much to have to remember. It is up to those of us that have received their gifts to remember them and pay those gifts forward. Our veterans have provided a gift of service in order to defend the principles that guided our founding fathers almost 250 years ago. Many gave their lives. We will remember them and their families on this day and it is appropriate that we should.

Let the mottos of our branches of the US Military help you remember what guided all of those that gave in the name of Freedom.

1.  US Air Force – Integrity First,, Service Before Self, Excellence in All We Do
2.  US Coast Guard – “Semper Paratus” (Always Ready)”
3.  US Marines – “Semper Fidelis” (Always Faithful)”
4.  US Navy – “Honor, Courage, Commitment”
5.  US Army – “This We’ll Defend”

SafeSourcing looks forward to and appreciates your comments

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

During a recent post titled “Prompts developed correctly are critical to benefiting from AI tool usage Part I,” we discussed the use of AI tools and how to write a quality prompt in order to take advantage of what AI has to offer. We also discussed the importance of deep industry expertise when doing so. Simply stated, if you don’t know, how can you ask or evaluate.

There are a large number of generative AI models that you may be familiar with like ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, Perplexity, Bard, Bing Chat and Gemini. These are all Large Language Model (LLM) based AI tools, our SafeSourcing process for developing your prompt strategy is largely the same for each.

To begin with, maintaining a reusable prompt library is critical to benefiting from these tools. It contains all of your learning so that you are not always starting over but creating an iterative process. Once that is in place, and certainly it will be tailored to how you work so your format will be framed to begin with. This will continue to evolve as you share learning with others and develop a company focused library.

Here are ten examples of how to build and build upon your prompts. Unfortunately, I am not including the SafeSourcing secret sauce. You can contact us for that information. This will however get you started.

1. Use a Structured Prompting Framework
   1. Break complex requests into clearly labeled sections.
2. Define Context and Assumptions Explicitly
   1. The more context you provide upfront, the less need for clarification or guesswork.
3. Incorporate Examples into Prompts
   1. When you expect a certain format or style, include an example:
4. Create and Maintain a Prompt Library
   1. Organize prompts by use case (e.g., Company Research, Supplier Sourcing, Market Intelligence, etc.)
5. Chain Tasks for Complex Workflows
   1. Break larger jobs into sequenced prompts.
6. Version Your Prompts
   1. As your tasks evolve, keep versions of your prompts.
      1. What worked for one version may not for another.
7. Anticipate Model Limitations
   1. Data cutoff for static knowledge (e.g., knowledge base date of last update).
8. Use Feedback Loops
   1. Build internal validation process.
9. Automate with Custom Tools or Templates
   1. Use tools like Python scripts to wrap and execute prompts automatically.
10. Train your team in Prompting
    1. If others in your organization use AI tools, consider developing a short prompting style guide:
       1. Standardize outputs.
       2. Avoid misuse.
       3. Improves collaboration.

SafeSourcing is a Procurement as a Service (PaaS)  provider of a number of e-Procurement solutions and associated white glove services that are part of our PaaS offered SafeSourceIt™ eSourcing suite. We have the tools, we have the knowledge, we have the experience, and we have the AI prompts that deliver results.

To learn more, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.