Today I’m joined by Blume Global, a market-leading, sustainability-focused software brand that is removing a huge $1 trillion of waste from the global supply chain, and making logistics processes more agile, dependable, and sustainable with innovative execution and visibility solutions.
Blume Global is a technology provider committed to an ethical, purpose-driven supply chain ecosystem; and to creating a more sustainable environment through providing an open, neutral platform across all trading partners to drive asset optimization, predictive visibility and traceability.
Today Pervinder Johar, CEO at Blume Global, joins me to chat all about the company and what they do; why digitization is now a requirement, not a preference; putting sustainability at the heart of everything they do; and helping businesses to utilize the power of visibility to manage their biggest business impacts in real-time.
[07.24] Pervinder’s background, the entrepreneurial journey that led him to found Blume, and the importance of bringing innovation and inspiration from other industries together to solve complex problems.
“I’m a computer science graduate, and I wanted to only work on large, complex problems… I started making control systems for nuclear power plants!”
[10.51] An overview of Blume – what they do and how they help their customers.
“Supply chain is a highly distributed environment… how do you connect all of those dots, and then optimize it?”
[11.59] The impact of supply chain on the environment, why Blume puts sustainability at the heart of everything they do, and why businesses need to stop making decisions just based on time and cost and consider modes that are more environmentally friendly.
[18.28] How Blume orchestrates an intermodal supply chain, and works as a competitive advantage for its customers.
“It’s not about visibility alone… it’s about: how do you guarantee that all the stuff is going to show up at the same time?… So having a large number of options, and an understanding of what needs to expedited, and what needs to be slowed down is key. And slowing down is equally as important from an environmental perspective… Speed is bad for the environment!”
[21.52] A closer look at the Blume platform, and how it can help with risk management.
[24.48] Blume’s R&D arm, and the importance of fostering innovation in supply chain.
[27.19] The ideal client for Blume Global.
[28.56] Two case studies showing how Blume services were used to connect small businesses, with no tech infrastructure, to larger ones; and to help shippers ensure quality sourcing and collaboration.
[32.00] The future for Blume.
“We want the ecosystem to continue to evolve in an organic fashion – and that’s what Blume means... a blooming ecosystem.”
Head over to Blume Global’s website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with Blume and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or Twitter, or you can connect with Pervinder on LinkedIn or Twitter.
This episode was filmed at Manifest 2023. If you enjoyed it, and want to explore some of the other great content filmed at the event, why not check out episodes:
Check out our other podcasts HERE.
Today I’m joined by Orderful, a collaborative and forward-thinking software brand that are building the future of EDI. With a pre-connected network, they’re aiming to move the needle from months to trade down to minutes.
Orderful is a complete cloud EDI platform for manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and technology companies. With an API that enables companies to connect once and trade EDI data with their supply chain, Orderful customers are able to consolidate their EDI software integration complexity and quickly enable trading partners as self-service to reduce costs.
Today Erik Kiser, CEO and founder of Orderful, joins me to chat all about the company; the challenges involved with traditional EDI solutions; bringing supply chains together; achieving visibility and addressing risk; and the future of EDI.
[05.59] A reminder of who Orderful are, and how they help their customers.
“We’re a modern EDI platform focused on making EDI onboarding fast, affordable, and easy.”
[07.14] An overview of EDI, its place in the industry alongside API, and why it’s ‘the plumbing of today’s supply chain.’
“It’s become the standard of trade… so we turned this whole legacy experience into a modern software experience for modern developers and modern teams.”
[10.08] The importance of good data in onboarding, and how Orderful helps to solve some of supply chain’s typical data challenges.
“We’ve been able to make it very simple for a company to start trading with a new partner, because we go right into validation and data. Most providers will only validate the structure of a file, but Orderful… can not only check the structure, but we also validate the data that’s in that transaction, so they can solve problems in real time.”
[14.31] What visibility means to Orderful, why it’s so important, and how visibility services like notifications can help companies solve challenges in real time.
[18.27] How Orderful empowers customers to confidently manage risk, and creates a smoother experience for teams across businesses.
[20.51] The ideal client for Orderful.
“We’re winning with 3PLs, 4PLs and SaaS platforms!”
[22.15] A case study showing how Orderful helped a major client to reduce its onboarding time and proccesses for new carriers from 90 steps and 12 weeks down to 30 steps in nine days, and how Orderful sits apart from its competition
[26.17] The future for Orderful.
Head over to Orderful’s website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with Orderful and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube or Twitter, or you can connect with Erik on LinkedIn.
If enjoyed this episode and want to hear more from Orderful, check out episode 281, where Erik talks all about why it’s so important to help the small guys get to market; why existing EDI software infrastructures can’t keep up; and Orderful’s mission to create a world where data trading is not a barrier. Or, you can read their blog A New Cloud EDI Platform: 5 Ways to Simplify EDI, or even watch Erik on a special live episode of Thoughts and Coffee, where Erik and Sarah dive into more issues around EDI and trending industry news.
This episode was filmed at Manifest 2023. If you enjoyed it, and want to explore some of the other great content filmed at the event, why not check out episodes:
Check out our other podcasts HERE.
It’s episode 30 of Blended: I’m joined by a brand new panel of inspirational professionals and, today, we’re talking about classism.
Now, some people believe that we’ve left classism behind. But, sadly, studies show that it’s alive and well – and its impacts are huge. The bottom 80% of the United States holds only 12% of its wealth; the bottom 60%, is just 3% of its wealth. And despite this huge disparity, little is being done to drive change.
In a world where we’re working hard to tackle issues around gender, race, sexuality, religion and more – why are conversations around socioeconomic groupings still so often missing from the conversation? Surely it’s high time we address class barriers, build bridges and work harder to become a more equitable society.
So today, our guests will be diving into classism and what it means to them; sharing their personal experiences; reflecting on education, privilege and pedigree; and discussing what organizations can do to tackle classism in the workplace and create more truly diverse communities.
[01.01] Introductions to our Blended panelists.
“When I think about classism, it’s really class discrimination. We live in a system where people are valued and treated differently based on their perceived class…. It’s so systemic and it reaches every single part of our system.” Elise
[05.27] The group discusses classism, the complex issues that feed into it, and what classism means to them.
“It goes beyond how others perceive you – classism is also about how you perceive yourself. You grow up in a particular socio-economic group, and often you can self-limit.”
“We would be so much further along as a society if everyone was comfortable talking to other people with an open mind, more like ‘what can I learn from this conversation’ rather than ‘what am I going to disagree with.’” Courtney
[47.17] The panel shares their experiences of classism in the workplace, and the impact of pedigree and education.
“I didn’t think I was enough, I’m not good enough, I don’t have the pedigree – I never saw myself being someone that could be at an elite level. And it wasn’t because intellectually I wasn’t enough, it was because of that class that I was born in and what I saw all around me.” Christine
[58.02] The group share their ideas for how organizations can help to tackle classism in the workplace.
“It’s the subtle shift from looking for culture fit, to looking at culture add… we want someone to both support and challenge.”
[1.22.37] The panel sums up their thoughts from today’s discussion.
You can connect with Elise, Courtney, Amanda and Christine over on LinkedIn.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, why not check out 215: Blended – Shining a light on social inequality, or 323: Blended – How to Foster an Inclusive Workplace.
Check out our other podcasts HERE.
Today I’m joined by Enveyo, an innovative logistics software brand that wants to optimize every aspect of a business’s shipping operations, with solutions that leverage enterprise-level technology and big data experience to empower organizations to make business-transforming shipping decisions.
Enveyo is transforming the way technology drives logistics. As the only parcel TMS provider enabling end-to-end supply chain visibility, from shipping analytics and automation to customer delivery experience management, organizations are optimizing their shipping operations with Enveyo's cloud-based suite of solutions.
Today Coby Nilsson, CEO and co-founder of Enveyo, joins me to chat all about the company and what they do; letting the data tell the story; the importance of predictive analysis to the future of logistics; and finding the balance between cost reduction and customer satisfaction.
[06.17] Coby’s career journey and his passion for technology.
“I’m a psych major who spent my entire career in technology… I have a passion for solving problems.”
[09.31] How Coby’s experience at Adobe inspired him to found Enveyo, the challenges he saw in the market – and why those challenges haven’t really changed.
“I ran global integrations, so we were measuring all the micro transactions… brands knew everything that was happening prior to purchase, but when you’ve bought it, it goes into the abyss… so brands wanted us to stitch that together.”
[13.10] An overview of Enveyo – what they do and how they help their customers.
“The underlying challenge for all of these organizations is the data.”
[13.51] An introduction to Insights, one of Enveyo’s five core solutions, the role of visibility, and what it means to Enveyo.
“What visibility means to me is bringing the data all together in a consolidated platform, and then allowing you, as a customer, to consume that data in ways that you want.”
[16.06] A closer look at Cloudroute, Enveyo’s innovative TMS software.
“Once you understand what’s happening and you have the data in one place, you can identify areas of opportunity.”
[18.13] Coby’s perspective on the ‘Excel epidemic’ and why businesses should be using technology systems like Enveyo instead.
“Excel is so ubiquitous, it’s a very powerful application but it starts to break down when you hit critical mass of data.”
[22.27] An introduction to Modeling, and the power of predictive analysis and data-driven decision-making.
“You start with Insights, then you see some opportunities. But before you want to pull the trigger on orchestration, test it out. Run a scenario and see if it’s going to have the impact you expect.”
[24.08] A closer look at Enveyo’s Alerting solution, its role as the communication bridge with the customer and how it can help to improve customer experience.
[25.49] The ideal client for Enveyo.
[27.27] A case study showing how Enveyo’s modeling solution helped a key customer to make strategic decisions around their carrier choice and distribution center, ultimately helping them to save 16% on shipping costs and grow by 31%.
[30.59] The future for Enveyo.
Head over to Enveyo’s website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with Enveyo and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube or Twitter, or you can connect with Coby on LinkedIn.
This episode was filmed at Manifest 2023. If you enjoyed it, and want to explore some of the other great content filmed at the event, why not check out episodes:
Check out our other podcasts HERE.
In today’s episode of Women In Supply Chain, I’m joined by Paige Wei-Cox: one of Supply Chain Digital’s ‘Top 100 Women in Supply Chain,’ and a 2022 Pro to Know.
Paige Wei-Cox is a global leader with extensive cross-border supply chain experience. Over the course of her 20-year career at SAP, she has held a variety of management positions across the US and Germany. The recipient of Supply Chain and Demand Executives prestigious ‘Women In Supply Chain’ award, Paige is passionate about transforming today’s fragmented supply chains into a unified, collaborative and intelligent network of networks.
Today Paige will be talking to us about her career so far; the importance of industry recognition for women; why there’s more supply chain disruption to come; and moving countries, and continents, to pursue her dream. Plus, she’ll be sharing her experiences as a woman in supply chain, as well as her words of advice for all of the women following in her footsteps.
Women fuel the success of some of the world’s most successful businesses, yet barriers still exist. SAP is committed to supporting and elevating a new generation of women to profoundly lead and impact global supply chains and are proud to support the Women in Supply Chain Series and its efforts.
Supply chains need to evolve from low cost and optimized to risk-resilient and sustainable and SAP can help.
SAP Digital Supply Chain solutions connect the entire process — design, planning, manufacturing, logistics, maintenance, and service; connecting your supply chains to the rest of your business and all your contextual data; supporting your efforts in alleviating risk in your supply chains.
SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software and for the last 50 years has been helping companies to run better. Find out more at sap.com/scm
[06.09] How Paige found supply chain, and her varied career journey through the industry.
“My career went from manufacturing to R&D, PLM, logistics, planning, networks – it’s travelled the entire supply chain… it’s been a fun journey!”
[08.11] From a shift to demand driven and embracing a customer-centric approach, Paige reflects on how the industry has changed since the start of her career, and what she’s learned along the way.
“At that time, not many people talked about supply chain, it was more about ‘how do we optimize my enterprise… it was the beginning of digitization.”
[13.15] How and why Paige moved to Europe, her experiences, and the cultural differences she’s observed between Germany and the US.
[20.45] Paige’s current role as senior vice president, chief product officer and global head of SAP Business Network, and the challenges, highs and lows it encompasses.
“The fun part is the creation... the non-fun part is there’s no buffer time… when you don’t have a full calendar, you almost feel lost!”
[25.48] The challenges and changing trends that Paige is observing at an industry level, and from the perspective of SAP and their customers – and how she’s tackling them.
“We’ve gone through this incredible globalization, but I also see a trend of localization… the complexity of supply chain is no longer about finding the cheapest supply, or 100% outsourcing. It’s about how my whole supply and demand chain can connect.”
[30.41] Paige’s experience as a woman, working for 25 years in a male-dominated industry, and whether the landscape for women has changed.
“When I first started, I was the only girl… today if I look at my teams around the world, I see a lot of young women entering with passion… we’re much more diversified.”
[32.34] The importance of mentors, of elevating female voices in the workplace, and of women supporting women.
“To really grow and learn, you need someone to challenge and push you, but also support you and open their network to you.”
[36.23] Paige’s industry awards, and the importance of continuing to celebrate women in supply chain.
“Hopefully more women will find the topic to be interesting, because if you’re a problem-solver, there’s no other field more interesting than supply chain. There are so many challenges that nobody has answered that makes this industry super challenging but very fulfilling.”
[38.37] The personal achievement that Paige is most proud of.
[40.34] The future for Paige.
[41.56] Paige’s advice for girls and women looking to follow in her footsteps.
You can connect with Paige over on LinkedIn.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear from other inspirational women from SAP, check out episode 321 featuring Darcy MacClaren, Senior VP of Digital Supply Chain and Manufacturing for North America or 283: Blended – The Rise of Asian Discrimination featuring Gale, Director of Global Influencer Marketing at the leading brand.
Check out our other podcasts HERE.