On this episode of the IoT For All Podcast, Sanjay Sharma, CEO of Roambee, joins Ryan Chacon to debate provide chain visibility with IoT and AI. They speak concerning the present provide chain panorama, the best way to enhance provide chain visibility, provide chain standardization, ease of implementing provide chain visibility, stakeholder collaboration, AI within the provide chain, and the way to achieve success with provide chain visibility.
About Sanjay Sharma
Sanjay Sharma is a strategic thought chief with twenty years of entrepreneurial expertise constructing know-how startups from the bottom up. As CEO of Roambee, he’s liable for main the corporate’s imaginative and prescient, driving its worldwide enterprise development, and rising the corporate’s worth. Sanjay has efficiently co-founded and led two profitable Silicon Valley B2B know-how venture-backed startups with profitable exits – KeyTone Applied sciences, which was acquired by International Asset Monitoring Ltd and Plexus Applied sciences, which grew to become an ICICI Ventures portfolio firm. He has additionally been part of the engineering groups at EMC, Schlumberger, and NASA.
Excited by connecting with Sanjay? Attain out on LinkedIn!
About Roambee
Roambee affords higher provide chain visibility on demand, for on-time, in-full, in-condition supply of shipments and belongings wherever on this planet. 300+ enterprises are enhancing buyer expertise, service ranges, product high quality, money cycles, enterprise efficiencies, sustainability, and automatic logistics with Roambee’s real-time insights & foresights. Greater than 50 of them are among the many prime 100 world firms within the Pharma, Meals, Electronics, Chemical compounds, Automotive, Packaging & Containers, and Logistics sectors. Roambee’s revolutionary AI-powered platform, and end-to-end monitoring options, ship curated and extremely correct provide chain indicators constructed on item-level, firsthand IoT sensor information and non-sensor inputs.
Key Questions and Matters from this Episode:
(00:53) Introduction to Sanjay Sharma and Roambee
(02:35) Provide chain present panorama
(04:32) How one can enhance provide chain visibility
(06:35) Provide chain standardization
(08:00) How simple is it to implement provide chain visibility?
(10:17) Stakeholder collaboration in provide chain visibility
(13:47) AI within the provide chain
(16:57) How to achieve success with provide chain visibility
(19:29) Be taught extra and comply with up
Transcript:
– [Ryan] Hiya everybody and welcome to a different episode of the IoT For All Podcast. I’m Ryan Chacon. And on at present’s episode, now we have Sanjay Sharma, the CEO of Roambee. They’re an organization centered on serving to organizations get higher visibility into their provide chain for on demand, on time, in full, in situation supply of shipments and belongings wherever on this planet.
So we’re gonna speak concerning the present provide chain panorama, visibility points and challenges that firms face. What’s wanted by the trade to extend visibility for the provision chain, and the way AI is taking part in a job in provide chain visibility. In case you’re watching this on YouTube, we really respect it should you would give this video a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, in addition to hit that bell icon, so that you get the newest episode as quickly as they’re out. In case you are listening to this on a podcast listing like Apple Podcasts, please subscribe so that you by no means miss an episode going ahead. Aside from that, let’s get on to the episode.
Welcome Sanjay to the IoT For All Podcast, thanks for being right here this week.
– [Sanjay] Hello Ryan. Sanjay right here. Good to fulfill you.
– [Ryan] Yeah. I’d adore it should you may begin this off by giving our viewers a fast introduction to your self and the corporate.
– [Sanjay] So my title is Sanjay Sharma. I’m the CEO of Roambee Company. We’re headquartered right here in Santa Clara, working in seven nations, and our mission is to make use of know-how, a mixture of IoT, AI, and analytics to ship actual time visibility of products and belongings that transfer inside the provide chain of our prospects.
– [Ryan] Incredible. And on the subject of the provision chain, are there any industries related to the provision chain or that target provide chain that you just’re centered on your self? Or is it simply throughout all totally different areas and issues like that?
– [Sanjay] I feel generically, realtime visibility is a should have now for industries round, however our focus is principally in the direction of industries which can be searching for correct and timeliness of knowledge, in order that they’ll use that info to take actions. And there are some industries which can be extra on this information than others, and people industries, for instance, are pharmaceutical life sciences, meals and drinks, the automotive trade, as a result of simply in time manufacturing is essential. So having actual time visibility is essential. Prospects who’re within the retail trade. So these are the standard industries that might actually profit greater than different industries on the subject of IoT and actual time functionality.
– [Ryan] Let me ask you then. So together with your expertise within the provide chain panorama, what does the present provide chain panorama seem like out of your aspect of issues? Are there present visibility points and challenges that exist that a whole lot of firms are encountering now? In that case, what are they?
However simply excessive stage it for our viewers who is probably not as aware of the house.
– [Sanjay] I feel provide chain, I might say the visibility is damaged and piecemeal and many of the prospects that we communicate to are counting on third events which can be exchanging items and belongings from level A to level B, which is origin to vacation spot. A few of them depend on emails and the normal telephone calls.
Then there are others who principally depend on EDI acknowledgements. However typically what we’re seeing within the trade is lot of firms wish to make their provide chain extra clear. And step one in doing that’s, is there a method I may even begin by analyzing my provide chain and establish the glitches in my provide chain?
And that’s the place actual time visibility begins off, proper? We’re seeing a whole lot of prospects, what we name it as a 5 day journey. Very apparently, our prospects would say to us is actual time visibility begins off by placing IoT gadgets or sensors on items and belongings on both drawback lanes.
For instance, shipments from Rhode Island to Guadalajara has extra issues than others. Let me inject visibility in there, or it’s an issue skew. A 60 inch TV is damaged than extra typically than others. Let me inject. So these are typical examples the place prospects begin off their journey on the subject of realtime visibility.
– [Ryan] And so let me ask you if for a buyer and even simply an trade as a complete seeking to have higher provide chain visibility, what is required to do this? Clearly there’s the know-how part and a bunch of stuff, however I’d adore it should you may take me by the totally different areas that basically should be centered on with the intention to drive visibility or higher visibility within the provide chain itself.
– [Sanjay] Step one is figuring out what granularity of visibility you want. For instance, some prospects transfer their merchandise solely in containers. So is visibility on the container ok, or some containers are shifting air cargo, is visibility ok on the air container stage? Or some prospects would love visibility on the pallet stage and a few would love on the bundle stage.
So I feel figuring out the granularity of visibility that’s wanted is extraordinarily vital. In order that’s primary. Quantity two is upon getting that visibility, what are you going to do with it? Okay. Are you going to optimize your supply instances? Are you going to just remember to want visibility since you wish to have efficient safety in your items that will get transported? Are you getting visibility since you wish to handle danger round spoilage or harm? So I feel the second facet of that is upon getting that information, what are you going to do with it? In order that’s the second half, proper? The third half is upon getting made enhancements within the provide chain, can you utilize now this information even additional alongside to make your provide chain autonomous?
In different phrases, can you’re taking this actual time visibility and translate that right into a transformative initiative inside your group that permits the provision chain to be self-healing, dynamic, and contextual.
– [Ryan] Completely. What about different issues, I assume from an trade perspective, I’ve talked a bit about this with different folks, about standardization within the trade to make this- make options extra simply adopted, applied sciences extra simply built-in in. Is there a component of that on this house as nicely?
– [Sanjay] Sure and no. I feel on the subject of the requirements of adoption, there are some requirements that exist already. So for instance, in case you are an organization that’s utilizing airways to maneuver your cargo there’s something known as Cargo iQ, which is a typical coming from the IATA group. And that truly tells you, what are the issues you need to be searching for when these items and belongings transfer from level A to level B?
However there’s nothing like this on the ocean aspect of issues. In relation to monitoring shipments within the ocean, on the subject of standardization of stock, there’s standardization at choke level. So for instance, should you’re bringing any merchandise into the US market, the border safety forces has a typical on the way it needs to be outlined.
What must be declared and how much information they want from the products and belongings that get onshored, on US land.
– [Ryan] What about- I assume if an organization is listening to this seeking to improve their visibility into their very own provide chain or their merchandise, how simple is it to implement? Since you talked about that with the intention to actually do that efficiently, you want to perceive the granularity of the information you want.
It is advisable perceive all these vital items, how the mixing’s going to go, how the- what know-how’s gonna be required, however with provide chains which have current infrastructure, legacy methods which can be there already, how simple is it to layer this on to allow elevated visibility?
Is it one thing that’s extra possible now given the know-how and the place issues are or how is that approached?
– [Sanjay] Yeah, I feel the section one is pretty simple. It’s about deciding on a supplier, a service supplier that identifies and matches together with your granularity necessities, after which simply implementing that resolution and lot of the options which can be on the market out there, together with Roambee, principally you possibly can simply begin monitoring your shipments inside days.
The second facet is, okay, now you began monitoring. You could have alerts and notification on the anomalies and the excursions that happen within the provide chain. How do you deal with that? How do you cope with that? That additionally principally would take few weeks in your staff or the corporate’s staff to familiarize themselves upon and make them actionable.
What turns into tougher is when you’re now collected severe quantities of knowledge in your merchandise, on origins, locations, your lanes. What do you do? How do you translate that into enhancements in your provide chain. For instance, some prospects would take that information and begin transporter habits.
Others would take a look at that information and begin profiling the lanes and the routes that they take. So there are a lot of methods of skinning this information, and that kind of turns into tougher as a result of that’s just about tying all the way down to the enterprise and fundamentals of the corporate and likewise what the priorities are.
– [Ryan] Deploying options like this, there’s at all times the corporate that’s extra of the customer seeking to get entry to sure information to enhance efficiencies and develop the enterprise. However then there’s additionally the top consumer that has to work together with these interfaces and handles extra of the day-to-day of the provision chain items.
How large of a expertise distinction is it for each of these stakeholders? In a whole lot of options that I’ve talked to visitors about, a whole lot of instances it’s a really totally different vantage level that they’re coming from. And constructing an answer that sort of achieves each of these objectives just isn’t at all times simple.
While you speak to firms on the market seeking to deliver this visibility into their enterprise, how tied collectively is that dialogue with the top consumer who’s concerned within the provide chain? Day-to-day and the corporate itself who’s seeking to have entry to this information to make higher enterprise choices.
– [Sanjay] You’re completely proper. The identical information can be interpreted very otherwise and consumed very otherwise inside numerous stakeholders, whether or not it’s inner within the group or exterior. And I name it the information magnification, proper? For instance, an finish consumer may be enthusiastic about knowing- if I’m a warehouse supervisor, I might be very a lot enthusiastic about figuring out when my cargo, which was scheduled to go away, has left after which as soon as it has left my jurisdiction, I’m now not liable for the second leg of this journey. The second leg of the journey may need an curiosity saying, for instance, now we have prospects the place the receiver says, I’m not likely enthusiastic about the complete date of the journey. Inform me when the truck goes to be 50 miles away from my vacation spot.
That’s after I’m enthusiastic about figuring out. So I feel it’s the information magnification. You’re amassing information, however slicing this information for numerous customers. Once more, is non-trivial. It’s a business- it’s a enterprise rule, I might say, on how this information must be repurposed. And there are platforms. I feel the alternatives that the client has at present is there are fairly just a few platforms that permit them to do that with low code or no programming, and it’s all configuration.
– [Ryan] Completely. Yeah, I feel that’s an vital half. Simply as vital as the flexibility to gather the information by the totally different environments that the provision chain runs by. The connectivity piece is available in. This can be a dialog I’ve had with folks previously, with like simply enabling higher visibility by accessing higher connectivity wherever the items of the provision chain are touring and that generally doesn’t at all times exist. In order know-how has improved, as connectivity choices have improved and work higher collectively, you’re capable of present larger visibility throughout the board to do precisely what you’re saying, which is construct an answer that works for all of the totally different stakeholders which can be meant in hopefully a low raise capability to get this into the corporate to see the worth, after which clearly scale from there.
– [Sanjay] That’s proper. And additional alongside, whereas there isn’t any connectivity accessible, is there the- does the answer have the flexibility to proceed amassing the information? And when there’s connectivity, are you able to push the information in order that it may be replayed? After which extra info will be derived out of that replay.
– [Ryan] One hundred percent. That’s a terrific level. Let me ask you, so with the- with clearly the explosion of AI, a whole lot of firms at the moment are speaking about how AI and IoT are working actually collectively in an answer like this, in an trade like this, how do you see AI taking part in a job in provide chain visibility, as a result of clearly this is- we’ve been speaking quite a bit concerning the capacity to gather extra and higher information, however with that information, how is AI coming in and serving to analyze, serving to simply enhance the general expertise and understanding of that info?
– [Sanjay] The best way to take a look at this know-how is to take a look at by the view of an instance. So for instance, should you mix synthetic intelligence and an rising know-how like graphic neural web, for instance, should you mix this, you possibly can actually begin desirous about the influence of a disruption in a provide chain on the provision chain community itself.
For instance, in case your product is caught on the Swiss Canal, are you able to principally take that disruption and begin what that disruption would seem like inside your provide chain, however the truth that your merchandise usually are not getting in your buyer’s hand, what influence would they’ve? The truth that they don’t have that product, what influence would it not have on an trade? On an financial system generally. So community propagation, for example, is a really large theme in provide chain. And may I principally bubble up a small disruption that occurred inside my provide chain and actually be capable of see an influence inside the total community.
In order that’s one piece, proper? The opposite piece is trying on the play of AI and ML into digital twins. So after I principally are launching a brand new product or redesigning my provide chain or placing a brand new provide chain community in place, earlier than I activate the button and launch the community, is there a chance to make a digital twin of the exact same community and begin simulating it with pseudo however actual time information, which can permit me to begin the place the choke factors are, what sort of challenges I might see. So I feel combining AI with digital twin ideas like that might actually profit the provision chain and the provision chain operators.
– [Ryan] I completely agree. I really had a dialog earlier at present about an organization that’s centered on pretend information, is the way in which they sort of promote it, but it surely’s the flexibility to have practical information that, for example, you’ve information that’s possibly has a whole lot of privateness restraints and issues like that, however you wish to have entry to practical information to run simulations, to construct digital twins, proper?
To indicate what sort of conditions may come up and actually check this out to present your self the very best probability of success, which I feel is a extremely fascinating strategy to this type of trade that we’re speaking about now. Very last thing I needed ask you earlier than I allow you to go right here is for firms on the market listening to this seeking to construct that visibility into their provide chain, what’s one of the best ways you advocate that they get began?
Or what’s the recommendation that you’ve for them to achieve success happening that path?
– [Sanjay] I feel from a tech stack perspective, I might encourage firms to begin open commonplace tech stack that may run on any cloud. That may help any sort of sensing gadgets which can be on the market, whether or not it’s a disposable or a reusable, however most significantly, it may also be built-in with their current IT ecosystem.
It may very well be an ERP, it may very well be a warehouse administration system, a yard administration system, and issues like that. In order that’s the selection of the tech stack, however I feel it is extremely vital to begin inner stakeholders and the shoppers of knowledge. Who would- which teams of people could have entry to this actual time visibility information and the way they are often enabled to take actions.
I feel that’s the second a part of it, which is folks and course of, proper? How do you principally put this info on the fingertips of your employees who can take motion. In order that’s the second piece. And the third piece is beginning to consider transformation, proper?
Inside the total provide chain, the place do you begin your transformation journey? Is it on the strategy planning stage or is it on the distribution stage, or are you going to do it indoors, outdoor, or in transit? I feel there are some decisions {that a} buyer must make when it begins desirous about digital transformation.
And lastly is trying on the decisions which were made in enabling actual time visibility and digital transformation. Are these merchandise, platforms, instruments, know-how, future proof? Can I principally be sure that the investments I make at present in folks, course of, and methods can outlast among the transformation journeys that firms are embarking on.
So I really feel those- these are the important thing worth factors that needs to be considered by an enterprise.
– [Ryan] Completely. No, unbelievable insights. Thanks for spending the time at present speaking about this. That is obviously- provide chain’s been a reasonably sizzling subject for some time throughout many alternative industries. And the truth that it’s- IoT is taking part in a big position in that, I’m glad we’re capable of dive deeper into that at present.
For our viewers who needs to study extra about what you all have occurring, possibly comply with up with any questions or speaking factors from at present’s dialogue, what’s one of the best ways they’ll do this?
– [Sanjay] I feel they’ll stand up on our web site. It’s www.roambee.com after which there’s a wealth of consciousness materials there. Sources, blogs movies, and clearly contact info through LinkedIn or our electronic mail channels would actually additionally assist.
– [Ryan] Good. Once more, respect the time. Thanks a lot and excited to get this out to our viewers.
– [Sanjay] Thanks, Ryan. Bye-bye.