Ewing Irrigation & Landscape Supply will purchase Hageman Earth Cycle and expand its presence in Colorado. The deal will create a "new service model opportunity," the company says. Owners Roger and Peggy Hageman will retire, while Hageman staff will stay on with Ewing.

Supply chains suffered a 51% rise in cyberattacks in the last several months of 2021, NCC Group reports from a survey of 1,400 stakeholders. About one-third say they bear the main responsibility for overseeing the problem, while 53% say they share the obligation equally with suppliers.

The Cass Freight Index, which measures shipping demand, rose by 0.6% in March from February, indicating the freight market is slowing amid rising inflation and economic uncertainty. A separate Bank of America analysis showed the outlook for freight rates has fallen while trucking capacity has increased.

Online business-to-business communities created by companies to boost customer engagement and loyalty are becoming increasingly popular, writes Justin Levy, director of social and influencer marketing at Demandbase. Levy explains how B2B marketers can set up online communities and explores the benefits, such as gathering customer feedback at scale and building customer relationships.

Customers have a lot more knowledge about products and services these days, which means the job of a sales team is to put that information in context, so customers can see how it solves their problems, writes David Brock. "We serve them in helping them understand what might be good or interesting, but which is not relevant to their specific situation," Brock writes.

Leaders can help their teams restore connections across the organization by inviting guests to meetings, creating a buddy system or finding projects to collaborate on, writes Julie Winkle Giulioni. "Employees take their cues from leadership, so make sure those cues point to silo-busting behaviors that will inspire others to act accordingly," Giulioni writes.