Joining us for this episode of Supply Chain Now is Mike Griswold, Vice President of Research for Retail at Gartner. Here, we discuss Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2024 – a list of key innovations that can help organizations accelerate towards their business goals in the fast-evolving age of AI. Of these 10, Griswold deep dives into the three that he believes supply chain professionals and supply chain organizations need to be most aware of: #1 – Sustainable Technology: With customers paying ever greater attention to DE&I, environmental and governance practices, one wrong step could have catastrophic consequences. So, how can technologies play a role in enhancing sustainability practices and ensuring enterprises don’t end up in the limelight for the wrong reasons? #2 – Democratized Generative AI: Goldman Sachs reports that investment in AI globally should approach $200 billion just by 2025. So, how can everyone leverage AI to achieve more and be more successful, not just the technologists? What are the risks, and what are the opportunities? #3 – Augmented Connected Workforce: One of the biggest challenges facing the supply chain industry is attracting and retaining top talent. So, what role can technologies play in improving competency…

Freight costs are rising – but most shippers aren’t capturing the savings hiding in their own data. In this episode of Supply Chain Now, Scott Luton and Kimberly Reuter talk with Shannon Vaillancourt, President of RateLinx, about how companies can uncover 5–15% in transportation savings in weeks, not months, without running a full RFP. They discuss common overspending traps, the power of clean, unified data, optimizing carrier mix, and making smarter, data-driven decisions to reduce costs while improving operational efficiency. The episode unpacks key strategies for optimizing transportation spend without launching a full RFP, including identifying hidden costs across carriers, modes, and accessories, optimizing carrier mix with clean, unified data, and realizing anywhere from 5 to 15% in transportation savings in weeks rather than months. Listeners also get insights on managing LTL versus parcel shipments, evaluating carrier performance beyond on-time delivery, and understanding how poor master data can quietly inflate costs across networks. Together, they explore why real-time, integrated freight data is critical for decision-making, how companies can quickly act on actionable insights, and why relying solely on contracts or historical assumptions can leave money on the table. They share real-world examples where minor operational adjustments yielded millions in savings,…