Distributors can provide customers with a seamless omnichannel buying experience by using artificial intelligence to break down barriers and share data among disconnected departments, writes Benj Cohen, founder of Proton.ai. Cohen also explains how AI analyzes and categorizes data to make it easier to use and notes that "combined with the right CRM, ecommerce and ERP platforms, distributors can create shopping and buying experiences that align with what B2B buyers want."

Walmart will acquire grocery automation company Alert Innovation to speed up order fulfillment. The companies have worked together since 2016, and Walmart is using Alert's robotics and artificial intelligence technologies to power the micro-fulfillment centers in its stores.

Leaders at companies that want to make their supply chains more agile should ask questions about potential barriers and investments while using external audits to identify the next steps to take, according to Dan Pellathy, an assistant professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Supply chain managers should also "expand the toolkit they use to value agility investments" and work closely with external stakeholders, Pellathy says.

Many companies are vulnerable to cybersecurity risk as threats continue to evolve and as organizations deal with staffing shortages in critical areas. Ninety percent of respondents to a Foundry study say organizations aren't doing enough to respond, and human error continues to be a key factor in cybersecurity incidents.

Leaders must ensure their staff knows how to speak beyond the language of sales -- functions, features, speeds, price, budget and discount -- so they can connect with customers in their own language, which centers on priorities, challenges, strategies, customers, return on investment and total implementation cost. "If we want to connect effectively and impactfully with our customers, we have to learn their language ... [and] engage them on the issues important to their success," sales expert David Brock writes.

Marketers spend roughly 25% of their budgets on marketing technology, yet only 42% are employing the full capabilities, down from 58% in 2020, due to overlapping solutions, lack of staff to use the systems and ecosystem complexities, according to Gartner research. Meanwhile, marketers are testing new technologies to support audio/podcast advertising, streaming and connected TV, the metaverse, in-game promotions and social commerce.

Difficult co-workers tend to fit into one of eight archetypes, including pessimists, know-it-alls and tormentors, according to writer and speaker Amy Gallo, who recommends tactics to deal with them while emphasizing the need to show yourself some empathy. "If you have energy left over, direct some of that toward the other person -- not because they deserve it, but because doing so will make it more likely that you can come up with a situation where you can ... improve your relationship with that person, which will ultimately benefit you," Gallo says.

Creating a culture that prioritizes inclusion as well as diversity begins with top leaders, who must take the time to train managers to recognize their implicit biases and make positive changes, writes Gena Cox, CEO of Feels Human. "Managers who understand which behaviors they can keep, which they should stop and which new behaviors they should adopt will enhance their overall effectiveness," Cox writes.

The NAW Billion Dollar Company Roundtables are an exclusive community of thought leaders from Billion Dollar distribution enterprises who congregate to network with noncompeting peers in multiple lines of trade on key issues. The companies invited into this community are from distribution firms at or above $1 billion in annual sales. Register today!