“What we find is that a lot of companies are using data to justify their decisions, not to make decisions. So, it would be really interesting collect the right data and then actually use it to make a decision.”

Shannon Vaillancourt, President and Founder of RateLinx

“I really believe there’s been a failure in leadership. Everybody knows we need to generate buy-in, but what we really need is co-creation.”

Tim Judge, President & Chief Executive Officer of Agillitics

As more corporate processes are digitized, the importance of data in business decision making is skyrocketing. But if companies are going to be able to derive the maximum value from that data, it has to be high quality, available quickly, and put to good use.

Shannon Vaillancourt is the President and Founder of RateLinx and Tim Judge is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Agillitics. They are used to dealing with the data challenges that supply chain organizations face, not the least of which is the fact that Excel is still probably the most popular supply chain technology, just because it is familiar and accessible.

In this conversation, Shannon and Tim – and the supply chain community in a parallel live chat – answer the following questions posed by Supply Chain Now Co-hosts Greg White and Scott Luton:

· What are a couple of key considerations for enabling timely proactive data-driven supply chain decisions in 2020 and beyond?

· What are supply chain organizations doing to optimize their data visibility?

· What change management methodologies are most successful in support of digital transformation?

· Where do supply chain leaders most often make critical mistakes while leading transformation efforts?

Intro – Amanda Luton (00:00:05):

It’s time for supply chain. Now broadcasting live from the supply chain capital of the country. Atlanta, Georgia heard around the world, supply chain. Now spotlights the best in all things, supply chain, the people, the technologies, the best practices and the critical issues of the day. And now here are your hosts.

Scott Luton (00:00:29):

It’s noon. Scott, Lutin Greg white with you here on supply chain. Now welcome to today’s live stream, Greg, how are you doing? This is I’m doing great. This is a live week. Isn’t it? It is. Yeah, it’s been, it’s been a busy week, uh, so much to cover, but one quick aside, you know, we’re all dealing with a wide variety of our own challenges, thoughts and prayers go down to all the folks impacted in the Gulf with the storms. We’ve been tracking that over the last few days and it’s just some of the damage has been devastating. So that’s the most, most important stuff. And we look forward to getting some updates on some of the situation down there in the days to come. Good news is we didn’t get the 20 foot storm surge that they were expecting if there’s any good news, right?

Scott Luton (00:01:15):

Yeah. Well put, all right. But today on this live stream, we’re going to be talking about optimizing data driven decision making in supply chains, not just today in 2020, but in the years to come, right? Yeah. Yeah. Data is so much a part of the supply chain these days and the interconnectivity between companies. We got to talk about it, right. That’s right. And we already have some folks popping in Stephan is back Steph. Great to have you here on the link via LinkedIn, uh, Jason Moss on his friends. That’s right. Jason on his birthday is with us here. Jason, happy birthday to you and great to have you here. Of course, Chris Barnes, Sylvia, all of y’all great to have you here. All right. So today we’ve got two business leaders that are in the know, and they’re only move on this topic. We’re going to be bringing them in 10 to 15 minutes.

Scott Luton (00:02:09):

Uh, we’re kicking off a Twitter chat. So it’s been a, it’s been a little off since we did a Twitter chat. We love Twitter around here. It’s amazing what you can learn market Intel wise via Twitter. Uh, so if you’re want to participate in the Twitter, chat with us here today, there’s two very simple guidelines that will help make your voice heard. Right? And, and, uh, uh, w cause we want to feature as much of our audience perspective as we can, right? So the first guideline Greg and everyone sees the, the, uh, the banner at the bottom, Hey, on all of your responses, use data, uh, hashtag data-driven 2020. Um, so that, that way it won’t get lost in the shuffle. And it’ll, you know, we can find your response is both a couple of different ways. So use hashtag data-driven 2020. And then secondly, we’re going to be posing questions to the audience and to our guests and in your responses, if you could just make sure you use a one or a two so that we know which corresponding question you’re speaking to that’s right.

Scott Luton (00:03:13):

Yeah. It’s like the wild, wild West around here when we do a live stream and Twitter chat. But, you know, we’ve learned so much from our audience when we conduct these things. So we’re, we know they’re going to come through again today, along with our two guests. All right. So Greg, we’ve got a bunch of folks with us here today. Uh, let’s see. Alison, Alison, great to have you here. Um, really? Yeah. One of our manufacturing leaders in the Atlanta area, Sophia talk about a ball of energy and insights. You better bring it on our live streams because she’s going to review it,

Greg White (00:03:48):

Sorry. She’s like,

Scott Luton (00:03:51):

She’s like Gardner jr or something, you know, she is, is going to vet things and then, you know, give her summary and review on it. Love it, memories back with this memory, of course, in Johannesburg, uh, uh, tuned in via LinkedIn. Great to have you here. Of course we couldn’t do anything without Amanda and clay in the background, they’re engaging audience and making sure that our, our audiences perspective is being shared effectively. And then one, uh, two final ones here saw Siaad who we’re on his podcast, I think last week or two in Pakistan. Hopefully this finds you well tuned in via Facebook and Corey Cromer, the legendary Corey CR Comber, legendary Corey Comber. He is with us.

Greg White (00:04:38):

That’s right.

Scott Luton (00:04:39):

Okay. So let’s go ahead and, uh, let’s pose the first Twitter question to the audience and you know, if you’re tuned in via Facebook or LinkedIn, you all dive right in share your, your answers, just make sure you use your [inaudible] so on and so forth. So first question, what are a couple of key considerations for enabling timely proactive data-driven supply chain decisions in 2020 and beyond answer now. And Greg, why don’t you, um, as we’re waiting for folks to kind of submit their perspective, what’s the first thing that comes to mind and, and, and your, and put your right on the spot. Yeah. Availability and cleanliness

Greg White (00:05:24):

Data. Those are the couple things that jump out at me, right? First of all, you have to have some data and secondly, it can’t be erroneous data. I’m going to say it it’s been said a thousand times garbage in garbage out. So we have to make sure that it’s clean, clean cleanse, right? Yes. Full of integrity. Yeah. I like that.

Scott Luton (00:05:50):

We’ve got a couple folks from Houston. Uh, we’ve got Lee from Houston. We also have Natasha also from, and both doing well. That’s great.

Greg White (00:05:59):

Yeah, that is great. They were on the proper side of the, of the storm. So they don’t take the brunt of it, but Houston, so close to the coast. This is a rough time of year for them frequently. Great.

Scott Luton (00:06:12):

Yup. Great news there. All right. So Alison first response, making sure that the data you’re using to make the decisions are valid, kind of echoes what you’re saying. Uh, Greg Jenny, our, our best friend from, uh, South Africa, Jenny Froome transparency, strong processes,

Greg White (00:06:32):

Agility and skills. I like that. It says a one transparency, because that is probably a number one, frankly, if you think about the answers or the question, right. I agreed.

Scott Luton (00:06:44):

All right. So we’ve got two here from Twitter, our good friends at virus meeting point, hopefully Kelly and the team are doing well, says resolving the massive data quality issues that plague our organization.

Greg White (00:06:56):

That’s a great one. Okay.

Scott Luton (00:06:57):

And then Stephen, what’s a live stream without one Steph and Matt.

Greg White (00:07:01):

Well, and this guy was a data analyst. I mean, this is his bag, maybe. So. Yeah, that’s right.

Scott Luton (00:07:07):

Uh, number one consideration would be trust between companies. It is key to the supply chain, then sharing the right data and data, quality, integrity, good stuff. There Tekla few others. Sylvia says real data, clean data.

Greg White (00:07:22):

Yes. Explanation. So both of our Germans have sounded off. Right, right here. The stalwarts in our lives, motorized Sylvia may be going back to a Hamburg soon. Right. That’s what she says. Humble, humble. Uh, Sophia,

Scott Luton (00:07:42):

First of all, define your data requirement. If you don’t know what you want and you don’t know where you’re headed, then what’s the point of collecting data,

Greg White (00:07:52):

Man. That is so poignant. It’s not data for data’s sake. Right. There’s got to be a purpose. That’s right.

Scott Luton (00:07:59):

All right. So we, uh, keep keeping the answers, man. Yeah, we got to, so, so to our audience, keep the comments coming in. We’re going to bring on our two featured guests and have them weigh in on this question and others. And, uh, let’s welcome in Tim judge, president and CEO

Greg White (00:08:15):

At analytics and Shannon

Scott Luton (00:08:17):

Vaillancourt president and founder at rate links.

Scott Luton (00:08:22):

Hey Shannon, Tim. Good afternoon. How are you doing

Greg White (00:08:26):

Good. I got Greg. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Welcome aboard, man.

Scott Luton (00:08:30):

Absolutely. So you can, if y’all can already make out, we’ve got some impressive folks in the audience as usual, very informed audience that we have here. I learned something from them every single hour. Um, but let’s pose the first question to them.

Greg White (00:08:44):

Yeah. Yeah, let’s do. So the question that we’re getting a ton of feedback on, I think we warned you that we would get a ton of feedback here. What are the couple of things for enabling this

Tim Judge (00:08:56):

PR timely and proactive and data-driven supply chain decisions now and into the future. So love to hear what you, I mean, you guys are in the forefront of this every day, solving problems for companies. So tell us a little bit about what you’re seeing or what you think or have found Tim. You want to go first? Yeah, sure. Thanks. Thanks Greg. Well, I mean, you guys hit a, hit hit on the, the focus point to start with right. Data, data quality, um, and in context, what makes data quality? So, so difficult is systems keep expanding, uh, data keeps expanding. We’re expected to have trillions of devices connected to the, to the internet in the, in the next few years. Um, all of the data in the world up until 2013 was five exabytes of data, which is about a million gigabytes or 5 million gigabytes. And we’re, we’re hitting that in about every minute.

Tim Judge (00:09:54):

So, um, in 60 seconds we’ll have hit about the, the equivalent of the data we hit from the beginning of time to 2003. So, um, so companies are trying to keep up with, with data, with data quality. So having a process in place and really thinking about it holistically, where we are now and into the future, um, is certainly certainly a big one, um, people in process or another. Um, so making sure that you have the right, the right talent, the right team, um, and plan in place that understands both the supply chain operations, as well as the data, the supply chain unicorns, as I, as I like to call them,

Scott Luton (00:10:32):

Hey, real quick, before we get, Shannon’s take, I want to share a couple of responses here. So Sammat says right. Prediction models. That is a good take there Cavon forecasting as well as optimized decisions.

Tim Judge (00:10:46):

I’m sure that data is what he’s saying. That’s right. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:10:50):

And then one final one, uh, proactive and reactive planning. Interesting. Take there. Um, well a lot, one more before we get Shannon’s. So Sarah Barnes Humphrey with let’s talk supply chain, one of our, uh, friends of the show based in Toronto, it’s a great topic. She’s an answering on Twitter via the let’s talk supply chain, Twitter handle. So good stuff there, Sarah. Great to have you all right. So Shannon let’s get your tape.

Tim Judge (00:11:14):

Yeah. Shannon you’re I mean, you started a company that lives on data. So, um, tell us a little bit about your take or maybe even some practical things you’ve seen. Well, I guess what I would do is I’m just going to dumb it down a little bit and start at the beginning. Cause I think what, what a lot of people forget is, you know, where are you on the journey? And really, if you’re going to use data first, you got to collect, it sounds stupid, but you’ve got to collect it. I’m telling you you’d be surprised. Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. And then you got to collect the right data. So a lot of times we hear from companies that they’re like, man, I got all this data

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:11:54):

And you know, you’ll, you’ll hear the cliche. I’m drowning in data, but starving for information because they’re not collecting the right data. And then the third thing you got to do is you actually have to use it to make decisions. And this is a nuance because what we find is a lot of companies are using data to justify the decision, not to make the decision. So it’s like, that’s really interesting collect the right data and then actually use it to make a decision. It’s like, let’s keep it really simple. These are the three things. And then once you get to that point, then it is about data, quality data quality. Don’t forget the definition of it. It’s, you know, the data is fit for its intended purpose. So again, the right data and that it actually describes the real world that you’re trying to make decisions on. So that speaks more to your accuracy and your completeness and timeliness. Those are the three dimensions also. So

Scott Luton (00:12:57):

Greg, I forgotten Shannon’s a repeat guest with us. Uh, we interviewed him in person, the Arizona at the [inaudible] conference before life change here in the States, I had forgotten just how much of a smooth operator Shannon is. I mean, his, his delivery makes you just want to follow him, run through.

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:13:16):

Right. Well, look, it, it makes so much sense. One, we have our first tee shirt, right. Which is drowning and David data starving for information. Right, right. Um, so we love it when you bring that kind of drop that kind of knowledge, Shannon. But the other is, and it is so easy to forget is to, is to get back to basics is to think about the basics. Don’t get over your skis. Right. You’ve got to be doing the foundational things, right? Like actually collecting data and all the things you said Shannon to, to make sure you can leverage it into some of the things that folks are talking about. You can’t forecast. If you don’t have the right data, you can’t predict if you don’t have the right data. And the other thing really poignant is data for justification sake. That those days are dead. Aren’t they? I mean, these days, well the availability and the, yeah, they should be dead. You’re right. They’re not, but it should be either helping you make the decision or making it, or even driving a system to make the decision for you or at least a recommendation based on the accumulation data. Yup. That’s it

Scott Luton (00:14:26):

Well said. All right. So to our audience, uh, Nearpod is here. He is our resident comedian. So be prepared. Hope you brought your sense of humor.

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:14:34):

So your hair critic, right.

Scott Luton (00:14:36):

It’s great to see a near FOD. Uh, Jeffrey Miller is here. One of our, our, our Sage supply chain leaders looking forward to his comments, Hey, uh, to our audience, we’re running a live stream where you can submit your, your, uh,

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:14:49):

Own take on these questions and a Twitter

Scott Luton (00:14:52):

Chat at the same time. Just make sure on the Twitter chat, you can find it on the supply chain. Now channel use the hashtag data-driven that you see in the banner there. So we can find a little bit easier and make sure you put a one or a two based on which question, you know, a one through a five based on which question you are answering. Okay. So let’s keep driving. Let’s go with question two. Greg, are you ready?

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:15:15):

I think I’m ready. Yes. Alright. So visibility is one of the hot topics in business and certainly supply chain. So we keep hearing about visibility and control towers and all of those really advanced things. But how have you both, or any of you out there seen your organizations optimize visibility lately? I mean, in, in just the months, maybe since covert hit, it’s such a critical thing and so necessary because I believe, and I think a lot of that, and I’d love to hear Tim from you and Shannon on this, that a lot of companies have to get to greater levels of automation and greater levels of analysis and in order to survive, um, forthcoming disruptions. So let’s put that out there to the audience, but Shannon, I mean, you see this a lot. Can you sound off on what you’ve seen or think or expect?

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:16:11):

Yeah. I mean, this is definitely the hottest topic out there. We’ve noticed that it’s gotten a lot more, I don’t know. I almost said visibility a lot more visibility within the company. He’s got a lot more attention, uh, within the company to become a higher priority. Uh, what I’ve, I mean, what I’ve seen personally out there in the market is that this is the struggle, because again, it comes back to, you know, the basics. Do they have data? Is it the right data? And that’s where they’re trying to turn on these visibility solutions, just finding that they’ve got issues. Uh, so really what they’re doing I think is, is finally realizing that they have to do something. I think that’s where at the very beginning stages of all this, um, you know, we’ve, we’ve been talking about it for boy, for you, I would say.

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:17:09):

And all that happened in the last few months with COVID is it just made everybody realize how important it really is? It’s no longer a nice to have a it’s a need to have. And you know what I heard from one company, it was interesting. They said that with COVID, one of the things that happened was their volume went up 30% and they said the challenge that it put on them and the stress was we didn’t have 18 months to plan for the increase. We had like 18 hours. Right. And they’re like, so what do you do? And so what they do is they go back to basics and they start going through their processes

Tim Judge (00:17:50):

And figuring out, okay, which one of these processes actually belong in the business. And they said, you know, does this process pay the rent? So that’s why, what we’re seeing is they’re doing whatever they have to do to get the visibility. And I think the, the truth is it’s a lot of manual right now because it’s, it’s a challenge. And I know that too, through this, a lot to, uh, on his side with stuff. So I’d be curious to see what you have to hear what you have to say to Tim. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:18:20):

Hey, before Tim would forget your take, I want to share two quick things from the audience. So first Sophia says, and we’re talking again, how have you seen some organizations optimize visibility in recent months? Sofia says by connecting all their different systems and making visuals, for example, dashboards available to all employees. I think that’s a great comment there, especially the second half. And then Jeffrey Miller says in the early days of IOT connectivity, the let’s put sensors on everything. Gangs, institutionalized a lot of bad habits. We grabbed data because we could not because we had decision making use for it. Has that behavior ended or do you still see availability driven data collection out there? That’s a great, great question. But, uh, Tim, let’s get your take. Okay.

Tim Judge (00:19:07):

Back to that question though, but Tim let’s, let’s get your take on. Shannon’s take, um, take, take, take, take, take it. We’re just takers. Well, we should, we should be givers now. Um, I, I completely agree. Uh, you know, it would Shannon’s assessment. I think COVID really brought to the forefront and made it even more urgent on, you know, in, in, in general, visibility is going to be a little bit fuzzy for, for ROI. Like how do we, how do we quantify it, right? How do you quantify, um, customer sentiment around getting their shipments on time and the quality of the shipments? You don’t, you don’t see it right away, but it’s everyone knows that she really hugely impactful. Uh, COVID really shown a lot shed a light on, you know, what’s the tangible ROI of not being able to fulfill product, having a switch manufacturing plants on the, on the fly, how to change our picking strategies to accommodate, you know, full e-commerce, um, you know, CA know capabilities and shifts of demand. And, you know, if you don’t have that quality data that we talked about in one place and have that, that data foundation, um, which is the beginnings of, of visibility, um, you’re really flying, flying blind, right? And for a lot of companies that take, you know, six, nine, 12 months to do a full refresh of the data. And we see that all the time with large companies, with small companies that enables your more advanced prediction optimization, anything utilizing mathematics to, to make decisions you first got to start with the foundation. So it’s not acceptable

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:20:50):

Anymore. Um, to really have, um, it take it, take that long and, and things like COVID things like, you know, changes in customers, things like innovation, you know, to see what some of these companies out there have done to global brands, um, you know, with a team of five to 10 in they’re in their garage, um, to ship direct to the consumer and build that, that relationship, um, are all things that are, are, have moved that as Shannon said from a, from a nice to have to a need, I even go a step further and say it a Holy crap for us to stay relevant. And in business, we need to be, you know, we have to do something.

Greg White (00:21:26):

Yeah. I think, look, you two have both mentioned this and I, I want to challenge the both of you and also, uh, Jeff Miller on this point. But first I think what companies have recognized is that they have scrambled and stumbled and scraped along

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:21:42):

This district disruption

Greg White (00:21:46):

They’ve faced other disruptions and they’ve kind of made their way through them, but this disruption was so all encompassing that it exposed the inadequacies. And both of you have, have essentially said, you’ve got to get over the line of doing something. So this is the question, a follow up question I’d love to pose to you. And that is what have you seen, or what do you suggest that companies do? What is, um, maybe a bottom long rung ladder, uh, kind of solution that they can do just to get over the line of doing something

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:22:23):

I can start, sorry. You’d think I’ve done this before. And it’s like, I don’t know. Should I talk, uh, you know, one of the things that I would like to point out too, with what you’re saying, Greg is what, what makes this COVID, uh, situation so unique? And I think as exposed, the challenges of not having data is nobody can rely on experience. Cause there’s two ways to make decisions, right. Or experience. I don’t know of anybody that was alive the last time this happened, who’s working in supply chain today. You know, as much as we like to joke that there’s a lot of old people in supply chain. They’re not that old, so right. That’s why you can’t rely on experience anymore. The old gut feel, there is no gut feel for this because we’ve never experienced this before. So, so that’s why I think it really does.

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:23:27):

Again, I keep it simple. You gotta collect some data and really what you gotta do is don’t just collect it for collection sake. Like the previous tweet was talking about, even when people do that, they’re like, Hey, let’s create a data Lake. I’m just going to throw all this stuff in there. And it’s like, cause I might need it. And it’s like a, will you, and then how the heck are you going to get it out of there? So I think you really got to just take a look at yourself and say, okay, you prioritize where your biggest gaps are, where your biggest opportunities are and start there and only bite off as much as you can chew. I think that’s where sometimes they’re trying to boil the ocean and then they they’re like, why did this not work? And it’s like, yeah, you gotta stay focused and staying focused and having some successes. So like I was told, I was told this like 20 years ago by somebody he’s like, Hey, Shannon, you always go for the knockout punch and you can’t do that. You gotta do body blows, body blows. And then once they drop their hands, then go for the knockout punch. And I think that’s how you gotta look at the data side to a little bot. You know, some body blows, it’s not sexy, but it gets the job done. And eventually you can go for the knockout.

Scott Luton (00:24:39):

All right. Excellent. And there’s so many Mike Tyson isms we could put in, in this conversation at this point, but let’s keep driving. We got to get to the next three questions. This, this answer came from let’s talk, supply chain, they’re making smarter and more strategic business decisions becoming more agile so they can pivot faster, good stuff there. And I, that we had one from buyer’s meeting point as well. If we can, you can share that in the meantime while he gets that Stephan says, unfortunately, and this goes back to how companies are achieving more visibility. Stephan says unfortunate, not much here. All the latest tech is very expensive since it is in demand. And I do have the feeling that companies still have. The outdated view that saving money in an industry term is more important than investing in, launching out of it. Um, stronger, more stronger than ever because stuff there from Steph and I got a few more, I want to share.

Scott Luton (00:25:34):

Are there perfect. Here’s buyer’s meeting point from Twitter, which is by the way, an outstanding Twitter account to follow, especially for like, if you love procurement. Uh, Kelly says tier one visibility. Oh, that’s the, that’s the last one clay. I think there was a second one. And if not, no worries. Um, let’s keep driving with this commentary here from, Oh, here we go. We want to get back to Jeff’s. I told y’all I was a wild, wild West. We’ve got comments and questions flying from different platforms. So let’s get back to Jeffrey, Jeff Miller’s question. Before we go to question three, and that is how much the available availability driven data collection are. Y’all still seeing out there, Tim, why don’t you want you to lead with that?

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:26:17):

Yeah, and I think it’s, we’ve made, we’re making a lot of, uh, certainly a lot of progress. Um, you know, it introduces more levels of complexity having, um, you know, having more and more data. Um, so to kind of tie that to, you know, to the last question is I like the term bite small, too fast, right? How do we take a look at, um, you know, our current data and processes and what we’re doing, even from our legacy systems, um, and at how do

Tim Judge (00:26:44):

We, how do we enable how we make the, get those quick wins, you know, from a particular team, there’s a reason that Excel is still probably the most popular supply chain technology out there. Why is that right? It’s because there’s innovation and technology that’s, you know, cover your ears, supply chain practitioners, but that’s outside of supply chain. Right. Um, so how do we, how do we enable that technology that, that it’s commoditized, right. And I know it gets the impression that it’s super expensive power BI is $10 per user, per month right now. Right? So there’s, there’s a lot of technology. That’s still a leaps and bounds, more flexible, more collaborative in nature. Um, the companies can kind of get behind and have, and have it, um, you know, POC created or minimum viable product in a specific, uh, team to get that value out of.

Tim Judge (00:27:36):

Um, and, and users are flocking to that, right? That’s why shadow it projects are, are on the rise. And co and teams are kind of using their own tools that they like is because they can’t wait around for, um, the legacy systems to really, to really catch up in the integration that needed, they need answers and then quick. So instead of allowing them to do that, how do we, how do we, you know, have leadership involve those different groups and, and again, bite small, too fast and try to get some quick wins with data. That’s a really good point. That is a big trend in the marketplace and has been for on a decade, which is com you know, this department uses Xcel. This department uses some, some other, um, business BI tech, and this one uses B you know, our BI or whatever, and nary the Twain shall meet. So that creates its own challenges.

Scott Luton (00:28:32):

Oh, I don’t, I don’t speak middle English, Greg, you’re gonna have to talk slower so I can understand you better. Hey, um, this, uh, from our own tweet says, uh, bite small and chew fast. I love the image that brings up, uh, Kayvon says first clearing qualified data, then testing business continuity plans, then optimizing the supply chain operations, according to well processed historical data. However, such disruptions pandemics should be planned based on being rather optimistic or pessimistic. These events are not that predictable, good stuff there. And from memory, uh, she likes that example of bowling the ocean. I think Shannon mentioned that there is a trend of defaulting to old habits and being complacent and keeping momentum high to keep changes, sustainable, good stuff there. And finally, from Pierre, before I moved to question three, Pierre says, Hey, Tim agreed focus is critical with the availability of data that is unconstrained companies are caught up front first, maybe in analysis paralysis and never get to the knockout punch. Excellent commentary from Pierre. Okay,

Tim Judge (00:29:45):

Go ahead. That’s good. Okay. I think, I think this is a logical transition to our next question, but, you know, we talked about visibility now, we’re going to talk about another catch phrase, Shannon, and that is transformation in this case, digital transformation often. Right. But, um, think about a few, um, change management methodologies that leaders, uh, ought to be using or are using, or you see that could be used to, to lead those kinds of transformations. What have you seen from that standpoint, Tim, let’s start with you. Um, so I w I would say there’s a lot of, and I’m sure you’re seeing this too, Greg. There’s a lot of blurring on what’s, you know, we’ll start from a department, um, and function perspective. So what defines supply chain purchasing marketing, um, in traditional roles, what data, um, you know, that they need, what responsibilities are they over, what initiatives, uh, there’s also a blurring.

Tim Judge (00:30:45):

Um, I would say between time windows of how decisions are made. So are we talking, you know, a typical planning cycle, are we talking a design based decision? Are we talking more operational decision that, that, that needs to be made? Um, so that becomes a lot of, uh, of complexity and confusion around what teams own that, um, you know, those, those types of decisions. So what I, what I do see is companies doing a better job of, of building things like a center of excellence, uh, dedicated for supply chain that would bring in different departments that solve problems that would traditionally, um, need input from all of those different functions. Um, so you’re starting to see teams that, that are, have ownership of both the visibility side. So they’re gonna need, um, you know, business intelligence and data expertise focused on supply chain. You’re going to see, um, then bring in, um, resources that are traditionally first on, focused on modeling and things that you would do with optimization type solutions and linear programming, as well as, uh, finally on the, on the planning side with, with, you know, solutions like, like Kanaxis and others out there, um, all in one team, um, to be able to, to determine, cause they’re all sharing the same data for the most part, right?

Tim Judge (00:32:02):

So, so their needs, um, and that’s another way to move quickly quickly is how do we get a representation from those small teams to be able to build those, those foundations provide that visibility that are there, that our business partners need and those different functions, um, that they need day in and day out while leveraging that same data that you use for visibility to better plan for the future, for things like SNOP SSOE and design strategy.

Scott Luton (00:32:28):

Excellent. Shannon, before we get your take there, uh, let’s talk about, let’s get, Sophia’s take. And one other Sophia says don’t make it about the tool, but rather about the people as people have to be part of the solution and own the change. I love that Sophia is bringing it today as always, right,

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:32:46):

That wasn’t really necessary for these transformations because ultimately that’s who adopts these things, right? And you can, you can shove as much data or even tech out at people that you want, but it’s got to be used or referred to, or, or drive recommendations or even decisions

Scott Luton (00:33:04):

Greg, as always Jaman, uh, via is that via Twitch or that might be

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:33:09):

Twitter Periscope. That’s good. Gotcha.

Scott Luton (00:33:13):

Uh, dedicated resources to bring collaboration across all business channels is so clutch for an agile supply chain. Good stuff there. And one more before we get Shannon’s take Stephen and Stephen you’re you’re typing

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:33:26):

Fast. How does they do it? Put the book together, love it.

Scott Luton (00:33:29):

So buy in from our teammates, he says, programs are just tools used use

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:33:33):

Company’s greatest asset people ask

Scott Luton (00:33:36):

The teammates, working with the actual actual programs and the data. They are the experts in the data and programs themselves be a servant leader and provide the tools they need. Then the system will take care of itself. Okay. Shannon, your take again, we’re talking a key change management considerations for driving leading trends.

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:34:00):

Yeah. And I really think it is dependent on the people. I mean, I’ve seen it over and over again, you know, culture eats strategy for lunch every day, the week. And if you don’t get the people to buy in, how are you ever going to make change? And that’s why I stick to a real simple and easy fundamental. I always think about, you know, M and M. I love M and M’s anyways, you know, the government, if you don’t, I don’t want to hear about it in the comments, by the way. I remember when I was in high school, I used to be able to gift pound bag and a large Coke, and I could actually survive eating the whole thing like an hour and a pound, either ride I’d probably lose weight. So M&M, it’s all about measuring monitor is how I think about it, measure and monitor what you’re doing.

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:34:52):

Because if at the end of the day, we need the people to buy into it. And if they see the positive it’s positive reinforcement, look at how good we’re doing. Look at it’s making progress because that’s what happens when they put these centers of excellence together is these guys were measuring and monitoring everything, and they’re seeing the positive outcomes. And they’re also seeing what’s taking away from the change so that they can quickly make, make the, uh, adapting to the, you know, whatever they’re seeing out there. So that’s why I always stick to them. That’s how I always think about it to make it easy.

Scott Luton (00:35:25):

Chris says culture eats strategy for lunch with some M and M’s

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:35:33):

All right, love it

Scott Luton (00:35:34):

Up 0.0, hang on, Greg. For your follow point from buyer’s meeting point a transformation starting now have to be iterative, smaller phase changes that provide opportunities for leaders to factor in unsettled elements in the macro environment, the visibility horizon just isn’t that far right now, they’re from Kelly, a buyer’s meeting point. All right, Greg, you had a follow

Greg White (00:35:59):

Comment. I happen to be somewhat passionate about this topic, but clearly I was channeling, um, not just what Tim and Shannon said, but also Kelly at meaning point because you know, people ask me a lot about digital transformation. So I don’t want to get all into what digital transformation is, but let’s just talk about transformation or change of any kind. And the truth is everyone who has commented here has been dead on. It needs to be small. You need to involve your people. It needs to be a proximate pain. That’s one thing that I, I can’t, I cannot state too strongly. And Shannon, you kind of alluded to that. It should be something that your team is begging to have solved, not something you in the ivory tower or the corporate office feel needs to be solved the way that you get them to, to M and M right.

Greg White (00:36:54):

Monitor is to give them that thing that hurts them personally makes them feel bad about their job or about the effectiveness of it. And take that away, take that pain away, and then demonstrate with M and M that as you’re talking about that it’s made you more effective that it’s made frankly, your life better. You have to acknowledge that it is bettering people’s lives that you’re really starting with. It really gets that buy in. And that’s, that’s a critical component of it is to find the pain that people are begging to have changed, not to project a pain that even the corporation, it needs to be personal to start. When you, when they start to see those, those problems solved, then they’ll start to buy into some of those bigger, more strategic things. Yup. Yup.

Scott Luton (00:37:42):

Uh, memories echoing a lot of what you are sharing here to improve transformation owner ownership. We need to increase, buy in from employees and for leaders to be consistent. That’s a good point, consistent in the growth and change strategies going forward, you know, is there enough consistency in leadership these days? There’s probably never enough. That’s a great point memory.

Greg White (00:38:02):

Okay. Um,

Scott Luton (00:38:04):

The second time we probably should move right along to question four. I know there’s a lot more we can dive into when it comes to change management, but, um, Hey, this is the nature of these live streams. We’ve got to move fast. All right. So question four, if we can throw that up there. Yeah. All right. Question for Greg, many organizations are in the midst of digitization efforts, where do you see leaders making critical mistakes in these transformation efforts, again, to our audience, be sure to use the hashtag data-driven 20, 20 and

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:38:36):

A four as you preface your answers and responses to this question. All right, Greg. Yeah. So both of you have to have seen this. I mean, considering what your businesses do. Shannon, tell us a little bit about, I mean, don’t name names, please, unless you particularly want to, but unless they’re not a client anymore, but where have you seen some of these critical mistakes made and maybe outline one or two that just your mind by it all comes down to, um, data quality. You can’t digitize a decision unless you have quality data. So again, everything is just so connected together, but I’ve got bad data. Um, I’m going to make bad decisions. You know, last night I’m watching TV and commercial comes on, it talks about, you know, Hey, the number one movie in America today is unhinged. And I’m like, hello, kit, my wife.

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:39:33):

And I go, it’s the only movie I didn’t even know there were movies out marketing, but then the next scene, it says it is the only movie out in America. So it’s like, see, so it’s like, I could have been totally misled and to go into the movie thinking it’s really good. Yeah. The only one out. So of course it’s number one. It’s also the, it’s also the bottom movie. That’s how so again, so talk about if I’m going to digitize decision-making and things like that, I gotta have quality data. It’s gotta be accurate, complete and timely. So it’s got to represent the real world that describes. And that’s where we see that a lot of companies will digitize the decision making. And then they’re like, Oh, it didn’t work. And it’s like, well, right. Cause you got bad data or you’re missing a piece of it.

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:40:24):

That’s critical. And that’s just what we see all the time. And you know, most of the time. So you think about some of these, uh, I mean the one that we see a lot is usually around, uh, people trying to automate certain processes and they’re like, there’s too many exceptions and then they throw bodies at it. And yeah, you have exceptions because you have a data quality problem. That’s ultimately the issue. And because there aren’t many systems out there that have data quality as part of their offering that’s, what’s missing. So that’s, and that’s a really good point data, quality issues or process issues. How many times have we seen people try to automate a really, really bad process and all they do is fail that much of what you’re right. Yeah. Tim, Oh, go ahead, Scott. You’re uh, I got no sound from Scott. Oh, here we go.

Scott Luton (00:41:23):

Take Sophia and Jamie kind of speak to the same thing here. Uh, Sophia says, applying what others have done and thinking it will bye

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:41:32):

Work on company. And

Scott Luton (00:41:34):

Then Jaman said earlier, kind of along the same lines, uh, let’s see here. Well basically said you can’t just do it because the jones’ are doing it right. Keep up with the Joneses. You won’t get much buy in. Jason also says, Hey, being too vague and broad and implementation is making it tough to measure and even tougher to get, buy in, get stuff there from Jaman and memory. All right. So Tim way in force.

Tim Judge (00:41:58):

Yeah. Yeah. And actually to tie this back to, to, to culture. Um, and, and, and the people side, I really, I really believe there’s been kind of a failure in, in leadership to, you know, Hey, we, you know, everybody knows we need to, um, you know, to generate buy-in. Um, and I was listening to a podcast this morning, um, from Keith Ferazi when he was talking about where buy in is BS in is I’m trying to sell you on something that I think you need as a leader. And what we really need is kind of a co-creation right. Cause who’s gonna know, um, what they’re trying to solve. Who’s going to hear that feedback from the customers is going to be the people on the frontline and it’s going to be the people interacting. So rather than again, let’s go collect the world of data and figure out how to use it.

Tim Judge (00:42:44):

Um, let’s, let’s start with what, what the infer, what problems we’re trying to solve with decisions. We’re trying to make how that ties to our business strategy and get the input from all of those different teams before even embarking on how we’re going to collect the data is collecting data that you don’t need, or it’s not clean, or it’s not important is a waste of time. Right. Um, so, so starting with that, uh, as, as, as kind of the, the beginnings and, and rather than focusing on, Hey, I’m going to make a decision and, and push it down the organization promote, you know, let’s, let’s get their input, let’s start with what, what what’s needed back into what data to collect, then go to how to collect it and then how to, how to give them the information to make decisions. So I think we’re going at it backwards and we need to kind of turn, turn it, turn it around. Um, and start from that,

Scott Luton (00:43:34):

Preach it brother, on how many times does buy in mean make a decision in that ivory tower and then stuff it down people’s throats. That’s absolutely critical. And everyone is kind of talked to around that point, buy in, starts at the beginning, doesn’t it. And, and really who knows better than the people who are facing the pain to help construct the solution. Excellent. Excellent point. Love, love, love the, a, the kindred spirits on this live stream here today. All right. So Stephan says collecting too much data, and then the much mentioned garbage in garbage out. Also the automation is just as good as the underlying process processes need to be planned thoroughly. Otherwise your faulty process is just faster, not better. Uh, all right. Good stuff there. Jeff. That’s a good one. Yep. Jeff says failure to balance between digitization of data to solve a longstanding and digitization of data to enable a new capability. It’s good stuff there. And we’re talking about what mistakes we’re seeing leaders make when it comes to digital digitization set up five times faster and transformation

Tim Judge (00:44:48):

I’m Daryl, Luke, and say it that many times. That’s right.

Scott Luton (00:44:52):

Um, alright. So a lot of good stuff there. Uh, I love that, uh, Greg, going back to your point, buy and starts right up front. I mean, it’s not something you get in stage three,

Tim Judge (00:45:03):

Three or four.

Scott Luton (00:45:05):

It reminds me of that phrase. You drive change with the people. You don’t do it to the people or some, some version of that that is so relevant and, and timely in 2020. Right.

Tim Judge (00:45:17):

Well, look, I, I can feel it. We’re in a room, uh, of, you know, let’s call, let’s call it room full of founders, right? We’re in a room, are those smart asses who sat in the back of the room all through their high school and college and probably careers before they started their own businesses who thought I can do it better than that? They saw the mistakes made by managers. I mean, they saw, I’m sure we all saw great leadership and challenges conquered and things like that. But you see, so often those things that are done wrong and you just feel compelled to fix it. Right. And you can just, you can just feel that in this conversation here, Jack Reed Miller and some of these other folks as well, right. Clearly that pain and are, um, you know, sharing their wisdom. Yep.

Scott Luton (00:46:10):

[inaudible] great to have you here in the live stream, once again says buy and also needs to include people who are executing the process, not just at the management level. Greg, I think why I think all, all of y’all have spoken to that stuff there.

Tim Judge (00:46:23):

Okay. Do you feel Shannon and Tim, do you feel like we need to get all these people in a room and we could just solve the problems that we’re talking about? It seems, I mean, it seems like it’s, it’s interesting to look at what the audience is saying, what you all are saying and that we all foundationally agree and yet it’s somehow not getting done. Where do you think the message is being lost? Hmm, great question. Yeah, if I started, I think it’s a great question, right? I think it’s, it’s it’s communication. Um, I think most organizations, um, have trouble, um, speaking up and tapping into their, their, their workforce quite honestly, and being transparent and candid and candor. Um, and there there’s two ways to create candor. One. You can, you can hire all a holes like inside. I don’t know if you can curse on this. Um, and, and, but there’s not enough a-holes out there. And that doesn’t then the second way to do it is, is to get, um, you know, create a culture where you can speak up and, and know that you’re not going to be punished by bringing, bringing. And you

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:47:30):

Need to try to scale that out from, from, you know, across the departments in your, in your organization, because those people know, they know in those different groups, the way that we do this process is archaic and we need to, you know, better. And you just tap into those people. There’s also best practices that each of these teams are probably enabling, um, on a day to day basis. That if you could just tap into that and scale that out across your organization, um, you’d see real, real benefits. What do you think? Shannon? Good point, Tim. Yeah, you’re right. I mean, I don’t think it’s desire. I think it’s just a fear of failure. I’m very simply put, I mean, there’s a reason why we’re founders and you know, not everybody can do it. It’s fear of failure. I mean, it’s, you know, if you really think about failing and are afraid of it, you’re not going to put yourself out there to make a change.

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:48:20):

I mean, think about, you’re about to tell somebody, Hey, we let’s do this. This will solve the problem. There’s a lot of fear there around what if it doesn’t work, I’m going to look, I’m going to look stupid or, you know, oops, I’m going to be embarrassed. And it’s like, you know, that part of your brain has to kind of turn off sometimes and you gotta make the best decision you can and go forward again. That’s why everything we’ve talked about today, if you’re collecting data, it’s the right data. If you’re biting small, chewing fast, you’re able to do these things better. So again, like you said, Tim, you know, best practices. I think we’ve got a lot of them that we’ve talked about here today and maybe that’ll help get people over that hump of, of the fear side.

Scott Luton (00:49:04):

Yeah. Alright. Uh, so much the juices are flowing here today and I’d love to take dive in deeper to the responses, but for the sake of time, we’ve gotten to flip over to question five,

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:49:18):

Cause we’ve also got the crystal ball again. That’s right.

Scott Luton (00:49:20):

Because we also have a great story. We’re going to tackle on the back end of this live stream. So the final question of the live streaming and tweet chat today, looking ahead to 2021, do you see any industry surprises that we aren’t talking about right now? Any bold predictions folks. Alright, who’s going first, but yeah. And Shannon, let’s start with you.

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:49:47):

Great. I guess the, the bold prediction I would make for 2021 is that people actually use data to make a decision. I think that’s the easy one. I think what you’re going to see is that which companies are going to take the lead on data and skip to the next level. I think right now, one thing I’ve learned in this industry is that we’re about 10 years behind typically. So which company is going to jump to what is really relevant today. And what I mean by that is if you look at what most companies are trying to do today is trying to create dashboards,

Tim Judge (00:50:29):

Trying to create reports. So that way a human can look at it, interpret and make a decision who is really going to digitize the decision, making, skip that process and go directly to AI and machine learning and really get a huge competitive advantage because it exists and who’s going to do it first. And I think that’s what we’re going to see for 2021. And I think it’s because COVID showed that we’ve gotta be able to work faster and the definition of speed completely changed, uh, with COVID. So that’s my prediction is I think some companies are gonna skip and bypassed reporting and BI because BI is rear view mirror, and they’re going to go more to the digital decision-making and really focus on the data quality. Nice. Yeah, that’s a good point. I agree with that.

Scott Luton (00:51:26):

All right. So before we get, Tim’s take, I want to share this. And for some reason I don’t have visibility into who this is on LinkedIn. So if, uh, clay or Mandy can share that with me, the need for the C level and top managers to convince everyone they have all the answers is in leftover from the nineties.

Tim Judge (00:51:43):

Um, [inaudible] yeah,

Scott Luton (00:51:45):

Yeah. Of the CEO. Thank you, Greg.

Tim Judge (00:51:47):

I thought this is the right time of day for that kind of word that we to pay two 99 a minute for that kind of action.

Scott Luton (00:51:58):

That is the obstacle to getting input from the market or their own people on the front lines. Good stuff there. Alright, so Tim, uh, Shannon, thanks for going first. Uh, Tim, let’s talk about what we’re not talking about or give us a prediction for

Tim Judge (00:52:14):

Future. I think we’re going to see an a and we were starting to, of course is a huge acceleration in convergence of things like AI robotics. And I think companies that are starting now or starting with a workforce that is extremely comfortable with technology with, um, you know, with innovation, with, um, you know, with, with new tools and technology, um, that, that helps, um, you know, engage their users and, and there’s, you know, size no longer, uh, matters, right when it comes to our organizational size, um, necessarily. Um, so I think it’s the, gap’s going widen if, if larger companies and the organizations don’t, um, investing in focusing to, you know, what their next growth plans to take advantage of these technologies do. And it’s, it’s always difficult for large organizations to innovate from within, right. It’s why, you know, Steve jobs had a separate, you know, skunk team to work on the Macintosh. It’s why, you know, and in larger companies do that is because it’s difficult. So understanding that is difficult and, and, you know, um, and getting the right teams together, um, and innovate, I think,

Greg White (00:53:26):

Is going to be extremely important. Love that.

Scott Luton (00:53:29):

So I’ve got some answers I’m gonna share from the audience here in just a second, but buyer’s meeting point says the best tip of the day is don’t hire all a-holes resonating. So I guess we can say that other tee shirts. All right. So this comes from,

Greg White (00:53:49):

Go ahead. Were you gonna say something? I was just saying, you can do it with a hedge fund. If you only need 200, 200 people, you could probably get by, but yeah, like you can’t, you can’t do it in technology, unfortunately like a true founder.

Scott Luton (00:54:02):

So this comment from Twitter says maybe there will be a big change in how businesses interface with clients. I agree with that. Stephan says, Hey, being bold drone delivery becomes mainstream electric vehicles, cars and trucks will reduce cost per mile significantly, no more broken motors and transmission free fuel with trucking companies having a huge charging network. So that’s great as a lesser costs,

Greg White (00:54:33):

Freight train

Scott Luton (00:54:34):

That’s right. Sophia says, she’s gonna say food delivery. So food delivery is gonna be here for the long haul. I think it seems like from an Sophia’s take Jaman via Twitter says I think outside tech, we will see a shift in talent as it does settle from 2020. People will be more aggressive about moving to ideal companies or work set ups, give stuff there. Um, Oh, by the way, the client great to have you, he’s watching via LinkedIn in the democratic Republic of Congo. So great to have you here with

Greg White (00:55:04):

This decline. One final global, right.

Scott Luton (00:55:08):

That’s right. One final comment from Chris here, a rapid shift to AI driven, productive change systems systems will both suggest and make changes automatically good stuff there. I think my kids are predicted there. They’re suggesting changes and making them whether I give them permission or not.

Greg White (00:55:27):

That’s where we’re at my term of the day pre Daptiv. I mean, really, if we think about what look as, as Shannon said earlier, um, we have all kinds of predictive models. They couldn’t predict this. What has come to the fore in, in this crisis and in so many crises, but this one was just so vast that it highlighted things is that adaptability is critical to success even more critical than prediction.

Scott Luton (00:55:56):

Yeah. Great point. Absolutely. Uh, let’s double down on that, that that’s, that’s not only where we’re headed. It’s where we already are a memory shares. I think there is a ton, or I think there is room for improvement to bottle down technology innovations, especially on data quality, down to lower tiers of the supply chain, moving things downstream. Uh, and then finally last mile delivery will go beyond the big box players and be deployed at much lower levels of industry. All right, good stuff. So, um, really appreciate everyone participating in this Twitter slash livestream chat, some fascinating comments. We got not just from our panel here, but equally as fascinating and intriguing from our audience. So thanks so much for participating. Um, we wanna wrap, uh, we got two things to tackle before we call it a call to a live stream. The first is Shannon and Tim, your organizations have some really big news. So, um, let’s, let’s talk about that. So I think we’re going to get, Tim’s take first, Tim, tell us more about this big news.

Tim Judge (00:57:05):

Yeah, sure. And I appreciate, uh, Scott and Greg, your, your time, what a great conversation and the questions from the audience. Um, you know, one of the things that as you probably got from, from, from this conversation and Shannon, and I see, see eye to eye on, on a lot of the challenges companies are facing, uh, the importance of data quality and visibility. Um, Gardner predicts, I think within three years over 50% of companies will be starting to invest in transportation, visibility solutions. Um, and the like, um, so I think from, you know, rate links, um, as a partner for us and being able to provide that, that visibility and everything that we do from a service perspective for our customers, um, is huge. Um, and you know, and just so I die on, on, on a lot. So I, uh, I look forward to the continued partnership,

Scott Luton (00:57:55):

Outstanding and Shannon.

Tim Judge (00:57:58):

Yeah. I mean, hecho exactly what Tim said. I mean, we really have the same outlook on things we were trying to help our customers solve these difficult problems. And what we found is that we’ve got part of the data, he’s got part of the data and we’ve just got to pull it together. You know, it’s make the peanut butter cup so better together. I love the way you eat up. So on your running so much, so maybe the Mo the biggest business problem or the most painful problem, you all have seen the cause that caused you to that, to put this together. I mean, what do you think you saw best together? It’s common customer questions. Um, you know, and I, you know, if you, if you know me well, I just, um, you know, the, the, the noise and uncertainty in the market, uh, ER, Sherry Highness calls it, you know, that customers have have strong, shiny object fatigue. Right. Um, I think there’s a lot of confusion in the market, you know, terms like control tower and analytics and optimization, and AI is just, you know, it’s hard to go, you know, to get from point a to point B. Um, and I think with Shannon and I really realized is let’s take, take a step back and help companies get that quick win very, very fast and, and not, not small right as is, you know, I want to do

Shannon Vaillancourt (00:59:22):

It 10 X faster, right? How do we, how do we get the value to the customers and really, um, provide solutions so that they can start seeing value ASAP? Um, so we both saw a need in the market to be able to do that. Yeah, it’s, it’s the sustainable year over year value that we’re able to deliver together between, you know, his organization and our organization. I think that’s really what, what the companies are looking for, because quite honestly, they don’t know how to do it, or they kind of know how to go. And that’s where with, with Tim and I’s Amanda Lutonorganizations, we’re able to go in there and do it very quickly because a lot of these companies just are strapped for resources from an it perspective. And that’s, we can bridge that gap and get them accelerated down the path, uh, to, you know, making data, help them and drive these decisions and really impacting the bottom line.

Shannon Vaillancourt (01:00:21):

I think people, I mean, a lot of companies and that’s one thing we didn’t really address here, but we probably should is everybody has a day job. And especially now those day jobs might be two or three. We just talked to somebody at a very large company who now has two jobs, um, effectively, right? So having someone who is an expert and creates an accelerant and gets you on that bottom rung of the ladder or higher, if you’re already on the ladder, right. And is able to instill and create sustainability. And those, those kinds of initiatives is really, really valuable right now. I hope that companies recognize that that speed and employing expertise is as important as taking on the initiative in and of itself. Right.

Scott Luton (01:01:10):

Hmm. Um, so let’s talk about, so, so congratulations on all the growth and the partnership, what we’ll keep our finger on the tabs and see where this goes and, and just how much more you can help Shannon. I really like your both y’all spoke to it, but I really, um, speed and acceleration seems to be the theme of this week. Greg’s part theme of the, of several years here, but certainly we’ve heard a lot about that for whatever reason this week. And as Jamie says in the comment speed matters. Absolutely. All right. So there’s also an upcoming webinar. You’re talking about speed and, and, um, building a control tower in 30 days is going to be the subject of an upcoming rate links, webinar. Uh, and Shannon, are you leading that or Nate or, uh, who on the team is leading the webinar?

Shannon Vaillancourt (01:01:55):

I think it’s going to be Nate with you, Tim, right? Yep. I’ll definitely be participating for sure.

Scott Luton (01:02:01):

Outstanding. And, and you’re confident you can get it done in 30 days or less, right. Or money back.

Shannon Vaillancourt (01:02:06):

Absolutely. Man, throw down the gauntlet. Scott,

Scott Luton (01:02:13):

Hey, just making a play on that famous Domino’s, uh, jingle from yesteryear. Um, so much good stuff

Scott Luton (01:02:20):

With, uh, Shannon and Tim really appreciate y’alls, um, your approach, your openness, and, and all the insights you shared today, uh, to our audience, the direct link for that webinar, which sounds like it’s going to be featuring Tim and Nate, Nate in the cot with right. Links can be found in the show notes. Y’all make sure you sign up for that. A big thanks again to Shannon Vaillancourt, uh, president and founder with rate links and Tim judge, president CEO of agile Lytics. We hope to see you soon and they will give you, bring you back home in the year and we’ll see how the, uh, your crystal ball predictions plays out.

Greg White (01:02:55):

Love it. That’s so unfair. We should be like ESPN and never replay any of the ridiculous things that you know. Right.

Scott Luton (01:03:04):

That’s all right. I wish so. Yeah.

Greg White (01:03:06):

Where would Lou Holtz be if we held him accountable to two for 200? I don’t know, but

Scott Luton (01:03:13):

Shannon, Tim, thanks so much. We look forward to reconnecting with you real soon.

Greg White (01:03:17):

Yeah. Thank you, everybody. Appreciate it. All right.

Scott Luton (01:03:24):

I was hoping that sewage was coming. I get my vitamin an extra second or two, but what a, uh, fast moving we’re talking speed a second ago. Yes. Fast moving, accelerate a accelerated conversation. So many topics, big meaty topics. Yeah. And a ton of perspective audience did not let us down. They never do. You know?

Greg White (01:03:45):

Yeah. Well, I mean, I think this is one of the most engaging topics, first of all, it’s so vague. Right. And I think Sophia referenced that early, early on is you have to make it tangible. You have to connect it to the people, frankly. I think you have to extract what that need is for, uh, collecting data or for digitization or process change and improvement. You have to extract that from the people feeling, the pain that we talked about a few minutes ago, um, and get their engagement and buy-in first. Yeah. Great. Yeah.

Scott Luton (01:04:23):

So many, so many t-shirt isms in today’s conversation and really, really real, you know, not lip service. I mean Shannon and Tim and they’re doing it, they’re helping other organizations do it. So capture these opportunities. Um, alright, so let’s talk about briefly. We’re going to wrap up here momentarily. And again, thanks to the audience for the wonderful all the, all the participation engagement, um, two events coming up that you need to be aware of beyond the webinar that rate links is putting on the first one, we’re really excited to be, um, attending the six river systems user conference. That’s entitled flow 2020. So Greg all about the future of logistics, operations and warehousing. You’ve got senior executives from, uh, six river systems and Shopify keynoting, and it’s free to attend

Greg White (01:05:10):

If you’re talking about, if you’re talking about retail fulfillment and you have the opportunity to hear Shopify, listen up,

Scott Luton (01:05:20):

No brainer, no brainer

Greg White (01:05:22):

Yet anyone more authoritative and, and neutral, right?

Scott Luton (01:05:26):

You can check that out. We’ve got the direct link to that in the show notes as well. And one more from our friends over at Reuters events, supply chains is supply chain USA, virtual Greg, you and I would love to be in Chicago as we’re speaking, we’re amongst the speakers for this event. Um, but it’s going to be virtual this year. Maybe, maybe back in Chicago next year. We’ll see. We can do a Chicago backdrop. Maybe green-screen Hey, it’s all about getting creative, right? Yeah.

Greg White (01:05:54):

I guess I wanted to be in my backdrop. Geno’s East be right there.

Scott Luton (01:05:59):

Kudos to Nick Liliana and the team they’ve put a home run panel together. Uh, we, we play a very small part. Sandra McQuillan with mandolins international, Greg [inaudible] who’s CEO of the own, the move lineage logistics. Yeah.

Greg White (01:06:15):

They acquired about six minutes. They will soon. Amen. Yeah.

Scott Luton (01:06:21):

Our friend Colin Yankee with tractor supply company. Those are three of numerous other keynotes. Yeah. Good stuff.

Greg White (01:06:28):

Jeremy CPO of arc best. I mean, there, there’s some heavy hitters in this, um, in this group. That’s right.

Scott Luton (01:06:36):

Join us there October 7th and eighth virtually. And we’ve got a link in our show notes. You can get a free taster pass. I’m not sure exactly what all that entails, but go ahead and sign up for it. Cause you’re not gonna wanna miss these, uh, the keynotes that we’ve mentioned and, and plenty of others that will be there. And if there’s something we talked about here today that you can’t find you can’t Google stop popping up, shoot us a note manda@supplychainatradio.com. We will make sure we get you connected to all the great thought leadership that Tim and Shannon laid out there. Or if there’s a link, you can’t find the sheet. Just note, we’ll try to serve as a resource as best that we can. Greg. Great, great show. I really enjoyed, we kind of knew we knew what was coming, right. We’re familiar with Shannon and Tim and, and we enjoyed the planning calls with what they were going to share today, but man, so much good stuff and then had the audience to weigh in and accentuate or kind of share different different takes on, on visibility and all things. Data. It’s funny. I think back when big data first became

Greg White (01:07:39):

Kind of a thing to say, and,

Scott Luton (01:07:42):

And just how far we have come as an industry, you know, since that time, but great show today. Huh?

Greg White (01:07:49):

You know, I think to me, this just reinforces the lesson that, you know, as we’ve, as we’ve said before, you’ve got to get your people involved. You’ve got to start small. I think it’s easiest. If you start with a really proximate pain, something that hurts so bad, you feel compelled to change it. And the other that I think is not as obvious is you’re going into the wilderness, right? This, this whole thing

Scott Luton (01:08:16):

Is a wilderness. Get a guide. When we talk about speed and we talk about effectiveness, it’s dangerous to go into the wilderness without a guide. So get a guide, have somebody help you through it? The money that you’ll spend to have somebody help help you get through the process, we’ll come back tenfold. Well, put a G a great thought to wrap up. Today’s show on. So to the audience again, thanks. You’re all the reason we do this. Really appreciate it. How y’all brought it today. So much perspective on each of the questions and beyond, and it really makes, you know, conducting these shows very rewarding on our supply chain. Now team’s part. So with that in mind, issues, challenge with challenge, our team would challenge our audience, you know, Hey, do good, give forward, be the change that’s needed. And on that note, we’ll see you next time here on supply chain now. Thanks everybody.