Today we’re putting the spotlight on one of our incredible live shows, LogTech Live With Eric Johnson.
Eric is Senior Editor of Technology at the Journal Of Commerce and a long-time friend of the show, and he brings us his unrivaled industry insights – and Dad jokes! – on the first and third Friday of every month at 10am EST.
In this episode, Eric is joined by special guest Anthony Miller, SaaS, Tech, Logistics and Supply Chain Consultant, to talk about the hottest news from the biggest brands in logistics right now.
[08.22] From C.H. Robinson CEO Bob Biesterfeld’s shock exit to a new collaboration between an early-stage tech provider and freight forwarders, Eric explores the news of the week.
[15.01] An introduction to Eric’s guest, Anthony Miller, his experience at WiseTech, and his love for logistics.
“Logistics is so exciting and ever-changing… some people would say it's still stuck in the past, but I don’t see that. It’s a mixture of both – you have the great people and the processes, and then you have the tech, and they’re all just trying to come together.”
[19.56] How and why Anthony became a provocative logistics voice on LinkedIn.
“I want people to read something and think about it, go and do some research, talk to people and form your own opinions.”
[27.53] Anthony and Eric discuss CargoWise - its position in the market, why the organization has come under recent scrutiny, how businesses like GoFreight are breaking through to serve the SMB market, and the downside of aggressive acquisition strategies.
[41.20] Anthony’s thoughts on the future for CH Robinson and Flexport.
“Our industry is about consolidation. And as soon as you show some weakness, that’s it – sharks are circling.”
[47.51] Eric ends with his favorite question: ‘what’s your favorite band and why?’
Discover more breaking news over on Journal of Commerce, and connect with Anthony on LinkedIn.
If you enjoyed the show, there are plenty more episodes of LogTech Live to explore. And if you want to hear even more from the super-knowledgeable Eric Johnson, you can also catch him on episode 238 and episode 300.
Check out our other podcasts HERE.
Today I’m joined by Nipendo, a forward-thinking software brand that is on a mission to improve how buyers and suppliers work together to combat Source-to-Pay inefficiencies and costs.
The Nipendo platform is an intelligent intermediator between buyers and suppliers, using technologies like Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, to streamline interactions and benefit all trading partners. The Nipendo platform is used by cross-vertical medium-sized and large companies across the globe, helping them reduce costs and improve procurement and supply chain efficiencies, as well as supporting their competitive strength.
Today Paul Noel, Chief Revenue Officer at Nipendo, joins me to chat all about the company and what they do; their recent acquisition by Amex; changing the game in a flooded SaaS market; helping brands to embrace digital transformation processes; and the importance of bringing buyers and suppliers together in mutually beneficial partnerships.
[06.38] How and why Nipendo was founded, and what attracted Paul to the brand.
“It was that approach – much more additive than disruptive – that really intrigued me as the new age of spend management.”
[10.34] An overview of Nipendo – what they do and how they help their customers.
[12.55] Buyers: their key challenges, how the Nipendo platform works for them, and the benefits it delivers.
[15.02] Suppliers: their unique set of obstacles, and what the Nipendo platform looks like from a seller's perspective.
“As buyers get their act together more, it forces more requirements on the suppliers… the big saving for suppliers is having one place where they can work with multiple customers.”
[17.45] The impact of facilitating buyers and suppliers to work more successfully together, at a business and industry level.
“People stop doing tedious things!... The pandemic gave everyone a shot in the arm - people started thinking ‘what am I doing that’s value add, what am I doing that can be automated?’”
[21.15] Paul’s thoughts on digitization and what he thinks organizations have been doing wrong, and right.
[23.56] What integration and onboarding look like with Nipendo.
“The availability of your IT can be a block, but when you’ve figured that out, the rest of is pretty easy. We’re going to do the heavy lifting, because we’ll make sure that message is going to flow through whatever pipe you open up, it’s just a matter of opening that pipe.”
[27.44] The ideal client for Nipendo.
[29.46] Several case studies showing how Nipendo helped key clients improve efficiency, collaboration and communication, ultimately supporting overall business growth, optimization and cost reduction.
[34.06] The future for Nipendo.
“2023 you’ll see our name out there for a more holistic approach that a mid-market company can use, so they can leverage technology to walk and talk like a big guy, without having to be a big guy."
Head over to Nipendo’s website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with Nipendo and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, or you can connect with Paul on LinkedIn.
If you're in the mood for a good read, check out our Women In Supply Chain blog interview with good friend of the show Sarah Scudder - she talks all about how, in the early days of her career, learning that procurement and marketing weren’t collaborating led to her breakthrough moment.
Check out our other podcasts HERE.
Today I’m joined by Aera Technology, a forward-thinking company that is on a mission to drive beyond digital transformation and make businesses smarter, dynamic, digital, and wildly successful.
Aera Technology is the Decision Intelligence Company that makes business agility happen. Their innovative cloud platform integrates with your existing systems to digitize, augment, and automate decision-making in real-time. In the era of digital acceleration, Aera helps enterprises around the world transform how they respond to the ever-changing environment.
Today Fred Laluyaux, CEO at Aera Technology, joins me to chat all about the company: what they do; using AI to reimagine how organizations operate; the rise of citizen data scientists; and harnessing the power of Decision Intelligence.
[06.40] Fred’s background and exciting career journey as a tech entrepreneur.
“I’ve spent the last 25 years of my life building technology that helps large organizations manage their performance... (and) modeling complex problems – I feel like I’ve been trying to solve a giant puzzle for the last 25 years!”
[09.17] From cycle speed to increasing complexity, the key changes and challenges faced by today’s supply chains.
“All this new technology is allowing us to move the envelope. But the complexity of the problems that we have to resolve is also increasing exponentially. So you have this race between a goal post that’s moving very fast, and technology that’s trying to catch up... The problem goes beyond supply chain. ”
[13.10] An overview of Aera – what they do, how they help their customers and their vision for customers, and for the industry.
“The vision we had is simple… building a technology that would allow the thinking to be connected to the doing.”
[16.40] Decision Intelligence: what it means, why Gartner has recognized it as a top industry trend for this year, and how it works with Aera.
[25.45] A closer look at Aera’s four key product areas: Aera Understands, Aera Recommends, Aera Predicts and Aera Acts.
[35.00] Fred’s reflections on the balance between people and technology, the importance of collaboration and why Aera is embracing a new era of citizen data scientists.
“The operationalization of data science is really the next frontier.”
[38.04] The ideal client for Aera, a closer look at onboarding and integration, and the importance of finding the balance between time to go live and time to value.
“Its not a competition between the human operator and the system – it’s a collaboration.”
[44.03] A case study showing how Aera helped a key client increase their accuracy and response rate, leading to an increase in customer satisfaction, a decrease in order cancellations and, ultimately, higher profit.
“What excites me about this adventure is that we’re deploying a technology that’s new to enable companies to do things that were not happening before.”
Head over to Aera Technology’s website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with Aera and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn or Twitter, or you can connect with Fred on LinkedIn.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear from another brand that is embracing the power of AI and machine learning, why not check out episode 290, Tomorrow’s Insights Delivered Today: Enabling Operational Automation, featuring Caleb Nelson of Sifted.
And if you were intrigued by Gartner's top trend, Decision Intelligence, and are keen to discover some of the other trends you need to know about for 2023, make sure to dive into Logtech Live With Eric Johnson. Eric is Senior Editor of Technology at the Journal Of Commerce, so if something's going down in supply chain, he's the first to know!
Check out our other podcasts HERE.
Today I’m joined by TraceGains, the world’s only networked ingredients marketplace.
Founded in 2008, TraceGains connects people and information so teams can work smarter. As a global technology company, they provide networked innovation, quality, and compliance solutions to consumer brands that want to reduce supply chain risk, innovate faster, speed up business processes, and take control of data.
Today Gary Nowacki, Founder and CEO at TraceGains, joins me to chat all about the company: what they do; achieving visibility and productivity through collaboration; overcoming today’s supply chain challenges; and bringing people and ingredient data together in new ways to achieve business agility.
[06.31] Gary’s background and how, and why, it led him to founding TraceGains.
“When we founded TraceGains, I think we used the same trick that I would recommend for anybody founding a tech or software company: find a real pain, and then make sure it’s not being serviced well.”
[08.37] A closer look at some of the biggest challenges in the food industry right now, why those challenges are forcing companies to re-evaluate their supply chains, and how TraceGains are helping their customers to conquer disruption.
“The food industry, like almost all industries, really focused on cost… Now, everything is sky rocketed through inflation and new drivers have come along…”
[13.36] An overview of TraceGains – what they do and how they help their customers.
“This is an incredibly fragmented supply chain… it was using a hub and spoke methodology… and that’s a really bad way to do things! … So we stole a page from the playbook of social media companies, and said: “Forget the hub and spoke. Let’s just get all these companies to connect.”
[15.34] A deeper dive into TraceGains Gather, a marketplace that invites customers to “experience sourcing nirvana.”
[19.56] A closer look at TraceGains' configurable solutions for product development, which support customers in creating new formulas and finished goods.
[24.02] TraceGains’ compliance solutions, and the benefit of having a range of complimentary solutions all under one roof.
[26.28] Why ingredient agility equals brand agility, and why mastering ingredient data is key to evolving your supply chain.
[28.01] Collaboration, the importance of bringing buyers and sellers together with co-manufacturing, and an example of what can go wrong when good collaboration is lacking.
“We have a new capability so buyers and sellers can collaborate, not just with the brand owners and ingredient sellers, but also with the co-manufacturers so all three can come together in a workspace – it’s almost like Pinterest… because in this problematic issue of supply chain disruptions, we need collaboration more than ever!”
[32.08] What onboarding and integration looks like with TraceGains.
“There’s a lot less integration that needs to be done, because people are just interacting and collaborating in the cloud.”
[34.06] The ideal client for TraceGains.
[36.29] A case study showing how TraceGains helped a leading bakery make fast and responsive manufacturing decisions and ensure product continuity, by providing vital data insights on variable ingredients.
[39.30] The future for TraceGains.
“These problems exist in every country around the globe… so growing internationally is the next logical step.”
Head over to TraceGain’s website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with TraceGains and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram, or you can connect with Gary on LinkedIn.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to find out more about the food and beverage supply chain, why not check out episode 245, featuring Marina Mayer, editor-in-chief of Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive.
Then check out episode 257, a special episode of our live show Action Items with Dyci Sfregola, in which Dyci interviews Atia Yarbrough, Director of Demand and Supply Planning at Mason Dixie Foods, to discover more about building successful S&OP processes, finding the right partners, and the importance of dual sourcing.
Check out our other podcasts HERE.