Ingram Micro is increasingly focused on resellers as part of a shift to a "demand-driven approach" instead of channels, says Chief Digital Officer Sanjib Sahoo. "Our strategy is to have global data feed intelligent engines, which are business use cases, which then create a frictionless experience," Sahoo says.

As trucking fleets and suppliers look to the future, they're exploring how electric, fuel cell and autonomous truck technologies can work together. "There's nothing fundamental that says autonomous technology must be with diesel or must be with electric or must be with fuel cells," says Waymo's Charlie Jatt.

Cloud-based enterprise resource planning platforms give distributors a good return on investment by improving revenue, providing cost and cloud savings, improving performance or quality, and reducing capital requirements, writes Barb Zimmerman, managing partner of ITDirections. "A majority of U.S.-based distributors have either moved to a cloud-based ERP platform or intend to do so within the next few years," Zimmerman writes.

Forbes Agency Council experts offer 16 tips to help brands create evergreen video promotions to continually expand their reach such as Hart's Marc Paulenich, who advises crafting content that has utility such as walking a buyer through a decision-making process. Other experts suggest focusing on "universal human values" or emotions such as kindness or hope.

Leaders respond to a crisis more effectively when they automate routine decisions and delegate authority to others, both of which make resilience easier, says Beth Simonetti, chief HR officer at TD Synnex. "It's about constantly reprioritizing, or you might even call it triaging, and then moving on," Simonetti says.

Good leaders delegate, but the trick is knowing how much detail to provide and when to trust your people to figure things out, writes Ken Downer, who offers three concrete steps. "As we put together our delegation plan, we should seek to do it in a way that develops skills, builds trust, reinforces team culture, follows the vision, and stays true to our cornerstone values," Downer writes.

Many distributors experience the paradox of watching marketplaces grow sales at explosive rates while seemingly seeing no sales erosion to Amazon Business, etc., themselves. How can this be? What is the nature of the threat? When will it affect you? Most importantly, what should you do about it?. Discover the answer to these questions and more on Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. ET by registering today!

This 4-part series will take you from AI-unsure to AI-adopter through a riveting compilation of live webinars, thought-provoking articles and actionable whitepapers! You will gain the intel you need to formulate new strategies and ensure that your company thrives through this era of technology transformation. Register for this month's upcoming webinar "Understanding AI and How it Works" and learn the basics of Artificial Intelligence and how to understand business conversations about it.

Join NAW for an industry-wide virtual event for distribution CEOs on Tuesday, Nov. 9 from 2-3:30 p.m. Tailored specifically to CEOs of distribution companies with annual sales up to $80 million, the discussion will focus on the future of the distribution industry salesforce during a period of rapid post-pandemic change. NAW Institute Fellow Brent Grover will lead the discussion -- you don't want to miss out! Register today!