The Zero100 Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Reimagining Supply Chain Careers in the AI Era Feb 03, 2026

Show notes

After 25 years at L’Oréal, Vanessa Clemendot made the leap from beauty to biopharma – and into a workforce being redefined by AI. Now SVP, Global Supply Chain at Sanofi, Vanessa sits down with Caroline Chumakov, Principal, Research at Zero100, to unpack the shift from siloed execution to cross-functional orchestration, the rise of judgment over computation as agents handle the heavy lifting, and why data literacy is now table stakes.

Vanessa Clemendot’s career across 25 years, 10+ roles, and 3 continents (00:55)
The first 90 days at Sanofi (03:58)
Working with AI: where computation ends and judgment begins (06:12)
Who owns the tech stack? It’s not one team (09:34)
One dataset + real time decisions = planning in orchestration (11:23)
M&A and divestitures across newly split supply chains (13:55)
Day one advice: trusting your gut (19:08)

Download from Davos: Optimism, Confusion, and the Real COO Agenda Jan 30, 2026

Show notes

While Davos headlines focused on Trump and tariffs, Zero100’s CEO Olly Sloboda and Chief Research Officer Kevin O'Marah came back with a different perspective. Fresh from four days of meetings with CEOs, COOs and heads of supply chain, they debrief on what they heard on the ground: why leaders are surprisingly optimistic in a time of turbulence, how the AI conversation has evolved from pilots to full workflow redesigns, and why cybersecurity emerged as a top threat to business continuity – even above geopolitical uncertainty.

Welcome to Davos: The vibe on the ground (01:02)
What supply chain leaders were actually focused on (02:56)
Why leaders are surprisingly optimistic despite uncertainty (04:58)
From AI pilots to redesigning workflows for an agentic world (08:54)
Cybersecurity: The uncomfortable truth COOs see (12:22)
What now? Practical moves for operators (15:57)
Final thoughts: Why human connection still matters (18:41)

How Inflation Woke Up the Supply Chain-Aware Consumer Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

Think consumers just don’t get supply chain? Think again. Nearly half belong to personas that see its impact – and that awareness is changing how price increases land, how trust holds, and what “value” really means. On this episode, VP, Data & Analytics Cody Stack sits down with Chief Research Officer Kevin O’Marah and Director, Data Science Julia Dahlgren to break down what Zero100 learned from our survey of 14,000 shoppers across seven countries. For leaders still anchored to shelf price alone, this conversation offers a clearer view of what shapes consumer decisions as prices rise – and practical moves to use now.

The big question: Can supply chains under pressure keep customer trust? (01:15)
Inside Zero100’s 14,000-consumer survey – and where the data surprised us (02:23)
Breaking the myth of “the customer”: five emerging personas (04:21)
What shoppers are trading off and what’s keeping them loyal (11:54)
Keeping customers in a higher-price world: High-impact moves for supply chain leaders (18:36)
Where supply chain awareness goes next (22:27)

Why Every Enterprise Needs Continuous Planning Now Jan 20, 2026

Show notes

Is your annual planning cycle obsolete before it's approved? This week, Zero100 VP, Research & Advisory Services Lauren Acoba, VP, Research, Kelly Coutinho, and Principal, Research, Justin Gillebo break down Continuous Planning, a new operating model that shortens the distance between signal and response. They explore what Continuous Planning is (and what it isn’t), where AI genuinely helps, and why coordination matters as decision cycles compress. A practical guide to spotting bottlenecks, evolving planning roles beyond spreadsheets, and knowing where to start.

So… what is Continuous Planning? (01:53)
The Covid inflection point – and why legacy planning struggles under faster cycles (03:22)
Continuous Planning as a system, not a tool (04:57)
AI: The magic ingredient for modern planning (06:12)
Why planning speed needs orchestration (07:13)
The evolution of the planner: From spreadsheet mechanic to orchestrator (13:10)
How Novartis is making Continuous Planning work in the wild (17:40)
A practical path to Continuous Planning (18:50)
What changes next (and what won’t) (21:45)

Year in Review: How New Balance Navigated Disruption and Transformation in 2025 Dec 16, 2025

Show notes

Tariffs dominated headlines. AI moved from pilot to production. Automation got real. But what did 2025 actually look like for operators on the ground? New Balance COO Dave Wheeler joins Lauren Acoba, VP, Research Advisory Services at Zero100, to reflect on a year of “unpredictable disruption” – and reveal why the companies that thrived weren't chasing efficiency at all costs. From 806,000 square feet of robotic warehousing to the irreplaceable value of human craftsmanship, this is the 2025 year in review you need to hear.

2025 in two words: “Unpredictable disruption” (00:54)
Made in USA for 75 years – validation or new challenges? (1:41)
Private ownership's long-term advantage in a quarterly-obsessed world (3:19)
AI moves from pilots to real wins in supplier complexity and sourcing (05:49)
Staying the course on sustainability as the pendulum swings (07:51)
Robots, AVs, and 100K units per day: Inside New Balance’s new Salt Lake City DC (10:35)
What New Balance will never automate: the craftsmanship that defines the brand (13:06)
The skills gap reality check (14:38)
The 2026 defining move? Breaking out of operations’ four walls (20:00)

The ROI of IoT: How Visibility Tech Is Finally Delivering on Its Promise Dec 09, 2025

Show notes

For over a decade, IoT failed to live up to the hype. Now? It's quietly become one of the most transformational forces in operations — not because the buzz came back, but because sensors got cheap, 5G arrived, and edge computing actually works. Join Zero100's VP, Research Advisory Services Lauren Acoba and Principals, Research Caroline Chumakov and Jenna Fink as they unpack why visibility tech is suddenly delivering ROI, where companies are still collecting data they'll never use, and how the best operators are moving from "find this thing" to preventing problems before they happen.

Why IoT endured when other hyped tech faded (1:01)
RFID vs BLE: When 4 cents beats $30 (03:36)
How edge computing finally unlocked IoT's promise (07:11)
IoT wins from Caterpillar, Maersk and Walmart (9:41)
Why connectivity is now a strategic differentiator (13:49)
"Instrumentation without intention": The expensive data trap (15:08)
Measuring ROI — beyond visibility (17:55)

Zero100 Predictions 2026: AI Agents, Nuclear Energy, and Vanishing Jobs Dec 02, 2025

Show notes

What did Zero100 get right about 2025 — and what's coming in 2026? Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with VP, Research Advisory Services Lauren Acoba and Principal Research Caroline Chumakov to grade last year's boldest predictions before mapping the forces that will reshape supply chains over the next 12 months. From AI agents moving into planning and sourcing, to clean energy as competitive advantage, to India's manufacturing rise and humanoid robots entering the workforce— this is your annual roadmap of trends worth watching and moves to make now.

Grading 2025: How Zero100's predictions held up (01:43)
Can AI move faster without cleaner data? Spoiler: probably not (05:25)
Nuclear's next mission: Powering the data center boom (06:29)
How AI agents are reshaping planning, sourcing, and orchestration roles (10:31)
Could India be manufacturing’s next superstar? (16:34)
Humanoids find their footing in real-life operations (18:36)

From Delivery to Dine-In: How DoorDash Is Reinventing Small Business Commerce Nov 25, 2025

Show notes

DoorDash isn't just delivering dinner – it's transforming how small businesses run. This week, VP, Strategy & Operations Parisa Sadrzadeh joins Zero100 Chief Content Officer Matt Davis to take us inside the systems powering the restaurant experience today. From the new Going Out feature blending digital and in-person moments to partner-first design principles that work across thousands of kitchens, Parisa reveals what supply chain leaders can learn from frontline food ops.

Inside the DoorDash playbook: delivery, dine-in, and everything between (01:22)
Building for the moments that matter: why restaurant tech must respect craft over complexity (04:13)
How Gen Z is pushing commerce and omnichannel into new territory (07:09)
Why great tech starts with understanding your partner's operating "heartbeat" (10:05)
How working the floor leads to better tech solutions (11:55)
On Shake Shack, growth, and meeting customers where they want to be (17:32)
Earning trust without authority: aligning incentives and building for partners (23:36)

The Zero100 Mailbag: Your Biggest AI Questions, Answered Nov 18, 2025

Show notes

The best questions come from the messy middle of transformation. Join Zero100’s Principals, Research Caroline Chumakov and Jenna Fink, and Chief Research Officer Kevin O'Marah as they answer the questions keeping supply chain leaders up at night in our first mailbag episode: How do you balance quick AI wins with paradigm-shifting transformation? What actually measures Copilot's impact? And to what degree can organizational resistance slow change? Real questions, actionable answers.

Introducing the Zero100 Mailbag (00:05)
Balancing incremental vs transformational AI strategy (1:06)
Manufacturing transformation: task automation or systems redesign? (5:00)
Measuring Copilot productivity and AI ROI (10:02)
How to manage organizational resistance and the quintile problem (13:42)
What data improvements are needed before AI implementation? (18:10)

Zero100 Live 2025: The AI Agent Reality Check Nov 11, 2025

Show notes

The hype is high for agentic AI – but what's the reality on the ground? Fresh off Zero100’s Live 2025 events in London and San Diego, the Zero100 team reveals what's actually working in supply chain transformation. Spoiler alert: it’s not about deploying AI and declaring victory. It's about the unsexy fundamentals – data ownership, fusion teams, and the Translators who bridge tech and ops. Featuring: VP, Data & Analytics Cody Stack, VP, Research Advisory Services Lauren Acoba, and Account Executive Jen Smith.

Live in a nutshell: Bold vision meets pragmatic action (00:53)
Taking Live international: Impressions from London and San Diego (2:10)
Content that resonated: Translators, fusion teams, and scaling AI pilots (5:00)
What is “data readiness” really? (7:11)
Sustainability meets efficiency: The cost-carbon connection (9:02)
Real-world AI use cases, from document parsing to personal leadership development (11:07)
Key takeaways: Unconstrained thinking, hard work, and why humans aren't going anywhere (20:09)

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