Jeffrey Elder of Delta Air Lines & Derreck Travers of SmartKargo talk about DeliverDirect & combining speed, tech & simplicity for the best shipping experience.

[02.06] An introduction to Derreck and SmartKargo.

[02.33] An overview of DeliverDirect – who they are, what they do, and how they help their customers.

"We're an alternative delivery network… We're pulling different carriers together, with Delta as the middle mile."

[05.47] The ideal client for DeliverDirect.

[06.54] Why speed is a top priority for e-commerce businesses, the challenge of balancing speed and cost, and how DeliverDirect's network helps tackle that.

"The most successful e-commerce companies have strategies focused on serving the customer with speed. But the challenge retailers have is that speed often comes with a cost."

[09.28] How Delta partnered with SmartKargo to create DeliverDirect, specifically to tackle shipper's key pain points from predictability to pricing.

"It's January, you've planned the year and know the numbers you have to execute to. And then, a few weeks later, someone upgrades 1,000 zip codes to the next zone, and all your rates increase… For shippers, it makes it really difficult to plan – and we're talking about big dollars."

[13.01] How Delta recognized its own limitations when wanting to enter the small package delivery business, what they were looking for in a partner, and how and why they chose SmartKargo.

"Innovation is important for Delta, but recognizing what we do well, and what we don't do well, has also been very important. That's how things really came together."

[15.51] A closer look at how the solution works, from pickup to doorstep.

[19.40] The technology that powers DeliverDirect, and how businesses can customize their solution with add-on features.

[21.36] What integration, communication and customer relationships look like with DeliverDirect.

"Lots of service providers are trying to reduce cost, and they're making things self service. We've gone out of our way to do the opposite. We're very integrated and engaged with customers."

[23.55] The biggest benefits revealed from DeliverDirect's recent customer survey.

[27.18] How DeliverDirect is helping businesses reduce cost and make sustainability progress.

[28.30] A case study exploring how DeliverDirect helped a small retailer optimize delivery, with cost in mind, to reduce delivery speed by days and enhance customer satisfaction.

[32.55] Jeffrey and Derreck's predictions for the year ahead, and what they'll be focusing on at DeliverDirect.

"It's a great time to be a shipper, but there will be a capacity crunch… There's a lot of players in this business now. There's going to be a lot of pressure put on businesses to be viable and profitable. And I worry that customer experience is going to suffer as a result."

Head over to DeliverDirect's website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with DeliverDirect and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn, or you can connect with Jeffrey or Derreck on LinkedIn.

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Chris Hamley of Brecham Group talks about setting projects up for success; asking better questions; why implementation isn't the end; & progress NOT perfection.

[04.01] An introduction to Chris and Brecham Group.

"Too many organizations focus on perfection. Really, our goal is to suck less. It's to get better, change how you think about the way you do business, and evolve every day."

[06.25] Why technology projects fail: the problem with people, why we need to define what failure actually looks like, and the experience that taught Chris to ask better questions.

"Too often it's not that the project was a failure, but it's that it didn't achieve the success that was expected… And the degree of that is defined by: how well did we talk and understand what we were doing – and were we ready for it?"

[12.10] The importance of diving deep, before you even start a project, and how mismatched expectations and project failures can be prevented by having better conversations.

"It's more than asking better questions, it's having better conversations. Because when you're asking a question, you're looking for an answer… How do you give a conversation prompt instead of a yes or no? That uncovers the detail."

[17.06] From a lack of shared language to rigidity in project structures, why customers don't ask the right questions or have the right conversations up front.

"People have a fear, because they don't always have that breadth of knowledge, of asking questions that make them look stupid. I've never suffered from that!"

[21.34] The key questions businesses should ask potential partners at the beginning of any new project.

[24.10] Chris's advice for facilitating better communication between client and vendor.

"You've got to come without ego or fear about what you do or don't know… Hear about what other people have done to be successful, and learn from it."

[26.11] How companies can keep positive communication going over time, and why the 'course-correcting' part of a project is more important than the 'go-live.'

"There's a misnomer that implementation is the end of a project – in reality it's maybe 60%. Then it becomes: what did we expect on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis, how do we expect the results to change, what will adoption look like... And that's a joint conversation."

[31.06] Whether striving for perfection is ever realistic.

"If you had a static environment where everything was the same every single day, you could probably be perfect at it. But I don't know where that exists."

[32.12] The impact created when companies do ask the right questions and have better conversations with their partners.

"It's about value realization. We all have financial or performance objectives we're trying to hit. When we have better conversations… it ultimately allows you to achieve the overall result faster."

[37.51] What businesses need to be thinking about now to prepare for success in 2027.

[38.59] Teaser alert: news on a brand new project partnership between Brecham and Let's Talk Supply Chain.

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED:

Head over to Brecham Group's website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with Brecham Group and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn, or you can connect with Chris on LinkedIn.

If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more from Brecham Group, check out 515: Experience Precision Supply Chain Operations, with Brecham Group or their live show Performance Paradox.

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Stephen Dyke of FourKites talks about inbound logistics: fragmentation; manual work; data siloes; AI; & why the receiving dock is such an under-invested area.

[03.25] An introduction to Stephen, his background combining computing and supply chain and, as a self-confessed 'passionate practitioner,' what he loves about supply chain.

[07.05] An overview of FourKites – who they are, what they do, and how they help their customers.

"Over the last five years, we've really become a supply chain orchestration control tower… and embedded persona-based AI agents."

[10.33] Why 2026 MIT research found that fragmented inbound logistics is still wreaking havoc across organizations, what that fragmentation typically looks like, the big impacts coming from it, and what that all means for businesses.

"On average, a common inbound operation can have anywhere between six and eight different internal applications that teams need to be able to plan and execute against. That's created siloes… and fragmentation naturally spirals."

[14.38] Why the transfer of data is central to the issue of fragmentation and siloes, the core business disciplines that need access to historically logistics-owned data, and how they're actually getting it.

"Data is everywhere… But it's not distilled and harmonized into one connected language."

[19.41] The type of manual work inbound teams are still doing daily, the problem with human validation, and why a shift from reactive to proactive action is critical.

[22.31] From manual status updates and delay notifications to document processing, what supplier communication typically looks like and why it's so hard.

"Since EDI, every operational team has been chasing standardization, compliance and reliability. But there's not going to be a perfect standard format, a perfect technology."

[24.47] The first thing you should do if your inbound process still runs on spreadsheets and phone calls, and why transformation and innovation is more than just an operational benefit.

"Qualify and quantify the level of pain, challenges and tolerance that you have across the whole execution ecosystem."

"I've never been around an operational team that doesn't look for that thrill of modernizing – there's a great mental and emotional benefit that comes from trying to drive ones destiny forward."

[30.13] Why the receiving dock and yard don't get as much attention as areas like outbound delivery, and the business cost of not looking at them equally.

[33.02] The power of AI within your ecosystem, and how it can change the way teams make decisions.

"When AI is placed within the broader supply chain planning and execution capability, a lot of great opportunities arise."

[37.05] The key tenants of gold standard inbound logistics, and the potential benefits from achieving it.

[40.27] The one thing listeners should take away from this conversation.

Head over to FourKite's website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with FourKites and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn, Facebook or YouTube, or you can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn.

If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more from FourKites, check out 235: Use Real-Time Visibility To Transform Your Entire Supply Chain, with FourKites.

Check out our other podcasts HERE.