Executive Vice President and Chief Information & Digital Officer, Wesco Intl
Search every verified Akash Khurana interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Akash Khurana, Executive Vice President and Chief Information & Digital Officer at Wesco International, appeared on the IoT For All Podcast in September 2024 to discuss the role of IoT in the post-pandemic supply chain. Khurana described Wesco as a Fortune 500 global distribution and logistics company that sells to approximately 90 percent of the largest companies on the Fortune 500 list, as well as to commercial and industrial businesses, contractors, and government agencies. He stated that IoT technology is used to gain visibility into assets, operations, and delivery processes, and that during the pandemic, when supply and demand were out of equilibrium, IoT helped provide visibility for operational teams to prioritize critical demand. He noted that as the pandemic has receded, demand has leveled off and supply has caught up, and that IoT technology plays a role in transitioning organizations back to normal operations. Khurana emphasized the importance of partnerships in IoT deployments, saying that Wesco works with supplier partners, technology providers, and deployment or change management partners to build, deploy, and adopt solutions. He stated that the company focuses on understanding customer challenges and opportunities before mapping out process changes and technology components, and that IoT is a critical part of that. Regarding artificial intelligence, Khurana said Wesco uses AI to drive actionable insights from data collected at the edge, including generative AI, large language models, deep learning, and machine learning, depending on the use case. He advised that there is no one-size-fits-all IoT stack and that organizations should focus on a flexible architecture and a team laser-focused on delivering value with speed.
“Wesco is a Fortune 500 global distribution logistics and supply chain solutions company. We sell directly to about 90 percent of the largest companies on the Fortune 500 list as well as to the commercial and industrial businesses, contractors, government agencies, institutions, utilities, telco providers.”
“As we think about IoT, it's all about getting better visibility from our assets, from our operations, and all the delivery processes that we have for our end customers. Bringing about the IoT stack is all about how well we can get our assets, individual assets that we have in our warehouses and our fulfillment centers,...”
“During the pandemic, the supply and the demand got out of equilibrium. The demand in certain areas skyrocketed and the supply of all the products and equipments, even including people, were not enough to deliver on that demand. This is where IoT technology can really help provide better visibility and provide capabilit...”
“Now, as we have transitioned out of pandemic, demand is leveling off and supply has fully caught up. In many cases, it doesn't apply for all categories, but it has caught up. How do you transition an organization that was operating in that high demand and low supply more to a norm, which is more leveled, back to normal...”
“I would put partnership at the highest level of importance for an enterprise like ours and ensuring that we are able to achieve success from these investments that we are putting towards the IoT capabilities. We look to partner with our supplier partners, technology providers, and deployment/change management partners...”
“Technology for the sake of technology has no meaning for us. We always start first with understanding the challenges and opportunities that we can enable for our end customers. Once we are clear on what the challenges and the opportunities are, we map out what process changes and technology components will need to be p...”
“Where we focus on leveraging AI is to drive actionable insights from the data that we collect at the edge. We use AI capabilities from platforms or build our own to prescribe specific steps that the end user can take, resulting in some kind of action. Especially now with Gen AI, leveraging large language models and tra...”
“There's no one size fits all when it comes to IoT stack. The key thing to focus on is making sure that you have a right partner ecosystem that helps you mature your capabilities from edge to transport layer, data aggregation, and solutions layer. Also, ensure you have a flexible and agile architecture and a team laser...”
IoT has become indispensable in the supply chain. Akash Khurana from Wesco joins Ryan Chacon on the IoT For All Podcast to ...
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