Alok Bhanot is a seasoned technology and business leader with a stellar career leading large and startup teams across a spectrum of companies like eBay, PayPal, Verifone, Visa, and startups like Inkiru and Qopper. He has built highly scalable platforms, systems, and services for e-commerce, risk modeling, payment transactions, real-time predictive analytics, and IoT-based operations systems.
Cloudleaf was founded on a compelling vision: take a radical new approach to unlock the massive value within supply chains, and transform them into more powerful, data-driven strategic assets.
Listen to the full discussion here:
- Listen on Stitcher
Connect with the Guest:
Alok Bhanot: LinkedIn
Some of the highlights from the podcast:
- [11:00] What makes Cloudleaf different – defining solutions for an entire ecosystem.
- [14:59] Working with Csafe and Cold Chain Technologies to have continuous visibility over their operations.
- [17:19] Improving the customer’s experience – why is it a priority?
- [18:46] Working with 400 different APIs – grouping them for specific workflows.
- [20:41] Cloudleaf’s plans for the future – going even deeper – the digital twin modeling.
- [24:54] Healthy expectations for artificial intelligence.
- [29:42] Talent, hiring, and building a successful career.
Show notes:
- [01:32] I wanted to maybe go through your career path so far, and maybe mention the main milestones and how they led up to what you’re doing now with Cloudleaf.
- [04:19] What attracted you to the supply chain?
- [06:05] If you would look at what’s happening in the tech space connected to supply chain and logistics and transportation, what are some trends that you see? It can be North American or it can be global.
- [07:48] The second part of the opportunity set around digitization is around analytics
- [08:44] What are the biggest problems Cloudleaf is trying to solve?
- [09:56] The digital visibility platform is after all a software solution, right? Do you do both the hardware and the software?
- [10:51] What do you think makes Cloudleaf different from the other players?
- [12:58] The other characteristic of the supply chain, interestingly, that a lot of these point solutions don’t help resolve is the fact that supply chain, by definition, is a cross enterprise
- [14:44] Is there a case study that comes to mind where a client has seen excellent results after implementing your solution? And maybe you can expand on that as well?
- [17:00] When you look at the clients and how they use the theories and the platform, what are some of the elements where you saw positive results?
- [18:24] To somebody who doesn’t understand technology, you said somewhere on the website that a digital visibility platform supports more than 400 API. What does this actually mean for a potential client or for anybody who wants to understand?
- [20:21] What are the big milestones you’re looking forward to for Cloudleaf?
- [22:24] One of the interesting things that is coming up in the next few months is our ability to then be able to extend this catalog in a very flexible way to take it down to the product level.
- [24:21] What are some healthy expectations especially connected to the supply chain that we should have regarding artificial intelligence?
- [26:52] My experience tells me that the key to successful solutions is not necessarily the flashy stuff around what kind of model you’re using, what kind of algorithms, and what kind of capabilities, but it starts with being able to collect data effectively.
- [29:42] When you hire, what do you usually look for? What are the traits that you want to see in somebody who will join your team?
- [31:45] Once you have people that enjoy working with people in an organization, it kind of helps create the right dynamic, which then attracts more like-minded people and the right kind of talent into the organization.
- [32:39] What are some of the trends that you see when hiring for a technical skillset? Because we hear a lot of focus on AI and data science. Are there certain technical skills that are more precious or more valuable than others?
- [34:03] What principle or guiding principle would you say helped you the most in building a successful career?
- [34:35] A good and successful career is one that allows you to be the best version of yourself or be able to contribute as best as you can to your industry or your trade as you have chosen to define it and not be tactical in an opportunistic way in your progression.
About the Host:
The host, Andrei Palamariu is the founder of Supplify where he and his team works on building a platform to connect the supply chain tech ecosystem. His most interesting discussions with the clients are focused on implementing the best technology, digital transformation, company growth and expansion, turnarounds, and product and business development.
Alcott Global connects and upgrades the supply chain ecosystem by finding the right talent through executive search, developing talent through learning solutions, and meeting supply chain technology needs through a comprehensive crunch base marketplace.
The supply chain executive search has been our focus since the very beginning, offering recruitment services for top-tier supply chain roles at every level of the end-to-end supply chain: plan, source / procure, make, and deliver. Our consultants have years of experience in placing top talent, in North America, LATAM, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and APAC, and besides speed, one of our biggest strengths is our network within the supply chain industry, and we capitalize on it to find the best solutions.
Through the years, we have grown as an organization and our offerings with it. One of our initiatives, the learning solutions- training and supply chain academy, is focused on transforming leadership- self-leadership, executive presence, influence capital, and business acumen. Through Supplify, we aim to match corporations with the top technology companies to solve their supply chain and logistics challenges with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.
We are in constant touch with the leaders in supply chain, inviting them to inspire the supply chain professionals in thought-provoking podcast episodes and events, and showcasing what is possible at the yearly Leaders in Supply Chain Awards.
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Transforming Reverse Logistics with Gaurav Saran CEO of ReverseLogix
Supply Chain Resilience with Andrew Hogenson Partner & Global Head at Infosys
Increasing Productivity 2X-3X with Karen Leavitt CMO of Locus Robotics
