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Hey, hey.

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be.

Scott Luton and Kevin L.

Jackson with you here on Supply Chain now.

Welcome to today's show.

Kevin, how are you doing today?

You know, I love these live streams.

It's always great.

It's much better with that audience.

So, wow.

I'm excited about today, especially on this special day.

And let me be the first to wish you a happy Veterans Day, my man.

Hey, Kevin, I appreciate that.

Air Force veteran here, Navy veteran there.

Kevin's actually a former naval aviator.

How cool is that?

Top Gun over there.

Well, happy Veterans Day to you and folks, all veterans that have ever served or currently serving.

On behalf of our entire team, happy, happy Veterans Day to you.

Thank you for what you do and to your families behind you who also serve and sacrifice.

Hey, thanks to everyone out there.

Really appreciate it.

Okay, Kevin, we have got a lot to get into here today.

So in today's show, it's the Buzz, where every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time, we discuss a variety of news and developments across global supply chain.

But on the second Tuesday of each month, which is today, it's the Digital Transformers edition of the Buzz, where we tend to focus a lot more on technology.

And I'm always joined by the one and only Kevin L.

Jackson, who hosts Digital Transformers.

You can find that podcast series wherever you get your podcasts today, Kevin, we're going to be diving into cybersecurity boosts, artificial intelligence proving grounds.

I got my stop watch ready to go.

We've got new partnerships.

And, Kevin, if all that's not enough, we've got a special guest joining us.

Karen Betancourt, CEO of Vanguard Medical Logistics, is joining us.

All that and much, much more, Kevin.

Should be a great show, huh?

Yeah, you better not bust that bag.

You got a lot people putting a lot in this small bag here.

Let my son Ben, who had been taking his laptop to school with the same old bag from like 1982.

And you know what happened, right?

We'll save that for later.

But anyway, folks, two things before we jump in.

You know, we're gonna leave with resources already.

See some great friends there in the chat.

Number one, give us your take in the comments.

We'd love to get your opinion on what we're talking about whether you're tuned in via LinkedIn, YouTube, X Facebook, Twitch, no matter.

Let us know what you think and if you enjoy the show today, we'd love for you to share it with your friends and your network.

Hey, share it with Aunt Edna up in Idaho.

They'll be better off and more informed because you do.

Let's talk about some resources really quick.

Kevin.

We've got a lot to get into here today and I want to start by sharing the US Bank Freight Payment Index for third quarter 2024.

Now this just was released, folks.

If you're new to the Freight Payment Index, it's going to help you understand what's been taking place in the domestic freight market as well as the national economy.

As me being a non economist boy, I struggle with that class back in college.

I'll take all the help we can get.

So check out.

That was one class that was a worse than English economics.

Kevin, I'm with you.

Micro macro.

Oh, brings back nightmares.

But this report, it's free first off, which makes it even better.

It's data driven, which makes it even better.

And it gives you kind of looking in the rearview mirror a better understanding of what took place and why.

And it'll help you be more prepared for what's to come.

So you can check it out.

We're dropping a link right there.

You can also go to freight.usbank.com and I love you see the five regions there?

Kevin, I love how the object observations and the data on a more regional level because we know that there's some regional similarities and also some regional differences.

But y'all check it out.

Kevin, you've already mentioned Veterans Day.

Kevin, before I share with that said, I got one important question for you.

Your favorite or your worst chow hall food dish.

Or my worst.

You know what?

I really enjoyed Thanksgiving on the carrier.

Okay, great.

Food on the carrier.

Probably not as good as it is on the submarines, but you know they bring out turkey with all the fixings when you're out.

And you know, you're kind of lonely away from family.

And back in the day when I was on a carrier you didn't have like the Internet.

You couldn't just video call anyone anytime you want it.

It was all about snail mail.

Well, and I figure if you didn't like what you were having, you can always take your plane and go somewhere else.

Is that right, Kevin?

Is that how it works?

Yeah, this is all the weird, boss.

Hey, put it into the win.

I want to leave this joint.

That's Right.

Hey, kidding aside, kidding aside.

And you know, Veterans Day should be a happy day.

We're celebrating so many wonderful folks that have served and are currently serving in the United States Armed Forces.

So really appreciate that.

And of course in.

On a related note, with that said, our almost weekly newsletter, we drop usually every Sunday.

Over the past weekend we celebrated Veterans Day.

And you know how we did it, Kevin, is we took some of our favorite episodes of Veteran Voices.

Right?

And I think there's been almost a hundred, it seems.

And we took six or seven of our favorites and we added that to the top of the newsletter.

And one of those, Kevin was I think literally your cousin.

Oh, Bernice.

Bernice.

First black female combat pilot.

I get that right, Kevin?

Yes, she was a first black female combat helicopter pilot.

She was a Marine Corps.

Got her out there and well, that.

Was a great interview.

That was one of our many of our favorites.

All of them are special folks and you can of course you can find Veteran Voices wherever you get your podcasts.

It's led by the one and only Mary Kate Saliva, a US army veteran, does a great job.

And beyond Veteran Voices and the rest of.

With that said, we touched on some of big things that some of our favorite friends of the show are up to, like Corey Comer, who just launched Whiskey Wanderlust, a really cool new podcast.

Do you like Whiskey, Kevin?

You know it.

Well.

Check out Whiskey Wanderlust wherever you get your podcasts, especially on YouTube.

Corey is doing wonderful work there as well.

One more quick resource folks, as we got a jam packed front in here of the Buzz Digital Transformers edition, folks.

Did you know cargo theft, it's up almost 50% according to some estimates this year over last year.

So you should tune in to a live webinar.

We've got Tomorrow, that's Tuesday, November 12th, where Richie Daigle with Tav and Michael Koeney with Highway have some answers and expertise that organizations just gotta hear.

We're gonna drop the registration link right there.

And hey, if you can't make it, not a problem.

We got your back.

All registrants will get an on demand copy of the conversation.

That makes it convenient, Kevin.

Right.

When you can all things on demand, right?

Yeah, you know, get kind of lazy.

Everything goes right to your daughter, you know, dropping it with the drone.

But on demand is what important.

Although, although.

I mean you can actually see this show on demand, you know, but it's much, much better when it's live.

That's right, Kevin, 100%.

Okay, folks, we're going to make this really easy again.

We've got the US Bank Freight Payment Index one click away right there.

We've got with that said, our newsletter right there, one click away.

And also the webinar we just talked about which is open to anybody.

You just got to register.

You got one click away right there.

And Kevin, before we get into our first news story, Heather Lee Flannery is with us.

She says hello, Kevin, thrilled to be in the audience.

I'm the CEO of AI Mind Systems foundation where we are driving the hashtag National Hero Initiative.

Kevin, make the quick connection for us.

Oh wow.

We're going to talk about that.

In fact, I had dinner with Heather last week.

We're going to talk about what they're doing in the news.

But we had the Government Blockchain association conference and Heather is a Claude futurist, policy and patient advocate and a complex systems theorist.

Right.

As the CEO, she co founded that AI mind assist them in March of 2024 with their Chief Scientific Officer Sean Manion, Dr.

Sean Manion, and other industry leaders.

And they have this vision for structural interventions for humanities, health, safety, prosperity and privacy.

And she's also the chair of the Healthcare and Life Sciences Working group at the GBA and she's also does the Washington D.C.

chapter of AI 2030.

You know, what's AI going to do out there in the future?

And she developed standards at ieee.

And with respect to, you know, we're going to talk later about getting into the C suite, right?

Yeah.

She serves as the women Economic Forum G100 US Northeast Regional Chair for Humanity, Technology and Innovation.

So Heather does a lot.

It sounds like it will have a great time.

Well, you know, we've got the smartest audience in all of global business.

And it sounds like Heather fits right in because not only is she must be great at math given all those technical and science driven roles, but she's moving mountain.

So Heather, welcome, welcome.

Great to have you here.

We're going to talk more about a new partnership.

So thanks for being here.

Okay.

So Kevin, we got a lot of work to do.

We've got three big stories to get to before our distinguished guest joins us here, Karen Betancourt.

About 12:30.

So we got a lot.

So y'all buckle up, get ready and let us know what you think.

By the way, Heather says thank you, Kevin.

That explains why I feel so busy.

You must be.

No doubt.

Let's switch gears and let's talk about folks.

With Veterans Day being today, that's going to be a big theme.

That and technology and of course, supply chain here today.

That theme is going to be found in about all the stories we're covering.

So we'll start with a story from our friends at Gutter of CIO that focuses on how the Navy is improving its cybersecurity efforts.

Kevin, tell us more.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

You know, Department of Navy operates a very dangerous cyber domain with all our enemies out there, and they really juggle a supply chain security, data integrity and advanced cybersecurity in order to bolster defense of disinformation.

So the Navy is working closely with the defense industrial base, the partners, to eliminate the supply chain in order to evaluate cybersecurity practices of all those involved in the blockchain in the supply chain.

And they are leveraging blockchain to do that.

They are checking data for accuracy and consistency throughout the supply chain so that they can respond to any type irregularities or violations through that process.

It's really all about visibility.

And they need to implement strong encryption and access controls as well as conducting regular security assessments across the entire supply chain to actively validate their posture rather than simply focus on compliance.

I think that's real great advice to anyone that's dealing with today's complex.

What would you say the supply mesh, it's no longer a supply chain.

That's one of your.

Go to supply mesh versus supply chains.

I think there's a lot of truth and a lot of accuracy in that.

I would just first off, it's great.

And maybe the private sector continue to learn how the public sector and our military strengthens its cybersecurity.

Hopefully there's lots of parallels there.

But also good news, folks.

Speaking of the Navy, right.

Kevin's branch, he served, served in, you know, the US Navy has been busy for months.

In fact, one commander of the fleet there in the Red Sea said that the Houthi attacks on the US Fleet there was the longest sustained attack since World War II, was what the quote I saw, I think, in the Wall Street Journal.

So it's been busy with months, you know, trying to protect and keep open the critical shipping lanes in the Red Sea, given all those texts.

But there's good news because, you know, the US Military has ramped up its offensive attacks on the Houthis and their supporters in the last few weeks, maybe going back a little longer than that, maybe the last month or two.

And for what I can find, Octo Uber may have seen the least amount of shipping attacks yet.

And Kevin, that is a great thing on a variety of levels.

I wonder if that big wing B2 had anything to do with it from the Air Force.

Hey, my hunch is absolutely no doubt about it.

And you know, I'm just glad after all the carnage we've seen, you know, vessels lost, lives lost.

You know, hopefully we'll get some more serenity and we'll see what the future holds.

So excellent lead off article on cybersecurity and some of the cool things the Navy is doing.

And Heather also agrees with you.

A plus one on supply mesh versus chain.

We're gonna have to get Karen to weigh in when she joins us as well.

And folks, don't take Kevin's word for it or mine.

We're adding the links to each of these articles right there in the chat.

Okay, Kevin, I want to talk about this next story.

This comes to us from our friends at nextgov fcw.

It rolls right off the tongue, huh?

We're going to be talking artificial intelligence here.

The U.S.

department is going to have something else to say about this.

The U.S.

department of Veterans affairs and the U.S.

food and Drug Administration are partnering to create an interagency testing ground for healthcare related AI tools.

Kevin, tell us more.

So you know, the military takes care of when you're in and when you're out.

And so the VA Undersecretary for Health, Sharif Elnihal announced that the VA Innovation Experience Conference on Wednesday, okay.

Saying that the agencies are establishing a joint health AI lab to evaluate promising and emerging technologies.

I mean, healthcare is critical and artificial intelligence can really help in a lot of different ways.

Donahall said that the lab will serve as a asset for federal agencies and the private sector to be able to test applications of artificial intelligence in a virtual lab environment to ensure not only that they work, but that they are safe and effective for veterans and for the patients and that they adhere to trustworthy AI principles.

You know, as we have had a couple of shows about artificial intelligence, you know what I say, don't be scared, right?

It's just a tool.

Let's learn how to properly use these tools to improve all of society.

Kevin, well said.

Don't be scared.

Well said, folks.

We gotta lean into AI and modern innovative technology, but in a focused, targeted, right tool at the right time type of manner.

You know, I love this testing ground.

And when you share this article and we plan on using here today, I did a quick Google search.

You know, we've, we've had, gosh, millions of shows on AI and I love this interagency testing ground.

And I've seen some private sector similar versions and I Think this is something we need to do a whole bunch more of, especially Kevin, in the healthcare arena, you know, if we look at the veteran community, the demands that will be.

I mean, we already have incredibly high demands on the va, right.

And all the healthcare provides, we're going to have to lean in to better ways of doing that.

Leveraging the most innovative technology so we can not only increase service levels, but just meet the sheer demand of our veterans and our families.

Your final thought, Kevin, before we move on?

Well, you know, you have to have a whole of government approach to, you know, the health care of our veterans.

And this is really a way of embracing technology and in improving the life and the health and when people leave the military being able to integrate into society.

So I think it's important for us to understand that this is what's needed.

Yes, everyone should collaborate on this type of requirement.

Well, you know, Kevin, as I understand it, and look, I'll defer you and Karen and many others will know more about technology than I will probably ever learn in my lifetime.

But as I understand these testing grounds, it's a bit of a petri dish, a bit of a skunk works to make sure the tools are safe and effective and successful before we roll them out into the real world, so to speak, for applications.

Is that a good way of looking at it, Kevin?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

And I love what you did there.

Our last show was about the skunk works, but absolutely, you have.

That was a good one.

Just like they do in the skunk works.

You gotta, you know, explore the leading edge and understand the goods and the bads.

So this is, this is great.

So folks, if you're new to the word skunk works, it really refers to a division of Lockheed Martin that has been responsible for some of the most innovative and remarkable aircraft for generations.

So check it out.

We featured Thomas.

What was Thomas's last name?

Kevin Wars, I think so.

Amanda and Tricia, you're gonna have to help us out.

Thomas was with Lockheed.

He was a technologist with Lockheed.

And we talked about a couple different elements here.

He was also a fellow veteran, served in the US army where he did some really cool things in cyber and other.

It was Thomas Moore Security too.

That's what he did.

That's his job.

We will drop the link to that episode sponsored by our friends at Microsoft.

Y'all gotta check that out.

Okay, Kevin, we got one more story to hit.

This is a bit of an announcement which is very exciting and I'm gonna pop this up here.

So according to Recent Press releases Several businesses are teaming up to serve US veterans, first responders and their families through enhanced AI security.

Kevin, Tell us more.

Yes.

Now this As a key part of responsible AI and ethical AI programs, AI Mind Systems foundation will deploy the Guardrails for Gen AI Suite within the components of their trusted data and AI ecosystem.

And this is being deployed as part of the National Hero initiative.

So the Guardrails for Gen AI is a solution that places critical safeguards around AI systems keeping humans in the loop to monitor and address potential artificial intelligence risk such as cyber security vulnerabilities, intellectual property concerns, violence, self harm, harassment, bias, discrimination, profanity, brand and compliance risk.

This initiative will pilot and study innovative structures for healthcare and social service delivery to our veterans and decentralized clinical research.

National Heroes aims to radically improve personalization, efficiency and preservation of privacy by empowering individuals with complete enterprise scale data and AI infrastructures that is under their direct control.

This will make it possible for individuals and families to access care, support and resources seamlessly integrated from across organizations sectors that are tailored to their unique needs.

So this is really, you know, putting AI in a position to help us all.

Kevin, I love this and Heather, really appreciate what you and your team are doing.

She says thank you so much for highlighting AI Mind Systems Foundation's new partnership with Guardrail Technologies and National Hero.

Appreciate what you're doing.

One quick comment Kevin.

So we we had Lloyd Knight who founded Vetlana with us on Friday, longtime friend.

He helped us create veteran voices back in the day, spent 20 years and three days as he put it, I think on active duty in the US Air Force and he spent a bunch of time, I can't remember what he's approaching.

He's been with UPS for a long time doing some great things there.

But anyway, he made a great comment I hadn't really thought about, but it's very related to this announcement and he mentioned something like I'm a paraphrase that, you know Cedar citizens are thought often time about being the victims of fraud or you know, criminal activities and whatnot.

But he mentioned veterans are a close second right of being taken advantage of.

So I love initiatives like this because we know that just like all of us, the good actors are doing wonderful innovative things with modern technologies to include AI.

We also know same token that the criminal element and the bad actors have just as much access to technology and are doing bad things and taking advantage and criminalizing, stealing from folks.

And so I love elements like this.

So Kevin, this looks like to be a pretty powerful initiative for veterans, first responders, and of course, their families.

Is that right?

Yeah, yeah.

This is absolutely an arms race.

Right.

Because that technology is out there and just like anything, it can be used for good or for bad.

So we have to, you know, bring the white hats out.

That's right.

To make sure every day.

All right, a lot of good stuff here today.

And two more quick announcements before we bring in our special guest here today.

You're going to love Karen Betancourt.

Yes want.

Hey, yes, Juan, how you doing?

He says AI consultant from Allen, Texas.

I met Kevin for the first time the GBA conference in D.C.

last week.

Know Heather quite well, first time on the Buzz.

Welcome, welcome.

Nesh want great to have you with us here today.

I wonder what Alan, Texas is known for other than yes want Kevin.

But they got some good food down there also.

Thank you.

Trisha, who shared that episode we were referencing a few minutes ago with Thomas Mar with Lockheed.

You're going to want to check that out, especially as it relates to cybersecurity at the intersection of cybersecurity and manufacturing.

You know what was really good about that show?

I mean, he works in a top secret environment and he was telling us about the techniques and the challenges and the threats.

And it's the exact same threats that everyone has.

I just want to clarify, I just want to clarify all that top secret stuff he was telling Kevin he wasn't telling me.

Folks, whoever's out there listening, all right, we got an outstanding guest here today.

Outstanding tape.

He was there.

I'm not going to prison by myself.

All right, so we're gonna shift gears here today.

It was a good episode, y'all.

Check it out.

Our featured guest here today on the Buzz has done some really big things in global supply chain, having served in critical leadership roles with name, brand and innovative companies such as Cardinal Health, Amazon and Walmart.

Now she now serv CEO for a leading medical supply chain company that serves Central and South America.

Please join me in welcoming Karen Betancourt, CEO of Vanguard Medical Logistics.

Hey.

Hey, Karen.

How you doing today?

Hi, Karen.

I am wonderful.

Thank you.

And happy, happy Veterans Day.

Thank you both for your service.

Thank you.

Super, super important.

Well, I really appreciate that.

And I think you had.

Your brother is a Marine, right?

Served in the Marines, is that right, Karen?

Yes, my brother served in the marines and on my husband's side of the family, Air Force, Navy, tons of folks.

So we represent everyone.

Actually, I have a cousin in the army, so I've covered all of the major four branches.

Oh, that's awesome.

That is awesome.

Well, so glad for you to be here with us today.

I really enjoyed spending some time with you last week, and we had some interesting discussions there.

But we're going to start Karen and Kevin with a fun one question, one of my favorite topics, and that's food.

So Thanksgiving is coming up right around the corner here in the US And I want to ask you both, starting with Karen, what is one dish that you look forward to every single year when it comes to Thanksgiving?

So, without a doubt, that is ooey gooey spinach loaf, which has the worst name on the face of the planet.

But you think spinach dip on top of a toasty, perfect French baguette with bacon, and then you add a little bit more cheese on the outside, and without.

It's not Thanksgiving.

It's not a holiday.

We actually break out again because we love it so much.

But that's my answer for sure.

All right, so I'm going to write that down.

We're going to get the recipe for ooey gooey spinach loaf.

And, you know, some things, they don't have the blessing of a really great sounding name such as that, but I'll take your word for it.

I bet it's delicious, Karen.

And before I ask, Kevin, hey, cm, great to have you here.

Appreciate your service in the United States Air Force.

And CM says, love the subject matter important.

That's right.

All right, well, we get.

You got one fan already.

Karen, that sounds amazing.

I see there Amanda or Trisha back there behind the scenes.

Kevin, what's one dish you're looking forward to?

Well, I'm on a global show right now.

Right.

So I have to.

I have to tell the truth.

I'm sorry.

But my favorite Thanksgiving food comes courtesy of my wife Lisa, and it's sweet potato souffle.

Ooh.

I just eat it all up.

You know, I love that sometimes I gotta push away the turkey so I can eat more sweet potato souffle.

I'm with you.

I love turkey.

But, you know, sometimes I do lighten my plate in that compartment so I get some of these other delicious dishes.

And I would just add to Karen's ooey gooey spinach loaf and Kevin's sweet potato souffle.

Is that what you said, Kevin?

Yes, My grandmom's potato salad.

Hands down, the best ever.

It takes a lot of work to get it done right.

But Amanda has taken that recipe and almost perfected it.

That's delicious.

Let him down to have that.

Oh, well, I think she was bribed.

Maybe, but it comes out great.

Folks, if you haven't had fried turkey yet, it is absolutely delicious.

Like a Cajun fried turkey, y'all check that out.

Okay, Karen and Kevin, we're starving and my mom's gonna make us more hungry.

Plain old pumpkin pie for me with some whipped cream, I bet.

Yeah, Yeah, I can't wait.

As important as food is during Thanksgiving, nothing like getting your family together, sharing all the stories that come out that time of year every year, and just enjoying the camaraderie and fellowship.

So looking forward to that.

All right, Karen and Kevin, we gotta get to work.

We got a lot of stuff that we want to ask Karen actually you both about.

And Karen, I'll start with for the handful of folks out there that may not be familiar with you just yet, despite an incredible career thus far.

If you would tell us briefly about your background.

Sure, absolutely.

I'm getting close to knocking on 20 years in supply chain, but started out at Target, so started out in retail, then moved into McMastercar which is an industrial supply company famous for same and next day delivery of your impossible to find items.

So that taught me a lot about fulfillment.

And then spent nearly seven years at Amazon doing pretty much everything from launching legacy fulfillment to launching robotic fulfillment, then going up and making sure North America and Europe were at par for technology.

And then moved to Walmart for a little bit to help them out and build a sortation center network for them.

And then spent a couple years at Cardinal Health in the midst of the pandemic, focusing on delivering medical and pharmaceutical at an incredibly critical time for the world.

And so now I am CEO of Vanguard Medical Logistics.

It's based in Panama and serves nine countries including portions of the United States.

But what it does is take advantage of Panamanian in transit law.

It's fantastic and super lucky.

But you can have indefinite in transit inventory in certain portions of Panama as a result of the canal, which allows you to avoid the landing cost of incorrectly placing your inventory.

And we all know that when we're talking about razor thin margins or supply chain delays or having to reroute because of Red Sea.

Houthis, whatever the issue may be, where your inventory is and whether it's accessible for that sale is critical.

And so that's what we're doing.

Love that Karen finding new, creative, innovative ways of taking friction out of global supply chains.

And Kevin, I spent some time with Karen last week.

Right.

And I learned about her background after our chat.

So imagine this.

I'm sitting there talking to Karen, about Amazon and Walmart, not knowing that she has done big things in supply chains at both those organizations.

So, Karen, I look forward to our next conversation as well.

But Kevin, when it comes to supply chain and when it comes to digital transformation and leadership, I think we've got quite a bit to learn from Karen here today.

Your thoughts?

Well, my thought is Karen didn't tell us during the pre show that she was responsible for those drones dropping packages on the floor.

I mean, she left that little bit out.

That's right.

You were hysterical, oddly enough.

So I did drones at Cardinal.

We were testing it there, but I missed out on drones at Amazon or Walmart.

But I did absolutely work, work on that.

Drone technology is fantastic.

I'm a little skeptical that you need to get your purse or a toy off of a retailer's website via drone, but color me a skeptic.

There's lots of folks that are equally as skeptical.

You know, Kevin, I talked about having lunch with a couple of chief supply chain officers about a month or so ago and we were talking about what's next and they were equally as skeptical.

Karen, about the next generation of drone delivery.

We'll see.

Kevin, your last thought.

And then we're going to move into our first story about the first mile.

The second thing is that she's really focused on helping getting products through customs because I've been dealing with trying to ship stuff to the eu and I tell you, and with trying to deal with the terrace and the VAT and Carnet and ATA and all of that, I tell you, it's really a pain.

So it sounds like what you're doing there with that in transit inventory helps with that pain point.

It does, yeah.

Absolutely.

No one gets it right.

And it's a pain and expensive for everyone.

And it's even worse when you get to pay duties twice because it's in the wrong country.

So trying to always make that easier.

There's a better way.

There is a better way.

And as CM says, oh, light bulb coming off indefinite in transit inventory.

Learn something new.

Nice.

Well, hey, we learn something new every day, don't we?

See him.

Danny asked a great question.

What would be the 5 KPIs to supply blockchain manager?

We may touch on that later in the show.

We're going to talk about a career in advancement later in the show, so stick tight.

If we don't get to that question today, Danny, we'll get to it later.

And I think this is Amanda.

Give me all the Thanksgiving carbs.

I want cornbread Dressing, rolls and desserts.

I'm with you.

I am with you.

Love any dressing with Tabasco.

All right, Karen and Kevin, we got a lot to get to.

I want to start with this article here from our friends at Supply Chain Dive.

I'm going to unpack this a bit and then Karen will get your reaction.

And then of course, we'll get Kevin's as well.

So, according to the author here, we're entering the age of first mile reinvention.

Now, we all know that we talk and work on a whole bunch more on the last mile than we do the first mile.

But I would say that's been changing for years.

But here's one example that article points to a few years back.

The global food company Danone.

Y'all have heard of that before, right?

I know.

They're famous in our household for the yogurt.

Well, they rolled out 20 digital solutions into its baby food factory in Poland, including AI based planning and scheduling, amongst others.

Guess what?

Manufacturing costs were reduced by 19%.

Greenhouse gas emissions were lowered some 50%.

Sounds really easy.

I know it's a lot harder done than said, but.

In fact, a 20240100 survey and published research has found that 16% of the companies surveyed had established AI use cases and planning ranging from demand forecasting to replenishment and allocation.

In fact, 17% of the use cases amongst that group were found in sourcing.

In particular, 0100 identified 20 global planning transformations that leveraged AI's predictive capabilities to drive anywhere from 10 to 50% improvements in forecast accuracy.

And we all know our forecasts could use as much accuracy enhancements as possible.

But.

But they also found improvements in revenues, costs and cash.

Now, the author get this.

We'll see if you all agree or disagree.

The author, Lauren Acoba, says, quote, those who don't invest in the first mile will likely finish last.

End quote.

Love that.

So, Karen, I'll start with you.

Your reaction to first mile transformation, your reaction to anything we touched on there and what's the opportunity you see?

Maybe.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

So I'm thrilled we're talking about it because we have a tendency to ignore supply chain and first mile is probably the most boring part for most people of supply chain.

Right.

They expect things to just bump up to their dock and they don't worry about it too much.

So thrilled to see that.

I would argue always challenging space to get your finance partners on on board.

Because if you're not paying the freight either off your dock or onto your dock, you have a tendency to be in type 2 savings and nothing will pay off if you are letting finance be the only determination of that.

So thrilled we're talking about it.

You have to remember, first mile for you is always last mile for somebody else.

Right.

We think about last mile being just for customers because that's the UPS guy, that's the Amazon logistics guy.

Drop it off at your house.

But it's actually any time it ceases its movement.

So we need to think about it.

We need to stop ignoring this.

We take bridges for granted, we take supply chain for granted.

So innovate.

But that's going to require conversations amongst groups that don't always have great chains of communication.

Right.

And so how do we as an industry, how do we as groups start to talk so that we are going farther upstream?

Danone was able to do that because they're owning everything from raw materials down.

Right.

Really straightforward.

But when you're doing any sort of coordination, that's where it gets complicated.

So thrilled we're focusing on it.

This is the epitome of humans are the most successful species on the planet because we're the most collaborative.

We need to collaborate here and then drive innovation.

Aaron, I love it.

Two quick comments and Kevin, I'm going to switch over to get your thoughts.

We do take a lot of things for granted.

I love that you mentioned that bridge.

You know, we'll drive across every bridge, coast to coast around the globe and if it goes as it's supposed to, we never even think about it.

But the minute there's a problem, that's when we, we pay more attention to any bridge.

And then secondly, the conversations do got to change.

That's a great call out a couple of times, Karen.

Kevin, your thoughts on first mile improvements?

You name it.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, that article specifically called out artificial intelligence in a couple of places.

But one thing that really caught my eye was that AI predictive capabilities drove from 10 to 55.0percent of the absolute improvements in forecast accuracy.

And that drove additional improvements in revenue, cost, reduced cost and cash flow.

So this is, you know, we're talking a lot about AI and this is another application of AI.

So I mean, I think this is important and do people, you know, jump on it?

Don't wait, Kevin, excellent point.

And you know, that came up in our chat last week.

Karen and I think we were both talking about the big opportunity we have with AI.

But I think we both agreed that folks, before you get to AI, let's make sure we're leveraging and using Our data.

Let's maybe start there.

Karen, quick comment before we move to the next question.

It is a space that historically we've underinvested in.

We're not retaining data.

We're just taking things for advantage.

Most of us still working a lot on paper.

AI can only do 10 to 50% if you figured out a way to get the data off of the piece of paper into a database that the AI can use.

So everybody needs.

You are behind the eight ball if you are not yet focused on getting everything digitized so that your AI can analyze.

That's right.

And Kevin, don't be scared, right?

No, no, no.

And there's a term for that.

I think it's.

I think it's digital transformation.

Yeah, that's what it is.

Love it, love it, love it.

We got so much more we could talk about that, but we got a lot more we want to pose to Karen here today on the Digital Transformers edition of the Buzz.

And I got a next big topic, and that is technology selection and implementation.

Folks, I tell you, I think we've talked a lot about both of these topics here.

On plenty of shows.

I talk regularly about how selection, despite all that we've learned, all we've learned over the decades, oftentimes some of us still take shortcuts when it comes to selection.

Implementation is a whole different beast.

Right?

But Karen, given all of your expertise and experience in selecting and implementing technologies across your career, what's a couple pieces of advice that you'd offer our audience that are probably doing the same in so many different ways?

Excellent question.

So the number one is stakeholder management.

It's knowing which stakeholders and when to bring them in.

So you do not want them too early in the process because they will demand things.

And there is no solution that is perfect that leads a lot of companies into building their own technology.

Spoiler alert, most companies that are not technology companies suck at building technology.

And if you bring your stakeholders in too early, you go, you go custom, entirely, all the way.

Second, do not let a smooth salesperson, woman or man, whatever it is, be the person that's pushing the solution onto you.

I also see a lot.

You get an incredibly compelling salesperson that if they work for you, you're thrilled.

However, if you are the customer and you get something oversold because the salesperson doesn't realize what the solution actually needs to do.

So know your problem statement, know your stakeholders, and then, number three, actually fully implement the solution.

Do not let a freak out of the C suite or finance or someone stop you from fully implementing technology.

There is no bigger problem in corporate America today than the tech debt that has been created by partially deploying things and not actually fully deploying.

So if those are my three top three, I've done all of them wrong at some point.

One or the other.

We all have.

Undoubtedly.

Karen and I love that you mentioned tech debt debt.

I think there needs to be a whole bunch more awareness when it comes to what tech debt is and the negative impact that it has.

That's such a great call out, Kevin.

When you think of technology selection, implementation, whether it's Karen's expert advice there or what you've learned and have shared organizations, what comes to your mind?

What comes to my mind is squirrel.

Right?

The first shiny object you see, you want.

And then the C suite will drive everyone crazy because that's what was on, you know, in the magazine last flight.

It's important to understand not just what you're doing, but why you're doing it and where it links to your business processes.

You have to be have a holistic view of technology and you have to have a direct linkage of the technology to your business KPIs.

You have to know what's going to change what you have to measure metrics with respect to the implementation timeline of the technology.

Otherwise you're just squirrel.

The seven second goldfish attention span, right?

Squirrel's great analogy.

Goldfish, great analogy.

And that's the human element.

That's the beautiful imperfect human element that's part of any industry, supply chain, technology, global business, you name it.

And one last thought here, one last thought before we move on.

I think adoption, lots of studies point to the immense challenge we have with truly optimizing and maximizing adoption.

I want to say Gartner came out with a stat at one of its recent planning conferences that said the average adoption of new technology platforms, I think in general it could have been for planners anyway, it's less than 30%.

We have a massive problem I think with adoption because we have all this kind of to what you are both talking about.

We're human.

We've got attention issues, all of us do.

We've got thousand things coming at us every day.

We've got tidal waves of data.

Of course we got customer, we got.

We're constantly problem solving, right?

Planning, getting ready for what's next while still getting today's workout, so to speak.

So we're fighting adoptions, fighting for a lot of of the space between the ears.

Karen, your quick comment on adoption.

I'll get Both of y'all, really quick.

Just speak to adoption for a second.

It's gotta be One of the KPIs that Kevin was just talking about.

Adoption rate, engaging, going and then having uncomfortable conversations.

If you're the product owner or the deployment leader of why the hell it hasn't been adopted, and then actually taking the feedback in that has to be, otherwise you're gonna lose it.

Well said, Karen.

Kevin, your last thought on adoption.

And by the way, which door are you choosing?

Kevin?

Kevin?

Red, purple, yellow, or blue?

There's a prize behind one of them.

I don't see a green.

Adoption.

Your final word there, Kevin.

You have to have metrics on adoption, but also metrics on completion.

You know, and when you complete, what was the ROI based upon the metrics that you got to choose at the very beginning of adoption?

And please, please, please don't change the metrics because they look bad.

I hate that, you know, you, you choose metrics at the beginning of an adoption phase and they don't look good.

So you say, okay, let's change these metrics because clearly something's wrong.

We don't look too good in the C suite.

You choose your metrics so you can make decisions, and people hate making decisions.

Make the decision if you have to, to kill it.

You know, say, fail fast, kill it early, and that's what the metrics are for.

Well said, Kevin.

Well said.

And a lot of folks don't, like, make decisions, but I think one of the great silver linings of this wonderful technology, brilliant technology age we're living in is we are putting our teams, when done right, we're putting our teams in position to make better, faster, more sound, successful and confident decisions.

And that will make hopefully create some of the or pull some of the disdain away from decision making.

Mark Preston.

It is great to have a lot of golf clubs, but you look silly if you're on the golf course without a bag.

Foundation of processes and data needs to come first to hold all the shiny golf clubs.

Mark Wilson.

Love the analogy.

Okay, Karen, incredible journey thus far, and I won't.

In light of that, we got to have you back so we can take a deeper dive.

We got so many great stories to share, but we get the question all the time.

Hey, hey, Scott.

Kevin.

Other SCN hosts, how can I advance into the C suite like so many of your guests, whether it's in supply chain or technology or you name it.

And Karen, I would love to kind of get your advice, especially when it comes to career advancement, that I think some of the folks here were asking about, when you think of the challenging path of any career, what's some advice that you've seen really work and has advanced your career into the upper echelons?

Well, thank you.

I appreciate it.

The very first thing is the thing that most people avoid, which is they don't ask questions and they don't put it out there.

They feel afraid that they're going to be mocked or made fun of or told they're not ready until they don't actually put their aspirations out into the universe.

And that's the single largest pace.

You got to get feedback about what you need to do better.

You need to be on the top of mind of someone to think about you, to sponsor you in rooms that you're not in.

But that's the biggest piece.

Second, you've got to solve problems.

You have to understand problems.

You need to solve problems.

And then you need to figure out if you're a shy person who or like someone who likes to be in the back of the world.

Cool.

You're going to have to have other people speaking your name for you.

So how do you get advocates who are going to do things that you don't want to do to get your name out there?

Or you're going to have to realize that you've got to figure out a way that feels authentic to you, that allows you to celebrate your wins and successes.

And then the last piece is figure out who in the company your team isn't talking to and go talk to them.

It's astonishing how frequently we sit in silos and we just don't talk to people.

And that's how you get a greater profile so that people know your name, so that you do more.

Oh, Karen, what a great, great list.

And Kevin, I think my favorite.

You know, we love talking about silo busting around here.

It's so weird.

Funny, weird, whatever.

What's old is new again.

We've been after busting up silos for decades.

However, we may have more silos in a weird way that's driven by technology divides.

Oh, yeah.

Modern day than ever before.

Yes, absolutely.

But Kevin, when you hear Karen's advice there for career advancement, what would you add?

Maybe, you know, it took me the longest time to understand the importance of mentors.

These are the people that will help you answer your questions.

So get a mentor and ask your questions.

They will point you in the right direction and it'll help you advance mentorship.

What's old is still new and powerful again for sure.

And reverse Mentorship is equally as successful.

So any of our business leaders out there, that's not engaging in reverse mentorship, where we're learning from the newest coming into the industry is a.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

So we're gonna have a fast and furious finish here.

Karen, looking forward to having you back.

Really have enjoyed your perspective.

This user.

And Amanda Trish, let me know who this is.

They say garbage in, garbage out.

It still holds.

Good data is key.

All the best AI models in the world cannot help if you have noisy, erroneous, or missing data.

Data is the fuel of the AI engine, man.

Eloquent data.

You.

That was.

Yes.

Want, by the way, the pride of Allen, Texas.

So thank you for being here.

Yes.

Want.

Okay, so, Karen, I want to make sure folks know I connect with you.

I do want to mention your upcoming podcast.

It launches next week, Business Casuals with Karen Betancourt.

You can find it wherever you get your podcasts, but especially YouTube and Spotify.

So, Karen, where else can folks track you down?

Well, thank you for having me.

I've enjoyed.

This is fantastic.

You guys can all find me on LinkedIn.

I'm Karen D.

Bettencourt, CEO of Vanguard Medical Logistics there and happy to meet any of y'all.

Outstanding.

We're dropping the link right there to Vanguard and we'll also we'll drop a link to Karen's LinkedIn profile.

And by the way, their URL is VML hyphensa.com Kevin, don't ask me for the NATO alphanumeric because those brain cells are long since dead.

That came up last time.

That's right.

But we also dropped a link to Karen's LinkedIn profile, so check that out as well.

Karen Betancourt, a pleas CEO of Vanguard Medical Logistics, really enjoyed you being here.

Kevin, I'm going to give you.

What's your favorite takeaway?

Karen dropped a lot of knowledge on us over the last 30 minutes.

What is one of your favorite takeaways?

And then we'll wrap.

I like the first smile.

I like that focus on the first smile.

That actually gives you more information of what you need to do on the last mile.

So I like that.

I do, too.

And I would add to that she shared a couple of times, folks, we've got to have different conversations.

We got to ask different questions.

Those folks that aren't involved in the conversations that Karen pointed out, let's pull them in, right?

Let's engage them.

Communication.

Yeah, that's right.

We're missing out massively when we stay in our silos for all sorts of business and life conversations for that matter.

So good stuff.

Thanks again.

Karen Betancourt with Vanguard Medical Logistics.

Thanks for being here.

Kevin L.

Jackson, host of our Digital Transformers, where they can find that wherever they get their podcast from.

Kevin, always a pleasure.

Thanks for being here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And folks, as we wrap here today, big thanks to all of our veterans out there.

Thanks for what you do.

Thanks to the families behind all of our veterans that have served or still serve.

Folks, whatever you do, on behalf of the entire team here at Supply Chain Now, Scott Luden, challenge you do good, give forward, be the change that's needed.

And we'll see you next time right back here at Supply Chain now.

Thanks everybody.

Thanks for being a part of our Supply Chain now community.

Check out all of our programming@supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to Supply Chain now anywhere you listen to podcasts and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

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