Ferguson earned $595 million in its fiscal first quarter, up 6.3% from $560 million a year ago, on net sales of $7.93 billion, up 16.6% from $6.8 billion. The plumbing and heating distributor remains "well-positioned with balanced exposure to both residential and nonresidential end markets and an agile business model," CEO Kevin Murphy said.

Amazon has taken a giant step forward in robotics with its Sparrow, Robin, Cardinal and Proteus technologies that can hand-pick smaller items, sort packages and push heavy carts, and Amazon Robotics Chief Technologist Tye Brady expects the tools to reduce rates of injury, mitigate labor challenges and enhance productivity. Brady says the scale of Amazon's robotics efforts "is unlike anything that's been done in human history," and he adds that employees whose roles are replaced by robots will be given other jobs within Amazon.

Last-mile delivery providers are moving different goods this year than in the past two years, as customers hesitate to make large purchases due to inflation and B2B sector demand increases, industry experts say. Ryder is using scheduling technology to improve delivery accuracy and efficiency, while Fleet Enable CEO Krishna Vattipalli says, "Technology these days is no longer a differentiator; it is a basic requirement."

The future promises "better, more predictive supply chains that can anticipate" customer demand cycles, supply chain risks "and ways to overcome them," Amazon Web Services' Diego Pantoja-Navajas says. The solutions will come through machine-learning systems that rapidly consolidate and analyze data, and coordinate with suppliers, all while avoiding huge capital costs, Pantoja-Navajas says.

Technology's inroads into business doesn't lessen the importance of human interaction. Chip House, the chief marketing officer at Insightly, recommends ensuring a consistent, companywide view of your customers' journey, knowing how to turn analytics into personalized interactions and finding ways to have frequent human interactions with clients.

Industry thought leaders share more than 80 tips to help marketers nail content marketing in 2023. Their advice spans the use of artificial intelligence and other tech in content creation, how to create content with flexible resources, the best platforms for distribution, best content formats and the most effective ways to engage audiences.

You could be a micromanaging leader if you're constantly checking up on your team members, controlling their processes or finishing their assignments, writes Marlene Chism. There are four steps that leaders can take to identify and minimize their tendency to micromanage, including creating accountability systems and developing written agreements, Chism writes.

Companies are turning to flexible pay options such as daily payments, apps for quick bank transfers and pay-on-demand systems to meet employees' changing needs, workforce consultants and other executives say. "Most fixed pay cycles don't line up with the real-time nature of personal expenditures putting employees and their households at a greater risk for increased financial hardship," says Wendy Muirhead, Ceridian's managing director in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.