Dawn Salvucci-Favier

Special Guest Blog Post written by Deborah Dull   Imagine it’s launch season in your supply chain, and a team of AI agents is hard at work: coordinating shipments with suppliers, allocating inventory, and handling a missed delivery. It’s hard to go a day without hearing about the latest AI headlines: new LLMs, new applications, new use cases. These discussions are part of my every day. Business leaders and IT teams are eager to explore – and they have a lot of questions… and apprehension. In these discussions, we have found one framework that lands consistently: consider AI agents like new hires, not new software.   Step 1: Hire Like You Mean It Just like hiring humans, this step is about defining what you need. The first decision is the purpose of the role: what problems are you trying to solve? Where are your people overwhelmed? Where is your business growing in coming months? From here, the next decision is to build the business case just like you would for a new headcount. For example, consider the ROI of having a digital employee who can process supplier performance data 24/7. Now, decide on the type of agent that will join…

Special Guest Blog Post written by Memory Mathema   Tackling climate change is one of the defining challenges of our lifetime. Understanding the implications of decarbonization is imperative to eliminating the risks that come with taking a complacent approach. Our responsibility lies in understanding the impact of our operations and acknowledging the escalating urgency to transition to a carbon neutral future and reduce the environmental footprint of all business undertakings. This is not only right for individual organizations but for the good of the whole society. South Africa ranks 14th globally in carbon emissions and stands as Africa’s leading polluter. The nation’s energy intense economy highlights its crucial role in spearheading efforts to reduce the continent’s carbon footprint and achieve net zero goals. Outdated energy generation methods, particularly coal reliance for 80% of energy needs, overshadow the country’s vast potential in hydrogen, solar and wind power. Both public and private sectors are recognizing the need for sustainable alternatives and are transitioning towards greener energy sources, fostering a shift towards sustainable carbon neutral supply chains. Addressing Scope 3 emissions, which constitute a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions, is necessary to delivering carbon neutrality across operations. Organizations must entrench an…