The Zero100 Podcast

Hosted by Zero100

Technology Business NewsInterviews guests

Website RSS feed

Episodes

116

Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

About the show

Welcome to Zero100, the “unboring” supply chain podcast. Each week, Zero100's researchers, analysts, and data scientists deliver sharp takes on the news, delve into new research, and interview leaders at the forefront of supply chain’s digital revolution, giving you the insights you need to drive growth and resilience.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

August 18, 202624 min

Are We Measuring AI ROI All Wrong?

Enterprise leaders are facing a massive dilemma: AI bills are exploding, yet finance leaders are struggling to see where any of that money is coming back to the business. But are companies making a fundamental mistake by treating AI like just another IT project chasing quick savings? This week on the podcast, Cody Stack (VP, Data & Analytics) is joined by Geraint John (VP, Research & Advisory) and Justin Gillebo (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) to unpack why it’s time rethink the true value of AI. Drawing from real-world examples – from Walmart’s autonomous tail-spend agents to multi-hundred-million-dollar commodity cost intelligence – they challenge the trap of chasing isolated 90-day ROI and simple headcount cuts. Instead, they outline how mature operators are managing token costs, metrics like decision latency, and end-to-end workflow orchestration to move past quick-win science fairs and build true, lasting enterprise value.

August 11, 202623 min

How CVS Turned Supply Chain Into a Growth Engine – and Merchandising's Best Friend

For most of his 20+ career, Josh White watched supply chain get treated like every other retailer treats it: a cost to be minimized. But as Chief Supply Chain and Logistics Officer at CVS, he's spent his tenure rewriting that narrative: repositioning supply chain as a growth enabler that his Chief Merchandising Officer now calls “his supply chain.” This week, Josh tells Zero100’s Co-Founder and Chief Research Officer Kevin O’Marah how he pulled off both transformations at once. The growth piece required automation that punches above its weight, AI-powered demand sensing, and flexible systems built for future capabilities. But winning over merchandising required something harder: a shift from “that plan will break our network” to “here's what it would take to make that possible.”

August 4, 202616 min

The Zero100 Mailbag: Chinese vs US LLMs, Plus Your Top AI Scaling Questions Answered

Should companies bet on US or Chinese AI models – and is that even the right question? How can teams push past “too small to matter” AI pilots and ambitious projects that never ship? And is “our data isn’t ready yet” still a valid reason to delay AI adoption? This week, Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Caroline and Senior Research Director Oliver Sawbridge to unpack these questions, alongside others from the Zero100 community, getting into everything from process debt to overhyped fears we think will change drastically over the next twelve months.

July 28, 202627 min

The Hidden Timeline of Supply Chain Shocks

When a disruption hits a major shipping lane, consumers and markets often presume that if prices don't spike the next day, the danger has passed. But that calm is a dangerous illusion. This week, VP, Data & Analytics Data Cody Stack and VPs, Research Geraint John and Jenna Fink unpack why the most dangerous disruptions aren't always the high-profile consumer tech stories, but the quieter shocks to food, fertilizer, fuel, plastics, and packaging. They explore why standard risk playbooks consistently miss industrial raw material crises, how fixed seasonal windows in agriculture trap businesses on delayed timelines, and why resilience must shift from a reactive function to an embedded design capability across sourcing, planning, logistics, and product design.

July 21, 202620 min

Operational Sovereignty: The Supply Chain Imperative for 2028

What happens when the supply chain playbook you’ve spent decades building becomes obsolete overnight? Fresh from Zero100’s Off the Grid event in the Irish countryside, Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Kelly Coutinho, and Account Manager Lewis Barnes to discuss the supply chain shift to “operational sovereignty,” and why 2028 is shaping up to be a defining year for operations. They also explore why 60% of workflows belong to no single function, how AI is exposing decades of process debt, and why the biggest barrier to AI adoption isn't technological, but human.

July 14, 202621 min

Are AI Layoffs Really About AI?

Major companies like Meta, Google, and Amazon are increasingly pointing to AI efficiency as a primary driver for workforce restructuring. But is the narrative of “doing more with less” the whole story? This week, Zero100 VPs, Research & Advisory Lauren Acoba and Caroline Chumakov move past the headlines to explore how companies are navigating this transition. They discuss why headcount reduction is often more complicated than it appears, how to preserve vital institutional knowledge, and why forward-thinking leaders are using AI to redeploy talent into new, high-value roles that drive long-term resilience.

July 7, 202623 min

Is Your Agentic Rollout Creating New Cybersecurity Risks?

When Zero100 surveyed COOs, cybersecurity breaches emerged as the #1 business continuity risk for 2026, outranking geopolitics and tariffs. The driving force behind this anxiety? The rapid rise of agentic AI. Unlike traditional software, these autonomous systems learn and evolve through use, introducing a massive new risk landscape. This week, Senior Director, Research & Advisory Justin Gillebo sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Geraint John and Chief Research Officer Kevin O’Marah to unpack why agentic workflows require continuous operational governance, and how to balance fast-paced citizen innovation with strict guardrails before your supply chain misfires.

June 30, 202623 min

From Taiwan to Tariffs: How Supply Chain Leaders Are Thinking About Risk

Zero100 surveyed 100 supply chain leaders to find out how they're thinking about risk, resilience, and global trade. 85% say geopolitical chaos is wrecking their operations. Cybersecurity is a top-three threat. 55% say low-cost sourcing is dead. Nearly half think China will move on Taiwan by 2030. But while most companies are stuck firefighting each new crisis, a small group of leaders is doing something fundamentally different: they're treating resilience not as insurance, but as a competitive advantage. This week, Senior Director, Research & Advisory Justin Gillebo sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Geraint John and Chief Research Officer Kevin O'Marah to unpack the findings, break down the concrete plays top performers are running, and explain why resilience is no longer about defense alone.

June 23, 202618 min

IT vs Ops: Who Really Owns AI?

As coding becomes democratized, who actually owns AI implementation: operations or IT? The answer isn't either/or. This week, VPs, Research & Advisory Lauren Acoba and Kelly Coutinho, and Senior Research Analyst Jalen Thibou, tackle the difference between vibe coding prototypes and running production-scale code across geographies with proper security. They expose the hidden language barrier causing pilots to falter, reveal the specific ownership boundaries needed to scale, and explain why both roles are expanding – not competing – in ways most leaders haven't considered.

June 9, 202619 min

Is SynBio Manufacturing's Next Frontier?

Synthetic biology promises to revolutionize manufacturing, growing materials in fermentation tanks instead of relying on traditional industrial or agricultural sources. But can it scale? Zero100 Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with Mathias Cousin, Managing Director at Monitor Deloitte and a SynBio veteran, to find out. Mathias reveals why manufacturing economics, not science, determines who survives, how AI is compressing design cycles from years to months, and why the biggest breakthroughs may come from replacing cows, not crude oil. With real-world examples, he shows what supply chain leaders need to understand as biological manufacturing moves from the lab to industrial reality.