We’ve all heard the hype about AI, but what’s actually happening behind the scenes?

In this episode, Blythe breaks down two major studies that reveal how marketers are really using AI tools, where they’re struggling, and what’s coming next. If you're trying to figure out what to adopt (and what to ignore), this episode offers a blueprint for smart AI integration without the slop.

Key takeaways:

• Only 17% of marketing teams have fully integrated AI into their workflows.
• 65% of marketers say research and ideation are still the most time-consuming tasks.
• You can use anonymized meeting notes to supercharge FAQ pages and ad campaigns.
• Tools like Grok and ChatGPT Projects have helped reduce research time from 6 hours to 2.
• AI is best used as a co-pilot, not the sole driver of your content strategy.

Note: In this episode, Blythe references "Gemma" a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. But it's actually GAMMA. Please forgive her mistake and check out their awesome AI for presentation slides here.

LINKS:

• Writer.com
• AI Report from Writer
• State of Data 2025
• Report of the Register of Copyrights

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE

Feedback? Ideas for a future episode? Shoot us a text here to let us know.

-----------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.

CloneOps AI-powered phone operations for inbound and outbound calls with speed, scale, and efficiency. Our virtual agents handle high-volume interactions, automate workflows, and deliver real-time insights, freeing your team to focus on growth. Designed for logistics, retail, and beyond—seamless communication, smarter conversations, faster resolutions.

CargoRex – Your Logistics Hub. Explore, discover, and evolve with the all-in-one platform connecting you to the top logistics tools, services, and industry voices. Whether you're a leader, researcher, or creator, CargoRex helps you stay ahead. Explore Now

Digital Dispatch maximizes your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. Check out our website services her...

Most freight tech stacks are a tangled mess of tools that don’t talk to each other. Ezequiel Peralta, VP of Technology at SPI Logistics, is working to fix that.

This episode strips away the hype and digs into what it really takes to build functional, secure, and scalable freight systems. Peralta shares how SPI is moving beyond the TMS-first mindset by introducing a flexible integration layer, leveraging AI to reduce email chaos, and automating back-office tasks without sidelining the people who matter most.

Freight leaders looking to create tech that works for humans, not the other way around, will get a lot out of this one.

Key Takeaways:

• Freight tech success depends on modeling your business process before adopting any tool.
• SPI Logistics is moving beyond the TMS as the tech stack centerpiece with a dedicated integration layer.
• AI tools are only valuable when paired with structured data and business-aligned goals.
• Automation is transforming back-office operations, reducing manual tasks for better auditing and analysis.
• Everyone—not just IT—must be involved in managing freight fraud and data security.

LINKS:

• Eze's LinkedIn
• SPI Freight Agent Program
• SPI on CargoRex

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE

Feedback? Ideas for a future episode? Shoot us a text here to let us know.

-----------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.

CloneOps AI-powered phone operations for inbound and outbound calls with speed, scale, and efficiency. Our virtual agents handle high-volume interactions, automate workflows, and deliver real-time insights, freeing your team to focus on growth. Designed for logistics, retail, and beyond—seamless communication, smarter conversations, faster resolutions.

CargoRex – Your Logistics Hub. Explore, discover, and evolve with the all-in-one platform connecting you to the top logistics tools, services, and industry voices. Whether you're a leader, researcher, or creator, CargoRex helps you stay ahead. Explore Now

Digital Dispatch maximizes your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. Check out our website services her...

Barges move over 70 percent of U.S. grain and can carry the equivalent of 4,000 truckloads with a single tugboat. Yet this massive freight channel has remained invisible to most supply chains due to outdated systems and zero visibility.

In this episode, OpenTug CEO Jason Aristides shares how his team is digitizing barge and tug operations with GPS tracking, AI-powered automation, and a modern marketplace experience. By unlocking real-time visibility and booking capabilities, OpenTug is helping shippers tap into a cleaner and more efficient way to move freight across America's 12,000 miles of inland waterways.

Key takeaways:

• Barges are one of the most fuel-efficient and underused freight modes in North America
• A single barge move can replace thousands of truckloads with a fraction of the labor
• OpenTug brings real-time GPS and predictive ETAs to an industry that ran on email chains
• Ports like New Orleans are investing heavily in container barge terminals
• More visibility and automation will help eliminate empty miles and reduce emissions

LINKS:

• Jason's LinkedIn
• OpenTug's LinkedIn
• OpenTug on CargoRex

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE

Feedback? Ideas for a future episode? Shoot us a text here to let us know.

-----------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.

CloneOps AI-powered phone operations for inbound and outbound calls with speed, scale, and efficiency. Our virtual agents handle high-volume interactions, automate workflows, and deliver real-time insights, freeing your team to focus on growth. Designed for logistics, retail, and beyond—seamless communication, smarter conversations, faster resolutions.

CargoRex – Your Logistics Hub. Explore, discover, and evolve with the all-in-one platform connecting you to the top logistics tools, services, and industry voices. Whether you're a leader, researcher, or creator, CargoRex helps you stay ahead. Explore Now

Digital Dispatch maximizes your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. Check out our website services her...

The freight market doesn’t work the way most people think it does, and Chris Caplice is here to explain why.

As the Chief Scientist at DAT Freight & Analytics and Executive Director of MIT’s FreightLab, Chris has spent years studying the breakdowns in routing guides, the myth of economies of scale, and why AI isn’t a magic bullet for bad freight strategy.

In this episode, we’re diving deep into how shippers, brokers, and carriers can use benchmarking and dynamic tools to build more resilient freight networks and avoid the common traps in RFP season.

Key takeaways:

• Freight contracts often fail because they’re built around ghost lanes that never move freight.
• AI works best when applied to unstructured transportation data, not generic pricing models.
• Dynamic routing guides and benchmarking tools help reduce failure points in traditional RFPs.
• Economies of scale don’t really exist in truckload—scope and flexibility matter more.
• Smart freight strategy comes down to understanding your network’s quirks, not copying someone else’s.

LINKS:

• Chris' LinkedIn
• DAT Freight & Analytics Website
• DAT Freight & Analytics on CargoRex

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE

Feedback? Ideas for a future episode? Shoot us a text here to let us know.

-----------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.

CloneOps AI-powered phone operations for inbound and outbound calls with speed, scale, and efficiency. Our virtual agents handle high-volume interactions, automate workflows, and deliver real-time insights, freeing your team to focus on growth. Designed for logistics, retail, and beyond—seamless communication, smarter conversations, faster resolutions.

CargoRex – Your Logistics Hub. Explore, discover, and evolve with the all-in-one platform connecting you to the top logistics tools, services, and industry voices. Whether you're a leader, researcher, or creator, CargoRex helps you stay ahead. Explore Now

Digital Dispatch maximizes your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. Check out our website services her...

Business owner, podcast host, and SPI Logistics freight agent Dave Gulas is back on the show to talk about how he uses podcasting to create content for his customers and leads. By using education, he’s able to stay top of mind and earn future opportunities by delivering value long before the sale.

From sharing entrepreneurial stories to building lead pipelines, Dave breaks down why consistency is the secret weapon most folks overlook.

Key Takeaways:

• Podcasting isn’t just for downloads, it’s a long-game strategy for building relationships and trust.
• Creating educational content can double as lead generation when you stay consistent.
• The best episodes feature real stories of wins, losses, and lessons from entrepreneurs.
• Sales today is about storytelling, not cold pitching, and your content is your proof.
• Success in podcasting comes from starting scrappy, staying consistent, and learning as you go.

LINKS:

• Dave's LinkedIn
• EZDC 3PL on CargoRex
• Dave's Website
• Beyond Fulfillment Podcast
• Freight By Dave

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE

Feedback? Ideas for a future episode? Shoot us a text here to let us know.

-----------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.

CloneOps AI-powered phone operations for inbound and outbound calls with speed, scale, and efficiency. Our virtual agents handle high-volume interactions, automate workflows, and deliver real-time insights, freeing your team to focus on growth. Designed for logistics, retail, and beyond—seamless communication, smarter conversations, faster resolutions.

CargoRex – Your Logistics Hub. Explore, discover, and evolve with the all-in-one platform connecting you to the top logistics tools, services, and industry voices. Whether you're a leader, researcher, or creator, CargoRex helps you stay ahead. Explore Now

Digital Dispatch maximizes your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. Check out our website services her...

Tariff news changes by the hour, and freight pros can’t afford to fall behind. In this solo episode, Blythe shares how she used AI tools to get smart on global trade policy fast and prep for a talk on tariffs with real confidence.

From building a research system to generating a podcast from her notes, Blythe walks through the AI workflows that helped her synthesize thousands of data points, spot trends, and understand what global trade shifts actually mean for the industry.

Key takeaways:

• Tariff policy is evolving fast, and freight professionals need a plan to keep up
• AI tools like Grok, ChatGPT, and NotebookLM help filter, summarize, and structure complex research
• Building a central repository of information is key to staying informed and ready to act
• AI won’t replace your job, but someone using AI will
• Turning research into shareable content helps you become the go-to resource in your niche

Listen to learn how to use AI to understand and explain global trade chaos before it impacts your business.

LINKS:

• GPU Loopholes, Mexico Supply Chain Shift, Wafer Fab Equipment Vulnerabilities, Optical Module Pricing Surge, Datacenter Equipment
• Tariff Shockwave: US Import Bookings Collapse After Q1 Surge

Feedback? Ideas for a future episode? Shoot us a text here to let us know.

-----------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.

CloneOps AI-powered phone operations for inbound and outbound calls with speed, scale, and efficiency. Our virtual agents handle high-volume interactions, automate workflows, and deliver real-time insights, freeing your team to focus on growth. Designed for logistics, retail, and beyond—seamless communication, smarter conversations, faster resolutions.

CargoRex – Your Logistics Hub. Explore, discover, and evolve with the all-in-one platform connecting you to the top logistics tools, services, and industry voices. Whether you're a leader, researcher, or creator, CargoRex helps you stay ahead. Explore Now

Digital Dispatch maximizes your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. Check out our website services her...

From de minimis drama to geopolitical trade shakeups, tariffs are doing more than raising prices, they're forcing a full rewrite of how e-commerce logistics gets done.

Harshida Acharya, Chief Strategy Officer at Fulfillment IQ and host of the eCOM Logistics Podcast, joins the show to explain what these policy changes really mean for brands. If you’re still relying on one warehouse, one fulfillment model, or one country, consider this your wake-up call.

Key Takeaways:

• Tariff shifts and de minimis changes are disrupting the global cost structure for e-commerce brands.
• Brands overly reliant on Chinese imports or DTC fulfillment models are the most exposed.
• U.S. regulatory changes are pushing a long-term shift toward nearshoring and diversified supply chains.
• Fulfillment strategy must align with evolving trade rules to remain sustainable.
• Strategic investments now will separate the survivors from the reactive.

LINKS:

• Harshida's LinkedIn
• eCOM LOGISTICS Podcast
• Fulfillment IQ on CargoRex
• Tariff Shockwave: US Import Bookings Collapse After Q1 Surge (Vizion & Dun & Bradstreet)
• Ladies Who Logistic LinkedIn Group
• How To Handle Supply Chain and Logistics Masterfully with Sandra MacQuillan

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE

Feedback? Ideas for a future episode? Shoot us a text here to let us know.

-----------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.

CloneOps AI-powered phone operations for inbound and outbound calls with speed, scale, and efficiency. Our virtual agents handle high-volume interactions, automate workflows, and deliver real-time insights, freeing your team to focus on growth. Designed for logistics, retail, and beyond—seamless communication, smarter conversations, faster resolutions.

CargoRex – Your Logistics Hub. Explore, discover, and evolve with the all-in-one platform connecting you to the top logistics tools, services, and industry voices. Whether you're a leader, researcher, or creator, CargoRex helps you stay ahead. Explore Now

Digital Dispatch maximizes your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. Check out our website services her...

AI is being hyped as the magic bullet for supply chains—but what happens when your infrastructure isn’t ready to support it? In this episode, Blythe Brumleve chats with David Bell, CEO of Cloneops.ai, about the cold, hard realities of deploying AI in logistics. From unreliable data pipelines to the complexity of nearshoring, David breaks down what’s broken, what’s fixable, and what’s still wildly misunderstood.

Whether you're trying to optimize costs or just figure out how to prep your backend systems, this episode delivers the technical insights and strategy talk you didn’t know you needed.

Key takeaways:

• Most companies overestimate their AI readiness due to poor data infrastructure.
• Nearshoring challenges can be solved, but not without multi-tier supply visibility.
• AI needs structured, reliable, and real-time data to be effective.
• Cost optimization often breaks down without proper freight data standardization.
• Internal champions for AI projects must bridge both tech and ops.

LINKS:

• David's LinkedIn
• CloneOps Website
• CloneOps Logistics
• Andrew Silver Interview on The Freight Pod

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE

Feedback? Ideas for a future episode? Shoot us a text here to let us know.

-----------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.

CloneOps AI-powered phone operations for inbound and outbound calls with speed, scale, and efficiency. Our virtual agents handle high-volume interactions, automate workflows, and deliver real-time insights, freeing your team to focus on growth. Designed for logistics, retail, and beyond—seamless communication, smarter conversations, faster resolutions.

CargoRex – Your Logistics Hub. Explore, discover, and evolve with the all-in-one platform connecting you to the top logistics tools, services, and industry voices. Whether you're a leader, researcher, or creator, CargoRex helps you stay ahead. Explore Now

Digital Dispatch maximizes your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. Check out our website services her...