“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.
Shannon Vaillancourt is the President and Founder of RateLinx. He started the company in 2002 with the idea that there was a better way to give companies complete visibility to their supply chain. Since then, RateLinx has become a leading supply chain software and data services company that gives retailers, manufacturers, and distributors the ability to ship, track, and pay for their freight. Before founding RateLinx, Shannon held several leadership and technical roles in software engineering, solutions, and services. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Connect with Shannon on LinkedIn.
Tim Judge is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Agillitics, the Supply Chain Analytics firm helping companies build repeatable supply chain data foundations and internal capabilities leveraging best in class Business Intelligence, Analytics, Supply Chain Design & Optimization solutions. This enables their many happy customers across retail, consumer goods, and logistics to drive better business outcomes through improved visibility, prediction, and actionable decision support. Prior to starting Agillitics, Tim worked in a number of Director and Practice Lead roles for supply chain leaders such as Manhattan Associates, Enterra Solutions, and enVista where he led supply chain transformation implementations across multiple customer verticals and service offerings including: Warehousing & DC Design, Labor Management, Transportation, Order Fulfillment and Business Intelligence and Analytics. Tim has an MBA and BS in Industrial & System Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and is a certified: Supply Chain Professional (CSCP), PMP, Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt.
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Host, Logistics with Purpose
Kristi Porter is VP of Sales and Marketing at Vector Global Logistics, a company that is changing the world through supply chain. In her role, she oversees all marketing efforts and supports the sales team in doing what they do best. In addition to this role, she is the Chief Do-Gooder at Signify, which assists nonprofits and social impact companies through copywriting and marketing strategy consulting. She has almost 20 years of professional experience, and loves every opportunity to help people do more good.
Host
From humble beginnings working the import docks, representing Fortune 500 giants, Ford, Michelin Tire, and Black & Decker; to Amazon technology patent holder and Nordstrom Change Leader, Kimberly Reuter has designed, implemented, and optimized best-in-class, highly scalable global logistics and retail operations all over the world. Kimberly’s ability to set strategic vision supported by bomb-proof processes, built on decades of hands-on experience, has elevated her to legendary status. Sought after by her peers and executives for her intellectual capital and keen insights, Kimberly is a thought leader in the retail logistics industry.
Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol
Sofia Rivas Herrera is a Mexican Industrial Engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey class 2019. Upon graduation, she earned a scholarship to study MIT’s Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and graduated as one of the Top 3 performers of her class in 2020. She also has a multicultural background due to her international academic experiences at Singapore Management University and Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Sofia self-identifies as a Supply Chain enthusiast & ambassador sharing her passion for the field in her daily life.
Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol
Demo Perez started his career in 1997 in the industry by chance when a relative asked him for help for two just weeks putting together an operation for FedEx Express at the Colon Free Zone, an area where he was never been but accepted the challenge. Worked in all roles possible from a truck driver to currier to a sales representative, helped the brand introduction, market share growth and recognition in the Colon Free Zone, at the end of 1999 had the chance to meet and have a chat with Fred Smith ( FedEx CEO), joined another company in 2018 who took over the FedEx operations as Operations and sales manager, in 2004 accepted the challenge from his company to leave the FedEx operations and business to take over the operation and business of DHL Express, his major competitor and rival so couldn’t say no, by changing completely its operation model in the Free Zone. In 2005 started his first entrepreneurial journey by quitting his job and joining two friends to start a Freight Forwarding company. After 8 months was recruited back by his company LSP with the General Manager role with the challenge of growing the company and make it fully capable warehousing 3PL. By 2009 joined CSCMP and WERC and started his journey of learning and growing his international network and high-level learning. In 2012 for the first time joined a local association ( the Panama Maritime Chamber) and worked in the country’s first Logistics Strategy plan, joined and lead other associations ending as president of the Panama Logistics Council in 2017. By finishing his professional mission at LSP with a company that was 8 times the size it was when accepted the role as GM with so many jobs generated and several young professionals coached, having great financial results, took the decision to move forward and start his own business from scratch by the end of 2019. with a friend and colleague co-founded IPL Group a company that started as a boutique 3PL and now is gearing up for the post-Covid era by moving to the big leagues.
Host, Supply Chain Now
The founder of Logistics Executive Group, Kim Winter delivers 40 years of executive leadership experience spanning Executive Search & Recruitment, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Corporate Advisory, Motivational Speaking, Trade Facilitation and across the Supply Chain, Logistics, 3PL, E-commerce, Life Science, Cold Chain, FMCG, Retail, Maritime, Defence, Aviation, Resources, and Industrial sectors. Operating from the company’s global offices, he is a regular contributor of thought leadership to industry and media, is a professional Master of Ceremonies, and is frequently invited to chair international events.
He is a Board member of over a dozen companies throughout APAC, India, and the Middle East, a New Zealand citizen, he holds formal resident status in Australia and the UAE, and is the Australia & New Zealand representative for the UAE Government-owned Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the Middle East’s largest Economic Free Zone.
A triathlete and ex-professional rugby player, Kim is a qualified (IECL Sydney) executive coach and the Founder / Chairman of the successful not for profit humanitarian organization, Oasis Africa (www. oasisafrica.org.au), which has provided freedom from poverty through education to over 8000 mainly orphaned children in East Africa’s slums. Kim holds an MBA and BA from Massey & Victoria Universities (NZ).
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Adrian Purtill serves as Business Development Manager at Vector Global Logistics, where he consults with importers and exporters in various industries to match their specific shipping requirements with the most effective supply chain solutions. Vector Global Logistics is an asset-free, multi-modal logistics company that provides exceptional sea freight, air freight, truck, rail, general logistic services and consulting for our clients. Our highly trained and professional team is committed to providing creative and effective solutions, always exceeding our customer’s expectations and fostering long-term relationships. With more than 20+ years of experience in both strategy consulting and logistics, Vector Global Logistics is your best choice to proactively minimize costs while having an exceptional service level.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Kevin Brown is the Director of Business Development for Vector Global Logistics. He has a dedicated interest in Major Account Management, Enterprise Sales, and Corporate Leadership. He offers 25 years of exceptional experience and superior performance in the sales of Logistics, Supply Chain, and Transportation Management. Kevin is a dynamic, high-impact, sales executive and corporate leader who has consistently exceeded corporate goals. He effectively coordinates multiple resources to solution sell large complex opportunities while focusing on corporate level contacts across the enterprise. His specialties include targeting and securing key accounts by analyzing customer’s current business processes and developing solutions to meet their corporate goals. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Jose Manuel Irarrazaval es parte del equipo de Vector Global Logistics Chile. José Manuel es un gerente experimentado con experiencia en finanzas corporativas, fusiones y adquisiciones, financiamiento y reestructuración, inversión directa y financiera, tanto en Chile como en el exterior. José Manuel tiene su MBA de la Universidad de Pennsylvania- The Wharton School. Conéctese con Jose Manuel en LinkedIn.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Nick Roemer has had a very diverse and extensive career within design and sales over the last 15 years stretching from China, Dubai, Germany, Holland, UK, and the USA. In the last 5 years, Nick has developed a hawk's eye for sustainable tech and the human-centric marketing and sales procedures that come with it. With his far-reaching and strong network within the logistics industry, Nick has been able to open new avenues and routes to market within major industries in the USA and the UAE. Nick lives by the ethos, “Give more than you take." His professional mission is to make the logistics industry leaner, cleaner and greener.
Host
Allison Krache Giddens has been with Win-Tech, a veteran-owned small business and aerospace precision machine shop, for 15 years, recently buying the company from her mentor and Win-Tech’s Founder, Dennis Winslow. She and her business partner, John Hudson now serve as Co-Presidents, leading the 33-year old company through the pandemic.
She holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Georgia, a Masters in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University, a Masters in Manufacturing from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Finance from the University of Georgia. She also holds certificates in Google Analytics, event planning, and Cybersecurity Risk Management from Harvard online. Allison founded the Georgia Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and currently serves as Treasurer. She serves on the Chattahoochee Technical College Foundation Board as its Secretary, the liveSAFE Resources Board of Directors as Resource Development Co-Chair, and on the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association Board as Membership Chair and is also a member of Cobb Executive Women. She is on the Board for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Northwest Area Councils. Allison runs The Dave Krache Foundation, a non-profit that helps pay sports fees for local kids in need.
Host
Billy Taylor is a Proven Business Excellence Practitioner and Leadership Guru with over 25 years leading operations for a Fortune 500 company, Goodyear. He is also the CEO of LinkedXL (Excellence), a Business Operating Systems Architecting Firm dedicated to implementing sustainable operating systems that drive sustainable results. Taylor’s achievements in the industry have made him a Next Generational Lean pacesetter with significant contributions.
An American business executive, Taylor has made a name for himself as an innovative and energetic industry professional with an indispensable passion for his craft of operational excellence. His journey started many years ago and has worked with renowned corporations such as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) leading multi-site operations. With over 3 decades of service leading North America operations, he is experienced in a deeply rooted process driven approach in customer service, process integrity for sustainability.
A disciple of continuous improvement, Taylor’s love for people inspires commitment to helping others achieve their full potential. He is a dynamic speaker and hosts "The Winning Link," a popular podcast centered on business and leadership excellence with the #1 rated Supply Chain Now Network. As a leadership guru, Taylor has earned several invitations to universities, international conferences, global publications, and the U.S. Army to demonstrate how to achieve and sustain effective results through cultural acceptance and employee ownership. Leveraging the wisdom of his business acumen, strong influence as a speaker and podcaster Taylor is set to release "The Winning Link" book under McGraw Hill publishing in 2022. The book is a how-to manual to help readers understand the management of business interactions while teaching them how to Deine, Align, and Execute Winning in Business.
A servant leader, Taylor, was named by The National Diversity Council as one of the Top 100 Diversity Officers in the country in 2021. He features among Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs and maintains key leadership roles with the Executive Advisory Board for The Shingo Institute "The Nobel Prize of Operations" and The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME); two world-leading organizations for operational excellence, business development, and cultural learning. He is also an Independent Director for the M-D Building Products Board, a proud American manufacturer of quality products since 1920.
Host
Tandreia Bellamy retired as the Vice President of Industrial Engineering for UPS Supply Chain Solutions which included the Global Logistics, Global Freight Forwarding and UPS Freight business units. She was responsible for operations strategy and planning, asset management, forecasting, and technology tool development to optimize sustainable efficiency while driving world class service.
Tandreia held similar positions at the business unit level for Global Logistics and Global Freight forwarding. As the leader of the Global Logistics engineering function, she directed all industrial engineering activies related to distribution, service parts logistics (post-sales support), and mail innovations (low cost, light weight shipping partnership with the USPS). Between these roles Tandreia helped to establish the Advanced Technology Group which was formed to research and develop cutting edge solutions focused on reducing reliance on manual labor.
Tandreia began her career in 1986 as a part-time hourly manual package handling employee. She spent the great majority of her career in the small package business unit which is responsible for the pick-up, sort, transport and delivery of packages domestically. She held various positions in Industrial Engineering, Marketing, Inside and On-road operations in Central Florida before transferring to Atlanta for a position in Corporate Product Development and Corporate Industrial Engineering. Tandreia later held IE leadership roles in Nebraska, Minnesota and Chicago. In her final role in small package she was an IE VP responsible for all aspects of IE, technology support and quality for the 25 states on the western half of the country.
Tandreia is currently a Director for the University of Central Florida (UCF) Foundation Board and also serves on their Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Previously Tandreia served on the Executive Advisory Board for Virginia Tech’s IE Department and the Association for Supply Chain Management. She served on the Board of Trustees for ChildServ (a Chicago child and family services non-profit) and also served on the Texas A&M and Tuskegee Engineering Advisory Boards. In 2006 she was named Business Advisor of the Year by INROADS, in 2009 she was recognized as a Technology All-Star at the Women of Color in STEM conference and in 2019 she honored as a UCF Distinguished Aluma by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.
Tandreia holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Systems from UCF. Her greatest accomplishment, however, is being the proud mother of two college students, Ruby (24) and Anthony (22).
Host
Marty Parker serves as both the CEO & Founder of Adæpt Advising and an award-winning Senior Lecturer (Teaching Professor) in Supply Chain and Operations Management at the University of Georgia. He has 30 years of experience as a COO, CMO, CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), VP of Operations, VP of Marketing and Process Engineer. He founded and leads UGA’s Supply Chain Advisory Board, serves as the Academic Director of UGA’s Leaders Academy, and serves on multiple company advisory boards including the Trucking Profitability Strategies Conference, Zion Solutions Group and Carlton Creative Company.
Marty enjoys helping people and companies be successful. Through UGA, Marty is passionate about his students, helping them network and find internships and jobs. He does this through several hundred one-on-one zoom meetings each year with his students and former students. Through Adæpt Advising, Marty has organized an excellent team of affiliates that he works with to help companies grow and succeed. He does this by helping c-suite executives improve their skills, develop better leaders, engage their workforce, improve processes, and develop strategic plans with detailed action steps and financial targets. Marty believes that excellence in supply chain management comes from the understanding the intersection of leadership, culture, and technology, working across all parts of the organization to meet customer needs, maximize profit and minimize costs.
Marketing Coordinator
Laura Lopez serves as our Supply Chain Now Marketing Coordinator. She graduated from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente in Mexico with a degree in marketing. Laura loves everything digital because she sees the potential it holds for companies in the marketing industry. Her passion for creativity and thinking outside the box led her to pursue a career in marketing. With experience in fields like accounting, digital marketing, and restaurants, she clearly enjoys taking on challenges. Laura lives the best of both worlds - you'll either catch her hanging out with her friends soaking up the sun in Mexico or flying out to visit her family in California!
Host
An acknowledged industry leader, Jake Barr now serves as CEO for BlueWorld Supply Chain Consulting, providing support to a cross section of Fortune 500 companies such as Cargill, Caterpillar, Colgate, Dow/Dupont, Firmenich, 3M, Merck, Bayer/Monsanto, Newell Brands, Kimberly Clark, Nestle, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Sanofi, Estee Lauder and Coty among others. He's also devoted time to engagements in public health sector work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At P&G, he managed the breakthrough delivery of an E2E (End to End) Planning Transformation effort, creating control towers which now manage the daily business globally. He is recognized as the architect for P&G’s demand driven supply chain strategy – referenced as a “Consumer Driven Supply Chain” transformation. Jake began his career with P&G in Finance in Risk Analysis and then moved into Operations. He has experience in building supply network capability globally through leadership assignments in Asia, Latin America, North America and the Middle East. He currently serves as a Research Associate for MIT; a member of Supply Chain Industry Advisory Council; Member of Gartner’s Supply Chain Think Tank; Consumer Goods “League of Leaders“; and a recipient of the 2015 - 2021 Supply Chain “Pro’s to Know” Award. He has been recognized as a University of Kentucky Fellow.
Host
Marcia Williams, Managing Partner of USM Supply Chain, has 18 years of experience in Supply Chain, with expertise in optimizing Supply Chain-Finance Planning (S&OP/ IBP) at Large Fast-Growing CPGs for greater profitability and improved cash flows. Marcia has helped mid-sized and large companies including Lindt Chocolates, Hershey, and Coty. She holds an MBA from Michigan State University and a degree in Accounting from Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay (South America). Marcia is also a Forbes Council Contributor based out of New York, and author of the book series Supply Chains with Maria in storytelling style. A recent speaker’s engagement is Marcia TEDx Talk: TEDxMSU - How Supply Chain Impacts You: A Transformational Journey.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Luisa Garcia is a passionate Marketer from Lagos de Moreno based in Aguascalientes. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes, Mexico. She specializes in brand development at any stage, believing that a brand is more than just a name or image—it’s an unforgettable experience. Her expertise helps brands achieve their dreams and aspirations, making a lasting impact. Currently working at Vector Global Logistics in the Marketing team and as podcast coordinator of Logistics With Purpose®. Luisa believes that purpose-driven decisions will impact results that make a difference in the world.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Astrid Aubert was born in Guadalajara, she is 39 years old and has had the opportunity to live in many places. She studied communication and her professional career has been in Trade Marketing for global companies such as Pepsico and Mars. She currently works as Marketing Director Mexico for Vector Global Logistics. She is responsible for internal communications and marketing strategy development for the logistics industry. She is a mother of two girls, married and lives in Monterrey. She defines herself as a creative and innovative person, and enjoys traveling and cooking a lot.
Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol
Sofia self-identifies as Supply Chain Ambassador, her mission is to advocate for the field and inspire young generations from diverse backgrounds and cultures to join the industry so that thought diversity is increased and change accelerated. Recognized as Linkedin Top Voice and Linkedin Community Top Voice in Supply Chain Management, as well as Emerging Leader in Supply Chain by CSCMP 2024, Top Women in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Executive 2023, and Coup de Coeur Global Women Leaders in Supply Chain by B2G Consulting in 2021.
Public speaker at multiple international events from keynotes and panels, to webinars and guest lectures for bachelor's and master's degrees, discussing topics such as sustainability, women in the industry, technology and innovation. Writer at different online magazines on logistics, supply chain and technology. Podcast host and guest on different recognized programs in the industry. Sofia has more than 5 years of experience from academic research and field studies to warehouse operations, demand planning and network design. She has worked in manufacturing, airport operations, e-commerce retail, and technology hardware across Latin America, North America and Europe.
Currently working as Supply Chain Network Design and Optimization Manager at HP within their Global Supply Chain and Logistics team.
Host
Karin Bursa is the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year and the Host of the TEKTOK Digital Supply Chain Podcast powered by Supply Chain Now. With more than 25 years of supply chain and technology expertise (and the scars to prove it), Karin has the heart of a teacher and has helped nearly 1,000 customers transform their businesses and share their success stories. Today, she helps B2B technology companies introduce new products, capture customer success and grow global revenue, market share and profitability. In addition to her recognition as the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year, Karin has also been recognized as a 2019 and 2018 Supply Chain Pro to Know, 2009 Technology Marketing Executive of the Year and a 2008 Women in Technology Finalist.
Host
Vin Vashishta is the author of ‘From Data To Profit’ (Wiley 2023). It’s the playbook for monetizing data and AI. Vin is the Founder of V-Squared and built the business from client 1 to one of the world’s oldest data and AI consulting firms. His background combines nearly 30 years in strategy, leadership, software engineering, and applied machine learning.
Vice President, Production
Amanda is a production and marketing veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries and organizations including Von Maur, Anthropologie, AmericasMart Atlanta, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Amanda currently manages, produces, and develops modern digital content for Supply Chain Now and their clients. Amanda has previously served as the VP of Information Systems and Webmaster on the Board of Directors for APICS Savannah, and founded and managed her own successful digital marketing firm, Magnolia Marketing Group. When she’s not leading the Supply Chain Now production team, you can find Amanda in the kitchen, reading, listening to podcasts, or enjoying time with family.
Founder, CEO, & Host
As the founder and CEO of Supply Chain Now, you might say Scott is the voice of supply chain – but he’s too much of a team player to ever claim such a title. One thing’s for sure: he’s a tried and true supply chain expert. With over 15 years of experience in the end-to-end supply chain, Scott’s insights have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and CNN. He has also been named a top industry influencer by Thinkers360, ISCEA and more.
From 2009-2011, Scott was president of APICS Atlanta, and he continues to lead initiatives that support both the local business community and global industry. A United States Air Force Veteran, Scott has also regularly led efforts to give back to his fellow veteran community since his departure from active duty in 2002.
Principal & Host
When rapid-growth technology companies, venture capital and private equity firms are looking for advisory, they call Greg – a founder, board director, advisor and catalyst of disruptive B2B technology and supply chain. An insightful visionary, Greg guides founders, investors and leadership teams in creating breakthroughs to gain market exposure and momentum – increasing overall company esteem and valuation.
Greg is a founder himself, creating Blue Ridge Solutions, a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in cloud-native supply chain applications, and bringing to market Curo, a field service management solution. He has also held leadership roles with Servigistics (PTC) and E3 Corporation (JDA/Blue Yonder). As a principal and host at Supply Chain Now, Greg helps guide the company’s strategic direction, hosts industry leader discussions, community livestreams, and all in addition to executive producing and hosting his original YouTube channel and podcast, TEChquila Sunrise.
Principal, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain is Boring
Talk about world-class: Chris is one of the few professionals in the world to hold CPIM-F, CLTD-F and CSCP-F designations from ASCM/APICS. He’s also the APICS coach – and our resident Supply Chain Doctor. When he’s not hosting programs with Supply Chain Now, he’s sharing supply chain knowledge on the APICS Coach Youtube channel or serving as a professional education instructor for the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistic Institute’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) program and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Center for Professional Education courses.
Chris earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University, an MBA with emphasis in Industrial Psychology from the University of West Florida, and is a Doctoral in Supply Chain Management candidate.
Director of Sales
Tyler Ward serves as Supply Chain Now's Director of Sales. Born and raised in Mid-Atlantic, Tyler is a proud graduate of Shippensburg University where he earned his degree in Communications. After college, he made his way to the beautiful state of Oregon, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.
With over a decade of experience in sales, Tyler has a proven track record of exceeding targets and leading high-performing teams. He credits his success to his ability to communicate effectively with customers and team members alike, as well as his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
When he's not closing deals, you can find Tyler on the links or cheering on his favorite football and basketball teams. He also enjoys spending time with his family, playing pick-up basketball, and traveling back to Ocean City, Maryland, his favorite place!
Host of Digital Transformers
Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized Thought Leader, Industry Influencer and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog. He has also been recognized as a “Top 5G Influencer” (Onalytica 2019, Radar 2020), a “Top 50 Global Digital Transformation Thought Leader” (Thinkers 360 2019) and provides strategic consulting and integrated social media services to AT&T, Intel, Broadcom, Ericsson and other leading companies. Mr. Jackson’s commercial experience includes Vice President J.P. Morgan Chase, Worldwide Sales Executive for IBM and SAIC (Engility) Director Cloud Solutions. He has served on teams that have supported digital transformation projects for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Intelligence Community. Kevin’s formal education includes a MS Computer Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School; MA National Security & Strategic Studies from Naval War College; and a BS Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. Internationally recognizable firms that have sponsored articles authored by him include Cisco, Microsoft, Citrix and IBM. Books include “Click to Transform” (Leaders Press, 2020), “Architecting Cloud Computing Solutions” (Packt, 2018), and “Practical Cloud Security: A Cross Industry View” (Taylor & Francis, 2016). He also delivers online training through Tulane University, O’Reilly Media, LinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight. Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems Engineering, Carrier Onboard Delivery Logistics and carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Control. While active, he also served with the National Reconnaissance Office, Operational Support Office, providing tactical support to Navy and Marine Corps forces worldwide.
Host of Logistics with Purpose and Supply Chain Now en Español
Enrique serves as Managing Director at Vector Global Logistics and believes we all have a personal responsibility to change the world. He is hard working, relationship minded and pro-active. Enrique trusts that the key to logistics is having a good and responsible team that truly partners with the clients and does whatever is necessary to see them succeed. He is a proud sponsor of Vector’s unique results-based work environment and before venturing into logistics he worked for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). During his time at BCG, he worked in different industries such as Telecommunications, Energy, Industrial Goods, Building Materials, and Private Banking. His main focus was always on the operations, sales, and supply chain processes, with case focus on, logistics, growth strategy, and cost reduction. Prior to joining BCG, Enrique worked for Grupo Vitro, a Mexican glass manufacturer, for five years holding different positions from sales and logistics manager to supply chain project leader in charge of five warehouses in Colombia.
He has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a BS, in Mechanical Engineer from the Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico. Enrique’s passions are soccer and the ocean, and he also enjoys traveling, getting to know new people, and spending time with his wife and two kids, Emma and Enrique.
Host of Dial P for Procurement
Kelly is the Owner and Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and MyPurchasingCenter. She has been in procurement since 2003, starting as a practitioner and then as the Associate Director of Consulting at Emptoris. She has covered procurement news, events, publications, solutions, trends, and relevant economics at Buyers Meeting Point since 2009. Kelly is also the General Manager at Art of Procurement and Business Survey Chair for the ISM-New York Report on Business. Kelly has her MBA from Babson College as well as an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College and she has co-authored three books: ‘Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals’, ‘Procurement at a Crossroads’, and ‘Finance Unleashed’.
Host, Veteran Voices
Mary Kate Soliva is a veteran of the US Army and cofounder of the Guam Human Rights Initiative. She is currently in the Doctor of Criminal Justice program at Saint Leo University. She is passionate about combating human trafficking and has spent the last decade conducting training for military personnel and the local community.
Host
Constantine Limberakis is a thought leader in the area of procurement and supply management. He has over 20 years of international experience, playing strategic roles in a wide spectrum of organizations related to analyst advisory, consulting, product marketing, product development, and market research.
Throughout his career, he's been passionate about engaging global business leaders and the broader analyst and technology community with strategic content, speaking engagements, podcasts, research, webinars, and industry articles.
Constantine holds a BA in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA in Finance & Marketing / Masters in Public & International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.
Business Development Manager
Clay is passionate about two things: supply chain and the marketing that goes into it. Recently graduated with a degree in marketing at the University of Georgia, Clay got his start as a journalism major and inaugural member of the Owl’s football team at Kennesaw State University – but quickly saw tremendous opportunity in the Terry College of Business. He’s already putting his education to great use at Supply Chain Now, assisting with everything from sales and brand strategy to media production. Clay has contributed to initiatives such as our leap into video production, the guest blog series, and boosting social media presence, and after nearly two years in Supply Chain Now’s Marketing Department, Clay now heads up partnership and sales initiatives with the help of the rest of the Supply Chain Now sales team.
Administrative Assistant
Trisha is new to the supply chain industry – but not to podcasting. She’s an experienced podcast manager and virtual assistant who also happens to have 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher. It’s safe to say, she’s passionate about helping people, and she lives out that passion every day with the Supply Chain Now team, contributing to scheduling and podcast production.
Social Media Manager
My name is Chantel King and I am the Social Media Specialist at Supply Chain Now. My job is to make sure our audience is engaged and educated on the abundant amount of information the supply chain industry has to offer.
Social Media and Communications has been my niche ever since I graduated from college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. No, I am not a West Coast girl. I was born and raised in New Jersey, but my travel experience goes way beyond the garden state. My true passion is in creating editorial and graphic content that influences others to be great in whatever industry they are in. I’ve done this by working with lifestyle, financial, and editorial companies by providing resources to enhance their businesses.
Another passion of mine is trying new things. Whether it’s food, an activity, or a sport. I would like to say that I am an adventurous Taurus that never shies away from a new quest or challenge.
Marketing Coordinator
Lori is currently completing a degree in marketing with an emphasis in digital marketing at the University of Georgia. When she’s not supporting the marketing efforts at Supply Chain Now, you can find her at music festivals – or working toward her dream goal of a fashion career. Lori is involved in many extracurricular activities and appreciates all the learning experiences UGA has brought her.
Director, Customer Experience
Katherine is a marketing professional and MBA candidate who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.
Chief of Staff & Host
Mary Kate Love is currently the VP of marketing at Supply Chain Now focused on brand strategy and audience + revenue growth. Mary Kate’s career is a testament to her versatility and innovative spirit: she has experience in start-ups, venture capital, and building innovation initiatives from the ground up: she previously helped lead the build-out of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific and before that, MxD (Manufacturing times Digital): the Department of Defense’s digital manufacturing innovation center. Mary Kate has a passion for taking complicated ideas and turning them into reality: she was one of the first team members at MxD and the first team member at the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific.
Mary Kate dedicates her extra time to education and mentorship: she was one of the founding Board Members for Women Influence Chicago and led an initiative for a city-wide job shadow day for young women across Chicago tech companies and was previously on the Board of Directors at St. Laurence High School in Chicago, Young Irish Fellowship Board and the UN Committee for Women. Mary Kate is the founder of National Supply Chain Day and enjoys co-hosting podcasts at Supply Chain Now. Mary Kate is from the south side of Chicago, a mom of two baby boys, and an avid 16-inch softball player. She holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Marketing Specialist
Joshua is a student from Institute of Technology and Higher Education of Monterrey Campus Guadalajara in Communication and Digital Media. His experience ranges from Plug and Play México, DearDoc, and Nissan México creating unique social media marketing campaigns and graphics design. Joshua helps to amplify the voice of supply chain here at Supply Chain Now by assisting in graphic design, content creation, asset logistics, and more. In his free time he likes to read and write short stories as well as watch movies and television series.
Director of Communications and Executive Producer
Donna Krache is a former CNN executive producer who has won several awards in journalism and communication, including three Peabodys. She has 30 years’ experience in broadcast and digital journalism. She led the first production team at CNN to convert its show to a digital platform. She has authored many articles for CNN and other media outlets. She taught digital journalism at Georgia State University and Arizona State University. Krache holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. She is a serious sports fan who loves the Braves. She is president of the Dave Krache Foundation. Named in honor of her late husband, this non-profit pays fees for kids who want to play sports but whose parents are facing economic challenges.
Controller
Vicki has a long history of rising to challenges and keeping things up and running. First, she supported her family’s multi-million dollar business as controller for 12 years, beginning at the age of 17. Then, she worked as an office manager and controller for a wholesale food broker. But her biggest feat? Serving as the chief executive officer of her household, while her entrepreneur husband travelled the world extensively. She fed, nurtured, chaperoned, and chauffeured three daughters all while running a newsletter publishing business and remaining active in her community as a Stephen’s Minister, Sunday school teacher, school volunteer, licensed realtor and POA Board president (a title she holds to this day). A force to be reckoned with in the office, you might think twice before you meet Vicki on the tennis court! When she’s not keeping the books balanced at Supply Chain Now or playing tennis matches, you can find Vicki spending time with her husband Greg, her 4 fur babies, gardening, cleaning (yes, she loves to clean!) and learning new things.
Creative Director, Producer, Host
Katherine Hintz, MBA is a marketing professional who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.