Supply Chain Leader Briefing: From Quantum Risk to Practical Action

Summary

Supply Chain Now Podcast Summary

Episode Title: Supply Chain Leader Briefing: From Quantum Risk to Practical Action

Date: June 15, 2026

Hosts: Scott Lewton & Corinne Bursa

Guests: Akhilesh Agarwal (President, P2P Solutions & Tech, Apex Analytics)

Will McNeil (VP, Market Intelligence, Apex Analytics)

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Episode Overview

This episode plunges into the urgent and emerging challenge of quantum risk in the global supply chain. With a blend of pragmatic advice and strategic foresight, the panel explores how quantum computing threatens data security (“harvest now, decrypt later”), why supply chain leaders must act now rather than later, and what practical steps organizations of all sizes can take—from surveying suppliers to contract language changes.

The episode emphasizes that quantum readiness is not a “sci-fi” issue for the distant future but a present risk, likening the unpreparedness of today’s supply chains to industries caught off guard by other technological leaps. Listeners are guided through the business realities, risks, and the practical roadmap to build resilience in an era when both AI and quantum computing will heavily shape supply chain security and operations.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Inspiration & Stakes of Quantum in Supply Chain

• The discussion kicks off with reflections on technological inspiration drawn from space exploration, setting the stage for how boundary-breaking science (like quantum computing) rapidly migrates into business and supply chain life.
  • [05:06] Akhilesh Agarwal: “The latest [space] one, which I’m really fascinated about, is the James Webb Telescope launch and all the information it is giving us. But it only happened because of all the people who came before that.”
  • [06:34] Corinne Bursa: “My fascination with space ... started ... watching Star Trek ... I look at all the things they would use in their technology, and many of those things we've adopted or talk about today.”

2. The Quantum Threat is NOT “Future Science Fiction”

• Quantum risk—especially the threat of encrypted data harvested now and decrypted later (HNDL)—is immediate and misunderstood.
  • [11:31] Akhilesh Agarwal: “There’s a concept called 'harvest now and decrypt later.' Bad actors ... are stealing encrypted data and waiting for quantum computers to come about, then they’ll be able to decipher it.”
  • [13:39] Corinne Bursa: “That strikes a chord of fear in me ... they're sitting on large portfolios of data ... and they can retroactively use that to cause problems in the future.”
• Quantum computing’s arrival is sooner than most expect. Governments may have powerful quantum computers as soon as 2030, putting current encrypted data at risk by then.
  • [11:31] Akhilesh Agarwal: “A lot of government entities are predicting that by 2030, the world's largest governments will have access to these quantum computers ...”

3. Why Is the Supply Chain Especially Vulnerable?

• Supply chain data—including bank account numbers, tax IDs, pricing, M&A details—remains sensitive for years and is scattered across thousands of (often smaller, less prepared) suppliers.
• Paradox: Supply chain is the “most exposed function ... doing the least amount of steps to protect us in future.”
  • [13:19] Akhilesh Agarwal

4. Awareness & Action Gap in the Industry

• Most supply chain leaders treat quantum threats as a distant problem, and few competitors or peers are talking about it.
  • [14:11] Will McNeil: “Of the 150 plus presentations [at a recent conference], they were all on AI and ours was the only one that mentioned quantum.”

5. Primary Questions From Leaders

• “Where do I start?” Leaders want concrete, practical, near-term steps.
  • [16:52] Akhilesh Agarwal: “Everyone wants a real life practical step to get started, not a five year plan.”
• “Aren’t my suppliers already handling this?” (They aren’t.)
  • [16:52] Akhilesh Agarwal: “They are not handling it. They’re not even aware of it in most cases.”
• “Is this even real?” (Yes.)
  • [19:02] Will McNeil: “So is the use of quantum computing real today? No. But ... standards bodies like NIST are coming out with new guidance and you need to adhere to that guidance today, regardless ...”

6. Quantifying the Risk: All Data Is Not Created Equal

• Not all sensitive data has the same “shelf life.” Focus efforts on data that will still be sensitive in 10-15 years (e.g., health records, M&A, trade secrets) versus, say, soon-to-expire credit card numbers.
  • [21:27] Will McNeil: “Credit card information ... in 10 years time, that number ... has already expired ... but your personal health record [is long-lived]. You want to take a risk-based approach.”

7. Medium-term (3–5 Years) Practical Impacts

• Expect quantum readiness to be required in contracts, supplier onboarding, and cyber insurance.
  • [22:54] Akhilesh Agarwal:
    • “Contracts are going to change ... will become a requirement for renewing your business contracts ...”
    • “You will be checking [suppliers’] encryption standards ... same as you check cyber and financial health.”
    • “Insurance companies ... are going to start asking those questions ... [about] quantum risks.”
    • “Software you buy today ... will be with you for [years] ... are [vendors] ready for quantum?“

8. Roadmap for Quantum Readiness: 1–5 Years

• Short-term (1–2 years):
  • Take a comprehensive inventory of data, platforms, suppliers, and tech stack.
  • Identify encryption standards and quantum-resilient roadmaps.
  • Initiate conversations—and even short surveys—with your top critical suppliers.
  • Start building quantum-readiness clauses and questions into new contracts and RFIs.
  • Elevate the conversation to the CIO and cross-functional decision-makers.
• Medium-term (3–5 years):
  • Begin switching or transitioning to quantum-ready suppliers and software where gaps are found.
  • Collaborate with HR to update key IT/procurement job descriptions for quantum, to build the right talent ahead of the hiring scramble.
  • Stabilize and monitor the “quantum-ready” environments.
  • [30:52] Will McNeil: “You may find exposure and vulnerabilities that have nothing to do with quantum ... it’s a double benefit for immediately taking that inventory and seeing what you have in place.”
  • “...Talent ... people that waited to hire people with AI skills ... were paying a premium because you waited too late.”

9. Evaluating Technology Stack & Data Quality

• Start internally by asking your CIO about encryption standards and readiness.
  • [34:23] Akhilesh Agarwal: “Ask your suppliers that question ... are you ready and what’s your roadmap?”
• Data cleanliness is paramount; without good records, communication and risk control fail.
  • “If you have duplicate vendors, vendors without emails ... how are you going to reconcile that inventory?”
• Make quantum readiness criteria part of tech procurement RFIs and contracts.
  • [35:49] Will McNeil: “...look at your RFIs ... start collecting that information and using it in your evaluations.”

10. Building Resilient, Collaborative Networks

• Supplier diversity and digitalization multiply the exposure points; supplier visibility and engagement records are critical.
  • [40:08] Akhilesh Agarwal: “Having that inventory of engagements is a must ... then we can derive the inherent risk ... residual risk ... ongoing monitoring risk ... and apply that quantum risk analysis down the supply chain.”
• Data governance, validated records, and monitored supplier relationships underpin digital transformation and risk management.
  • [43:27] Corinne Bursa: “AI and quantum computing do not fix weak supplier data or missing supplier data, they will amplify whatever foundation you give them.”

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “The paradox is—the most exposed function, which is the supply chain, is doing the least amount of steps to protect us in future.”
  — Akhilesh Agarwal [13:19]

• “Harvest now, decrypt later ... that’s something to really think about. All the data that can be accumulated out there and it may not be able to harm you now, but just wait, huh?”
  — Scott Lewton [13:19]

• “It seems as though not many, if any, of our competitors are talking about this problem in the market ... we also want to be known as a thought leader in the space that we are already taking steps to protect our customers and supplier data.”
  — Will McNeil [14:11]

• On escalating the urgency:
  “There was a day when ChatGPT went live and everyone realized there’s something called LLM ... now they started creating a roadmap ... When quantum computing ... comes about one fine day, we are all going to wake up and the harvested data will be decrypted ... and it’s too late in the game.”
  — Akhilesh Agarwal [17:45]

• “All data is not equal ... you want to take a risk-based approach to what you look at first.”
  — Will McNeil [21:27]

• “I just wish these bad actors would use those skills for good instead of evil, because technology would evolve really rapidly. But that’s not the world we live in.”
  — Corinne Bursa [27:20]

• On readiness:
  “Why go through [the AI readiness scramble] again with Quantum? ... Start right now, collaborate with your HR department, rewrite some of your job descriptions, rewrite some of your skill requirements and start incorporating that today.”
  — Will McNeil [32:03]

• “Most businesses are not going to address this across the board all at one time ... I would encourage the suppliers to think about this as well, because this makes them potentially a supplier of choice, right? If they have a compliance in place...”
  — Corinne Bursa [32:28]

• “First, take an inventory of what you have … then decide which one has a roadmap to solve for this harvest now decrypt later problem.”
  — Akhilesh Agarwal [28:40]

• “Start putting these puzzle pieces together to build that foundation.”
  — Corinne Bursa [43:27]

• “Quantum readiness is not a science project or a sci-fi initiative to be kicked down the road for the future. It's something that we need to get started with today.”
  — Corinne Bursa [54:02]

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Action Steps & Practical Advice

For Supply Chain Leaders & Teams:

• Inventory
  • Survey your technology (internal/external), supplier master data, and engagement records for risk points and encryption gaps.
• Supplier Outreach
  • Survey your top 50 most critical (data-sensitive) suppliers about their quantum readiness and data protections.
  • Ask about quantum readiness in all new RFIs and new/renewing contracts.
• Contract Language
  • Begin adding quantum security clauses and requirements to upcoming supplier contracts; don’t wait until renewals “several years away.”
• Talent Strategy
  • Collaborate with HR/IT leaders to build quantum readiness into current and future job roles.
• Prioritize Data Quality
  • Address duplicate or incomplete records—good data is the foundation for any effective readiness strategy, both for communication and ongoing risk monitoring.
• Risk-Based Approach
  • Triage data protection efforts based on the sensitivity and longevity of the data at risk.
• Pipeline & Partnerships
  • Engage with partners/vendors already investing in quantum-ready tech and standards (e.g., Apex Analytics).

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Additional Resources & Next Steps

• Apex Analytics “Quantum Paradox” White Paper
  • Described by guests as “no fluff,” practical, and directly answering questions supply chain leaders will have as they get started.
  • Access at: apexanalytics.com
• Contact & Networking
  • Akhilesh Agarwal and Will McNeil are reachable via LinkedIn for direct conversations—mention this episode in your message for priority attention.
• Contract and RFI Updates
  • Integrate quantum readiness questions into all new RFIs and contracts going forward.
• Recognition
  • Apex Analytics named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Supplier Risk Management (Magic Quadrant/MQ).

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Final Takeaway

“Quantum readiness is not a science project ... It’s something we need to get started with today ... start building our platform and our processes so that we’re addressing this now ...” — Corinne Bursa [54:02]

Quantum risk is real, here, and will impact every digital supply chain—and it can only be mitigated by concrete, near-term action. Leaders must inventory their data and suppliers, update procurement and contracts, prioritize data quality, and ready their teams and partners, starting now.

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Segment Timestamps

• [05:06] – Space & Technology Inspiration
• [11:31] – What is “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later?”
• [13:19] – The Supply Chain Paradox
• [14:11] – The Industry’s Silence on Quantum
• [16:52, 19:02] – Top Questions from Leaders
• [21:27] – Data is Not All Equal
• [22:54] – 4 Medium-Term Impacts of Quantum
• [28:40, 30:52] – Practical 1–5 Year Readiness Roadmap
• [34:23, 35:49] – Evaluating Tech Stacks & RFI Best Practices
• [40:08] – Foundation of Data Quality & Engaged Supplier Relationships
• [44:40] – First Steps for Those Just Beginning
• [54:02] – Corinne’s Key Takeaway (Quantum is Now, Not the Future)

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For listeners: This episode stands as a must-hear primer on what quantum computing means for your supply chain, why you must act before attackers do, and exactly where and how to get started—no matter your organization’s current state of readiness.

Transcript

[Corinne Bursa]

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[Akhilesh Agarwal]

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[Akhilesh Agarwal]

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[Akhilesh Agarwal]

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[Will McNeil]

We know about the story about a lawyer who cited fake cases in court because chatgpt told him the cases were real. I went to Akalash and I say, how do we prevent that? He said, yeah, don't worry about it. We have protocols in place to prevent hallucinations and we have a private model that we have in a private instance so it's not available to the public. And he said, we gave it the ability to say, I don't know. How many times have you used a public LLM model, asked it a question and it says, I don't know. No, it constantly makes stuff up so it can say, I don't know.

[Scott Lewton]

Welcome to Supply Chain now, the number one voice of supply chain. Join us as we share critical news, key insights, and real supply chain leadership from across the globe, one conversation at a time. Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Lewton and Corinne Bursa with you here on Supply Chain Now. Hey, Corinne, how you doing?

[Corinne Bursa]

I'm doing great. It's. It's great to be with you today. And you know what, Scott? It's a great time to be in Supply chain.

[Scott Lewton]

I knew it was coming and it is. It's a fascinating time to be in global supply chain. And on top of that, today we're going to be exploring an intriguing topic, one that supply chain leaders must have on the radar so they can build a strategy in an action plan to tackle it. We're talking about the onset of the quantum era and how quantum computing is set to change everything. In particular, Corinne and all of our friends out there, we're going to be featuring two business leaders that will share how supply chain leaders can understand the impacts of quantum computing. We're going to be talking about how they can optimize their quantum readiness strategies and how they can take the best next steps today. So even the folks out there that haven't taken that first step, we got you covered. So we folks, stay tuned for what might be the single most intriguing hour of your day. So Corinne, given all of your innovative work that you've done, especially in supply chain tech over the years, I'm looking forward to your insights here today. Should be a great show, huh?

[Corinne Bursa]

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to, to what our panel has to say today. I think they've, they've tackled this problem from some interesting angles and we can all learn a few things. So I'm ready, I got, my pen is ready. Got some paper here. I'll take a few notes.

[Scott Lewton]

Same. I am ready. And folks, I want to welcome in our guests here because they're also ready. Our guests have decades of combined leadership experience in global supply chain. They joined us for a well received podcast which we released about two months ago and that garnered positive feedback from across industry. And I'm telling you, their perspective is going to provoke thoughts and hopefully action. So I want to welcome in Akhilesh Agarwal, President P2P Solutions and Technology with Apex analytics, and his colleague William McNeil, Vice President, Market Intelligence with Apex Analytics. Spring him in.

[Will McNeil]

Hey.

[Scott Lewton]

Hey, Akhilesh, how you doing?

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

Very good, Scott. How are you?

[Scott Lewton]

Wonderful. Great to see you again. It's like you haven't moved since last time we sat down. Got a bunch of great thoughts from you, but I think you have probably, I think you stay pretty busy. And Will, great to see you again, my friend. How you doing?

[Will McNeil]

Good, thank you. I also haven't moved from my virtual background.

[Scott Lewton]

It looks like an innovation lab. You've been cooking up some innovations. I love it. All right, so Corinne, we've been looking forward to this one. But you know where we got to start. We gotta start with a little fun warm up question because one of my favorite parts, you know, Corinne mentioned all the notes that she's ready to take today. Well, I took 17 pages of notes from the last time I connected with Will and Aklesh and it was very thought provoking. But I also enjoyed our fundamental question. I kind of want to revisit that theme again. So here on May 26, we got lots to celebrate. Let's see. Guyana Independence Day. Wonderful. National Blueberry Cheesecake Day. Man, that makes me hungry. National Paper Airplane Day. I was never good at the advanced airplanes. It was always the old fashioned one. And then it is Sally Rod Day where we're celebrating the 1951 birthday of the physicist and astronaut that became the first American woman in space in 1983, who inspired many. So on that note, to all my fellow sci fi fans out there and space nerds, as I certainly AM one. Whether it is decades ago. Akhilesh, we're going to start with you. Or just this past week. What is one element of space exploration that's truly inspired you?

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

In my mind, there's so many people who came earlier, from the moon mission to all the space station missions. The latest one, which I'm really fascinated about is the James Webb Telescope launch and all the information it is giving to us. But it only happened because of all the people who came before that. So that's very inspiring to me.

[Scott Lewton]

I'm with you. You know, it is really challenging. A lot of our previous assumptions, what we thought, how things were, especially as you get further out in space. And, you know, it's good to have. We need to have more James Webb telescopes in the industry because we have a lot of assumptions we gotta challenge. That's a good one. All right. So, Will, what about you, my friend?

[Will McNeil]

Like Akler said, there are so many to pick from. And as much as I want to be loyal to the United States, the one that stands out to me was actually in 2019 when China landed a rover on the far side of the moon for the first time. Because. Because I remember in our country we were so distracted by social media and things like Kanye west and Kim Kardashian breaking up and fighting. And meanwhile, China was doing something that nobody had ever done before and landing on the far side of the moon. And I was like, oh, boy, they're starting a new space race that we need to pay attention to. So that was the one that came to mind when you asked the question.

[Scott Lewton]

Well, I love it. And you know what? From China to India to uae, it's really a global space journey. Not even a race maybe is. It's amazing. So, Corinne, how about yourself?

[Corinne Bursa]

Yeah, I think my fascination with space and space travel started a little younger and maybe a little more entertainment focused. When I was a young girl, my grandmother would watch Star Trek and I got hooked into watching Star Trek, you know, probably like age 5 or 6 years old. And I still will stop and watch it today, anytime it's on or anything that comes out. But I look at all of the things that they would use in their technology, and many of those things we've adopted or talk about today, we all carry technology on our wrist or in the palm of our hands. So it's been interesting to see the evolution over time.

[Scott Lewton]

I'm with you, Corrine. Their crystal ball was working well. And I would just add two quick notes. Number one, for me, the space shuttle program was captivating as a kid and even still now today, even though it's been a while since they into that program. And then secondly a little teaser because Aklesh gave us a little tip in the green room. Three body problem folks. Go Google it and you and you'll find how that relates to our great theme here today that we're going to learn a lot from Akalash and Will around. So all right, let's get back to why we're all here in Akless. I want to start with folks that may have missed your podcast appearance. You and Will went and came here and gave us a home run. Folks may be new to Apex Analytics. Tell us briefly about your organization and then about your role as well.

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

Thanks, Scott. Apex analytics, we are a 35 year old company and growing. We do several things. So one of them is supplier information, risk and opportunity management. So what that means is onboarding suppliers for the world's largest companies, doing risk management on them and making sure the proper due diligence is done and all the notifications and monitoring is done. We also do recovery audit for the accounts payable for these large companies around the world. To give you some perspective, we audit around $10 trillion in spend annual basis and we protect around more than $10 billion which would have gone as overpayment or duplicate payments and we prevent that from happening in a sense. We have golden records of 280 million suppliers that we maintain and millions of these suppliers go through our platform every year.

[Scott Lewton]

Outstanding. All right, so before I go to will, Corinne, $10 trillion in span is what they audit. That is can imagine the data insights came out of that. Your thoughts Corinne?

[Corinne Bursa]

Yeah, no, that's, that's an enviable database, let's put it that way, that they've gotten their portfolio. Did you say 80 million suppliers? Did I hear that correctly?

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

280 million actually.

[Corinne Bursa]

280 million. I was impressed with 80 million. So 280 million, you know, that's remarkable.

[Scott Lewton]

Is remarkable. All right. So Will, similar question. Tell us about your role there at Apex Analytics.

[Will McNeil]

Sure. Thanks Scott. So I am the vice president of market intelligence. I've been here just about a year now. Prior to that I was a gartner analyst for 17 years. So my primary role is to bring in market intelligence to the company to help our executives make the right decisions on product development roadmap. I also handle our AR analyst relations programs. I had worked on many different types of analyst reports. So I know really what they're looking for in that type of information and handle that for our executives.

[Scott Lewton]

Outstanding. And Akhilesh, I was blown away with the numbers, the 10 trillion and the 280 million. And I may not have asked you about your role at Apex Analytics. Can you share a quick nugget there?

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

Absolutely. I've been with the company since 2012. My current role is president. So in this role, I manage our business for the supplier information risk platform, as well as I oversee our engineering and product teams.

[Scott Lewton]

Okay, outstanding. We've got. Hey, Corinne. As promised, we got quite a duo here. Are you ready to dive in further?

[Corinne Bursa]

I am, I am. I'm ready.

[Scott Lewton]

All right, so I want to do this, folks. Y' all been turning heads, Akhilesh and Will, with this white paper that's entitled the Quantum Paradox Separating Height from Reality for Supply Chain Leaders. We need a lot more of that. And I want to start with, you know, we talked about this on the podcast that we released on March 25, and I think I posed this question to you. But for new audience members that have missed that, missed the white paper, what was your why, Akhilesh, for creating this thought provoking piece?

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

There are two reasons. First is that the timing of this issue is misunderstood. So when most leaders hear quantum, they think it's sometime in the future, maybe 2035 and beyond. But the reality is that ATTCK is happening right now. Why I say that is there's a concept called harvest now and decrypt later. So what that means is all of the encrypted information that travels throughout the Internet, companies or governments across the world can store them today to be decrypted later. So basically, the bad actors, they're stealing encrypted data and waiting for quantum computers to come about, and then they'll be able to decipher it. But the timing is also not that far away. A lot of government entities are predicting that by 2030, the world's largest governments will have access to these quantum computers, and then at that time, they'll be able to decrypt information. Second reason on this white paper was nobody's talking about the supply chain angle. So the data attackers, what they want most is bank account numbers, tax IDs, contract information, pricing information, M and A details. So the shelf life for such information, such data, is a lot of years, Right? They don't expire in a matter of days or weeks. It lives across thousands of suppliers. And we have no idea collectively in the marketplace on what these suppliers are doing to protect that information from a possible quantum decryption later. Right. So the paradox is the Most exposed function, which is the supply chain, is doing the least amount of steps to protect us in future.

[Scott Lewton]

All right, so Kareem, really quick, before I get Will new acronym is my favorite, one of my favorite things in the podcast conversation, HNDL Harvest now to crip later, Corinne, that, that is a, that is something to really think about. All the data that can be accumulated out there and it may not be able to harm you now, but just wait. Huh?

[Corinne Bursa]

Yeah, yeah, that strikes a chord of fear in me, to tell you the truth. Just as we think about that, you know that they're sitting on these large portfolios of data that may have been released or available in a time before certain security measures have been taken, and they can retroactively use that to cause problems in the future. So.

[Scott Lewton]

That's right. That's right. All right, so Will. And we're going to continue talking about the why here, so we'll talk about your why to complement what we heard from Akhilesh.

[Will McNeil]

So in my role as VP of Market Intelligence, I read a lot of analyst reports. And so I was reading reports from leading firms like Gartner and Forrester about the threat of quantum computing. And it did scare me a little bit. So I took all that information back to Akalash and I said, akhilesh, you know, there's this threat looming. We need to do something about it. And he said, I've got it covered already. I said, what do you mean? And so Aklesh told me about all the ways that our software and platform already protects our users, and I'm sure he'll go into it in more detail. So, so my why is gathering that market intelligence, realizing there was this threat? And I also realized what Aklesh had said. It seems like I don't want to say none of our competitors, but it seems as though not many, if any, of our competitors are talking about this problem in the market. We were at a conference last week. Of the 150 plus presentations, they were all on AI and ours was the only one that mentioned quantum. So we also want to be known as a thought leader in the space that we are already taking steps to protect our customers and supplier data.

[Scott Lewton]

Well, that's an excellent point. And Karen, really quick, you know, I think there needs to be much like years different topic, but I think similar challenge. Years and years ago, I always thought that we should be talking more as an industry around returns and reverse logistics. Right. And thankfully in the eight years since, we've seen more dollars and innovation and startups come in that space. I think we got a similar problem with quantum computing to Will's point. Your thoughts, Corinne?

[Corinne Bursa]

Yeah, well, I think this quantum issue, if you will, a harvest now and cause problems later, I think that exponentially this is a bigger issue and a bigger opportunity. So I think returns are very important. I agree with you wholeheartedly on that in the reverse logistics process. But this is something that would impact every company on a global basis and every company has suppliers. We're all trying to go much more digital and therefore the exposure I think is universal.

[Scott Lewton]

I'm with you on all points. So Akalash and Will, let's all make a commitment to amplify this topic because like much like y' all are already, because industry needs to be more aware, leadership needs to be more aware. And we're going to dive more into the why behind that here momentarily. All right, so Akalash, again, we've Talked about the March 25 podcast. Folks can go out there and check that out. We dove into the white paper, had a great conversation, but y' all have had a series of questions come in since the podcast alone, probably since other prezos as well. What questions have you gotten the most, especially from supply chain leaders?

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

Akalesh, the first question I get is where do I start? So everyone wants a real life practical step to get started, not a five year plan. So that's one question we'll talk more about how to get started. Second question is especially the procurement leaders or vendor master teams, they ask me like, won't my suppliers already be handling this? Right? They assume that if there is a problem, the suppliers are automatically going to handle it. The answer is no, they are not handling it. They're not even aware of it in most cases. And that's the awareness we all need to create. Like you said earlier. And almost no contracts have any red lines or any language around this topic. It's unknown. Right? The last thing I get is, is this even real? Like we keep talking about it. So am I being sold some snake

[Will McNeil]

oil

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

solution or is this a real problem? The thing is, it's a real problem. Will mentioned how China landed a mission on the far side of the moon and the United States got was caught off guard right now. Think about a day when we all wake up. There was a day when ChatGPT went live and everyone realized there's something called LLM. And now they started creating a roadmap because the technology was fascinating. What AI is doing is allowing us to progress towards it. Well, when quantum computing and especially this decryption Comes about one fine day, we are all going to wake up and the harvested data will be decrypted later at that point in time and it's too late in the game, Right? So every banking network, every supply chain, everything that we think is secure today, transacting on the Internet will be decrypted. It's too late in the game at that time. There is no roadmap which you are going to create on that day. The roadmap is start today.

[Scott Lewton]

Aklash Will said Will, same question to you. The questions you're, you're getting since the white paper and then the podcast were released.

[Will McNeil]

I don't want to sound overly redundant, but it's the same two questions. Is it real? And where do I start? So is it real? Has a nuanced answer. And that's why I love this topic so much, because I'm going to say yes and no. Right. So is the use of quantum computing real today? No. But are leaders experimenting with it? Yes. So you need to take a risk based approach to your technology strategy and technology investments. Leading companies are using pilot quantum computers to test out certain modeling scenarios today. Does that mean it's right for your company? Possibly not. Right. So you need to take that risk based approach. But is it real in another sense? When we talk about this Harvest now problem, then the answer is absolutely yes, because standards bodies like NIST are coming out with new guidance and you need to adhere to that guidance today, regardless of whether quantum computing ever manifests itself as a legitimate commercial type of technology. So yes, in that regard.

[Scott Lewton]

And nist, the National Institute of Standards and Technologies Agency that you're referencing there, Will. All right, so Corinne, big questions with answers that are continuing to unfold. Your thoughts on what we heard there from Will and Aklesh?

[Corinne Bursa]

Yeah, I mean, we're all pushing for speed, right? We're all looking for faster insights, better information to make better decisions. And I think the paradox is that this very transformative process where we're relying on technology, we're relying on artificial intelligence in a number of areas, it actually can be increasing or expanding our risk surface or the risk opportunity, especially if we're, if we're looking at outdated security processes or systems. So I think awareness today and taking some of these pragmatic steps that the Apex analytics team is going to share with us is really important. This has got to be on a radar screen.

[Scott Lewton]

Agreed. And I like your twist on the acronym hndl. I think the new acronym that Corinne shared with us was hnmpl. HN harvest now, make problems later. The harvest now, the crypt later strategy is scary stuff because we're not feeling the pain now as much as people and companies say they're strategic on future thinking. Are we really thinking today about what could happen tomorrow with our sensitive data?

[Will McNeil]

Can I jump in on that real quick? Because she brings up a really important point. So not all data is the same, right? And so again, you're going to want to apply what I call the risk based approach to it. So some data that Akhilesh had mentioned is going to still be sensitive 10, 15 years from now and some isn't. So you're going to want to protect that sensitive data. Now, you might jump and think instantly. Credit card information might be the most sensitive data that you have. But if you think about it, in 10 years time, that number and that card that you have probably has already expired. So it might not be as sensitive as you think as, say, your personal health record. So you want to take a risk based approach to what you look at first.

[Scott Lewton]

Well said, Will. It's kind of like my golf score. No one cares about my golf score. It's not sensitive. It's not going to damage anybody other than the trees and the windows on the golf course. All right, so all data is not equal. It's kind of one of your main points there, Will. All right, so let's do this. I want to kind of circle back to a different why, Right? Because we want to answer the so what? Question. And I think one of the most powerful ways we can do that, beyond what y' all have already shared, is, you know, the kind of the top of the list biggest impacts that supply chain and procurement leaders can expect in the medium term from the emergence of quantum computing. Hopefully we can all create an industry to act and take steps today. And I think this question is important. So Akhilesh, when you think of those top of the list, biggest impacts, what comes to mind?

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

There are four things that come to my mind. One is contracts are going to change. So think about quantum readiness. We are talking about it. It will become a requirement for renewing your business contracts or starting a new deal with the federal agencies or regulatory industry. So that's point number one. Number two, when you're onboarding a new supplier, you will be checking the encryption standards the same way as you check the cyber and the financial health today. The third one is insurance companies. So today a lot of companies require cyber insurance to do business with their customers or just to protect their own selves. So these insurance companies are going to start asking those questions. How well is the company, the supplier, protected against these quantum risks and only then their premium will be good. Or maybe they don't get cyber insurance in future when this technology comes about. The fourth thing is the software that you buy today is probably going to live with you for the 5 years, 10 years time span. So think about what software you're purchasing today, what you're subscribing to today. Are those suppliers of the softwares having a roadmap on quantum? Are they going to protect you in future? Because if you're stuck in a contract life cycle that you can't get out of, then you likely have penalties to pay to switch and you want to be prepared for it today.

[Scott Lewton]

You know, on that third point, Corinne, insurance, I can only imagine those actuary tables would be fastly evolving already now and then, certainly the months to come. Corinne, quick comment, really quick on those four things we heard from Aklesh.

[Corinne Bursa]

Yeah, I think the last one was actually the most surprising, wasn't something I would have thought about. So Aklesh, when as supply chain professionals we are making decisions, usually if we're selecting a new solution provider, he's right. We are looking at that horizon at a minimum of a five year horizon, but five to ten years is pretty common and we need to make sure that this foundation is in place because as we are increasingly digital, most companies struggle today with visibility of tier 1 suppliers, much less tier 2 suppliers, et cetera in our networks. And I think as we get more and more global, more and more network capable, this issue becomes increasingly important or exponentially important.

[Scott Lewton]

All right, so Will, we're talking top of the list, biggest impacts that supply chain procurement leaders can expect from the emergence of quantum computing in the near term, medium term rather, your thoughts, will?

[Will McNeil]

Well, if I'm thinking about it in terms of procurement, there's obviously a lot of different types, right. Of products and services. And I was thinking it could apply to your technology. Right. So if you're looking at procurement technology like what we provide, you want to understand what their roadmap is to protect you and your data. But it could also apply to things like your logistics, service providers. I remember a really interesting conversation I had as a Gartner analyst. A lot of 3 pls and 4 pls unfairly get blamed for lapse in technology visibility and things like that. And I was talking with one gentleman who said, well, our technology is actually fantastic, but we also have suppliers, if you think like port operators, for example, and consolidators and they're the ones with the technology problem who aren't protected. We're fine. Right. So this is going to impact so many different levels and types of procurement.

[Scott Lewton]

You know, it's such a great point. And Corinne, it reminds me somewhat similarly of an issue years ago that a big tech provider made a commercial out of and it talked about employees that left a manufacturing facility to go to a Wednesday night bowling league and they plugged all their data into the bowling alleys database, right. Which was, you know, not advanced as you might imagine, to track their scores. However, bad actors were able to penetrate that bowling alleys database and track it back to the manufacturing facility and really shut down production. And it's kind of a point that Will is making and we're all making assumptions about what our suppliers do and do not do. And there's a ton of risk there. But your thoughts are, Corinne?

[Corinne Bursa]

Yeah, I totally agree. And it's easy as individuals or individual companies to get kind of wrapped around the axle, if you will, on this. And I would just encourage everyone to reach out to a partner, an expert in this area to act as your guide and take you through that process because it'll save you a lot of time and they'll think or have experienced or have stopped penetration issues in a lot of different areas that you haven't even considered yet. I just wish these bad actors would use those skills for good instead of evil because technology would evolve really rapidly. But that's not the world we live in. So I think it's important to have partners who are thinking about this 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

[Scott Lewton]

You know, I wish that oak tree in my backyard sprouted dollar bills instead of acorns. But that's not gonna happen either. But it's such a great point. And you know, the bad actors, as we talk about a lot, have access to the same innovative technology that, that all of the, the positive components of industry has all the more reason to double down and take action today. And that's really where the second half of our conversation, what we're going to be talking about. So when we start talking about readiness, accolash, what does quantum readiness look like over the next three to five years?

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

As I start that question, one thought that came to my mind, you were speaking about access, right? So think about this or like about it. Like this. So quantum computers are going to be really expensive. So the default assumption can be that, well, bad actors won't get access to it, only maybe the governments will have access to it well into cloud Computing, right. So today the world's fastest computers are available for a subscription at AWS or Azure or Google Cloud and so on. Well we have at Apex analytics we also have a subscription to quantum computing using which we are not only solving for hardware is now decrypt later, but we are evolving our supplier risk management so that we can do real time Monte Carlo solutions down the supply chain using that power of quantum computing combined with AI. So bad actors can also get that subscription like we do and play with that. Right. So having said that, so how do we address it in the next three to five years? So first is taking an inventory of what you have. So whether it's your internal infrastructure, whether it's your cloud subscription, whether it's all the software that you subscribe to through your vendors platform, you have to take an inventory and then decide which one has a roadmap to solve for this harvest now decrypt later problem. Once you have the inventory then you have to select suppliers who have that roadmap and switch to them if your current suppliers are not offering or planning to address this problem in the near future. So there's going to be a period of time like two to three years down the line where you're making that switch and then around four to five years you're stabilizing those platforms, you're making the switch and you're fully tuned into solving this problem. So that's my one to five year vision which is take the inventory and start planning to switch suppliers if we're needed.

[Scott Lewton]

Good stuff, very practical there. Akhilesh Will, when we're talking about readiness and quantum readiness, some of your thoughts of what that looks like over the next one to five years.

[Will McNeil]

So one other aspect to what Akalash was saying about the inventory is not just necessarily to see if you have what we call post quantum cryptography algorithms in place or are ready for them. But when you do your inventory, you may find that you or your suppliers are using already deprecated or disallowed algorithms from the previous iteration of when we like standards bodies like NIST updated their guidance. Right. So you may find exposure and vulnerabilities that have nothing to do with quantum. So it's just a double benefit for immediately taking that inventory and seeing what you have in place. Right. So that's the first thing. The second thing is talent. So let's think about the talent that's going to be required, the skills that are going to be required in your organization and what we just went through with AI. Right. So people that waited to hire people with AI skills or take training or what have you. You were paying a premium because you waited too late. So why go through that again with Quantum? Why not starting right now, collaborate with your HR department, rewrite some of your job descriptions, rewrite some of your skill requirements and start incorporating that today?

[Scott Lewton]

Well, I like it. And what a great analogy to draw on kind of the AI era, which, Corinne, I tell you, between the AI era and how challenging that has been, the Quantum era, maybe that times 10, times 100, who knows? Well, maybe Akalash will do. But. But talent and skills. Talent and skills. I love the second point there. Corinne, what'd you hear from both Aklesh and Will in terms of readiness?

[Corinne Bursa]

Yeah, I think. I think there's some good practical recommendations there. Most businesses are not going to address this across the board all at one time. They will look at a prioritized of initiatives and suppliers, quite frankly, that they work with or the volume of business that flows through that trading partner network. Now, I would encourage the suppliers to think about this as well, because this makes them potentially a supplier of choice, right? If they have a compliance in place, if they're ready to embrace the standards and look at these opportunities, it makes you more attractive to do business with. So I think there's a win win in place for kind of network performance of suppliers and customers in a variety of industries. So not limited to government sector, but limited and available to all industries.

[Scott Lewton]

Corinne, that's an excellent tip there. Excellent tip.

[Will McNeil]

Can I jump in one more time, please?

[Scott Lewton]

Yeah.

[Will McNeil]

Thanks, Corinne. That was a great point about being more collaborative with the suppliers. Because one thing that's sometimes overlooked is in certain verticals and geographies, the supplier might be more advanced than the customer and they might already be ready and they can help you, but you won't know until you actually talk to them and ask them what their current stance is.

[Scott Lewton]

Excellent practical tips here. We've already had a ton of them. We're gonna get even more, folks, Even more. Because we're driving towards how can you take action today Even if you. Even if the Quantum era is new to your radar, we're gonna help you. All right, so let's talk about. The whole panel here really has kind of touched on this so far, but I want to kind of double down and get direct responses in terms of how leaders should evaluate whether their technology stack is ready for emerging expectations. Akhilesh, your thoughts?

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

I would start with asking the CIO of the company whether our tech stack is ready and do we have Vulnerable encryption, like Will said, you know, it could be from the last iteration, and we got to be prepared for the next iteration, which is quantum. So ask the questions internally. Then ask your suppliers that question through your supplier platform saying, are you ready and what are you doing and what's your roadmap? And then document those encryption standards so that not only you have an inventory, but also a roadmap on, on everything that you want to solve for. So that's where we start. The second thing is, what do you do about data quality? So think about it like this. If you're going to reach out to your suppliers and ask this question and you have duplicate vendors, you have vendors without emails, you have vendors with missing data. How are you going to reconcile that inventory when you can't even contact your suppliers and communicate with them? So data quality is going to be paramount to even start this journey. And once you have that quality data set in your supplier platforms, then you start the journey of managing that risk.

[Scott Lewton]

Well said. You got to ask the right questions. And folks, if you think you've heard a lot about data quality to this point, just wait. There's a whole bunch more. Will, your thoughts in terms of evaluating our technology stacks out there?

[Will McNeil]

Yeah, I was thinking about it a little bit from this point moving forward. Right, so if we have procurement professionals on today's stream, you know, look at your RFIs, right, look at your, the RFIs that you send out for your technology selections and see if you have any questions about this in there and just start collecting that information and using it in your evaluations. That was the thing that just popped in my head.

[Scott Lewton]

And, and part of Akhilesh and Will's perspective there, Corinne, is first we gotta, we gotta kind of size up the problem and quantify the problem. You know, how many of our suppliers are, you know, down the path and they understand the quantum error and they're, they've been taking preparations. Are they ahead or behind? And then which portion of our ecosystem is this brand new? And their CEOs got kind of a deer in headlights and they're like, oh my gosh, we're way behind. We gotta have the right conversations and kind of quantify the risk out there. But, Karen, what'd you hear from Akhilesh and Will?

[Corinne Bursa]

I think you're right, Scott. I think especially as we look at the goal of many chief supply chain officers and chief procurement officers is to do as much automation as possible. We have to remind ourselves that AI and quantum computing do not fix weak supplier data or missing supplier Data, they will amplify whatever foundation you give them. So we do have to step back and think about, you know, the intelligence, trusted supplier records, strong validation governance and the potential for syndicated data to fill in missing data. Right. When I can do that in an iterative fashion very quickly using advanced technology, the risk becomes even greater, quite frankly. Right. If we're using that technology to create synthetic data or complete missing data with synthetic information. So this becomes certainly a problem we should be looking at and framing out today, but, but something that will be exponentially riskier for us in the future as automation takes place and we don't have as much human governance, you know, eyesight and doing validation periodically because quite honestly the data is moving very quickly. So it's, what did they call it, a paradox, right. Moving faster, being more digital. There are some precautions and steps that we have to put in place to make sure that we're running the business well as we harness those technology opportunities.

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

Scott, can I add to it? Right, so one more thing that comes to my mind is today look at the use of AI and all the power in the data centers which are required to use AI. When quantum computing comes in, it brings in a whole set of different computing power and with that computing power now augment AI on top of quantum. So even if you have a AI roadmap today, start thinking about the future. How can you use quantum computing with AI to enhance AI further? So it's just not about encryption and decryption and protecting. Would you be using the world's best AI powered with quantum and is that in your roadmap? So that's something I would encourage leaders to think about.

[Scott Lewton]

Well said. Now I want to ask a little bit more about data quality and supplier visibility. We've touched on this a couple times, but it's really important, especially when you think about what audience has got to take away from today's conversation. But before I do, I want to go back. You know, Will mentioned earlier how I think he and the team were giving presentations. I think 150 was the number and theirs was the only one that mentioned and focused on quantum computing. Folks, we got a lot of awareness bridges to build out there. So Akhilesh, Will and Corinne, all of you have touched on data quality and we've, we've spoken to supplier visibility. But I want to make sure folks, when we think of long term resilience in, in light of the quantum era, that folks know the roles, the critical roles these, these big topics play. Akhilesh, speak more to that. If you Would.

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

So I talked about supplier master a bit earlier. Whether you have good emails, good information on how to contact and what the supplier is doing. Right. But think about engagement risk. So do you have documented engagements with your suppliers on whether the supplier accesses PI data, whether the suppliers access to credit cards or bank account numbers or other types of sensitive data where if that data is breached or available on the dark web, is that dangerous to your reputation and to the running of the business? Right. So having that inventory of engagements is a must. Having good supply master data is a must. And then using a combination of these two, then we can derive the inherent risk of the supplier, the residual risk of the supplier, and then the ongoing monitoring risk of the supplier. And then we take all of these concepts and apply to the supply chain where we have a good bill of materials information, we have the NTR relationships on who's buying from whom, and then once we have all of this data organized, then we can apply that quantum risk analysis down the supply chain and figure out where those risks are and what steps we need to do to remediate it today.

[Scott Lewton]

Outstanding. Very practical perspective there. Will, what would you add in terms of again, data quality and supplier visibility?

[Will McNeil]

Yeah, in terms of data quality, this is a little bit more about AI and I know our topic is quantum, but these two technologies are going to be interrelated. You're going to be using them together to solve a lot of these problems. Corinne talked about hallucinations, Right. So if you're using a public model, we all know that it can just make answers up. We know about the story about a lawyer who cited fake cases in court because chatgpt told him the cases were real. So again, I took a lot of this information like went to Akalash and I say, how do we prevent that? And again, once again, Akalash is one step ahead of me, said, yeah, don't worry about it. We, we have protocols in place to prevent just hallucinations and we have a private model that we have in a private instance. So it's not a public model, it's not available to the public. Right. And he said we gave it the ability to say I don't know.

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

Right.

[Will McNeil]

How many times have you used a public LLM model, asked it a question and it says, I just, I don't know. No, it constantly makes stuff up so it can say I don't know. Now that's not to say we don't use synthetic data. Right. Synthetic data is a little bit different. It's data that you use to fill in certain data sets to run models, but you're never under the assumption that that data becomes real right in the end output.

[Scott Lewton]

Well, that's excellent point because it doesn't say I don't know very often. And I did a quick Google as the topic of hallucinations comes up, because I find this to be a fascinating part of the AI era and just one quick bullet point there. Some groups have documented hallucination rates between 30 and 50% when it comes to advanced reasoning models. Right. Because the errors, as they point out, can compound at every step of the advanced thinking processes. That's kind of scary. Maybe a lot scary. I don't know. All right, so Corinne, we're talking data quality and supplier visibility. Heard some good practical stuff from Akhilesh and Will, your thoughts?

[Corinne Bursa]

Yeah, I think Akhilesh, you know, he's, he's giving us a pragmatic approach, if you will. And how we get started here, it's not about chasing the quantum hype, it's about looking at some very practical questions. You know, where is our sensitive supplier data today as it applies to our supply chain operations? How is it encrypted? What other third parties may touch that data? Are our platforms moving towards the appropriate security standards? And how do we structure that corporately across different technology in our network or across our enterprise? So I think it's important to start putting these puzzle pieces together to build that foundation.

[Scott Lewton]

Excellent point, Corinne. All right, so Corinne, Akhilesh and Will, for those teams just starting out, right, the teams that have had that Eureka moment, they've uncovered this quantum era. They've started to wrap their head around all the risk and, and all the, the massive. Why that really, three of y' all really have done a great job defining here today what are the best first steps that they should consider taking? Akalesh, your thoughts?

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

A couple of things. So one is I would highly encourage all of you to send a short survey to your top 50 critical suppliers, the ones that are, let's say, touching your sensitive data and asking them where they stand. So to do that, you've got to have a risk platform that can send these surveys, analyze risk along with other attributes of that supplier. I would highly encourage everyone to add a quantum readiness language to the next round of contracts that you sign or renew. I was at a CISO conference in Paris hosted by kkr, which is one of the private equity firms in the war. And we were all told, and we were all encouraged to start amending contracts so that the next supplier we on board must agree to this contract language change on quantum readiness. That's my thought on it. Will, if you have any things to

[Will McNeil]

add, there's going to be somewhat repetitive. Right. In that I like doing the inventory. When Akala said you should take an inventory as well. Right. So this, you're going to need to collaborate with your cio, your CDO and get that sense for what current technologies do you have. Right. Whether it's software, hardware, data infrastructure, what have you and how they transmit data and do they use again what we call these PQC algorithms in place. See what you have today, where do you stand? Because you can't decide where to go until you know where you're starting from. Right. Definitely that I like, I like talking about working with HR and just looking at the job descriptions that you have for the, for your security professionals, your procurement professionals, whoever else may need to know this information and seeing what the requirements are, seeing what your job descriptions are. I like that as well. Yep.

[Scott Lewton]

And Corinne, you know, again, quantifying the risk across your supply chain ecosystem, starting to ask questions and, and place them in the various documentation and exchanges you have with current and new suppliers. And I think probably the third one that we have touched on at some point in today's conversation is hey, we got to take this into consideration with our, our new technology providers. And I don't know about you and I may be partial here, but I go back to the numbers. There's one company here that's protecting 10 trillion in spin and working with 200 million suppliers. 280 million suppliers.

[Corinne Bursa]

280.

[Scott Lewton]

280. I don't know why I kept tripping over that number, but man, and they're ready. They're ready. They're, they're well down the path of thinking about the quantum era and the innovation and the risk that that will pose. Of course we're talking about Apex Analytics Normal that Akhilesh and Will is doing. But Corinne, we're talking about the practical first steps. We heard a list there of sorts from Akalash and Will, your thoughts?

[Corinne Bursa]

No, I think the recommendations are really good, very practical and are things that we can do and implement today. You know, a few minutes ago Will talked about making sure that you've got some questions in this area on your new R5s that you're putting out on your request for information. So as you solicit impact or input from new, new suppliers, let's make sure this is part of the criteria that we're looking at as you put in any performance criteria, contract performance that this is embedded in that from day one. It builds that foundation going forward because you actually may not be able to implement it with some of your existing suppliers until the contract renewals come up, depending upon how you're structured. So it's amazing to me, especially in the procurement area, how contract performance can be wildly different across supplier portfolio. So depending upon when those supplier relationships were established and what the criteria or terms and conditions of the contract might be, we weren't necessarily super rigid and standardized when we couldn't implement it in a structured technology solution. Since the technology solution and procurement have evolved, we certainly are doing, we businesses are certainly doing that in a more standardized way. But it's not a cookie cutter. It's different. The regions that they're coming from, the lanes that they service, how goods get from shipping dock to door, there's a whole lot of opportunity for exposure in that process.

[Scott Lewton]

Yeah, Corinne, good stuff. And you know, more and more almost by the day, the only things that cookie cutters are good for these days are toll house chocolate chip cookies. The one and only. There's not much cookie cutter that's good out across global supply chain. It's a shame. All right, so let's do this. I want to make sure folks know how they can start working with Apex analytics today. And Akhilesh, what would you suggest?

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

I would say first of all, read our white paper on Quantum, so you'll get a lot of information through it. Visit our website, which is apexanalytics.com we also have a website for cubiton.com, which is our API and MCP platform. And of course, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn. Always happy to have a conversation.

[Scott Lewton]

Outstanding. Will. For folks that are curious and they're like, man, who do I pick up the phone? How's the first conversation start? Where does the business relationship start? What would be your advice there, Will, in terms of folks that are curious about Apex Analytics?

[Will McNeil]

Yeah, very similar. So if it's more thought leading discussion, reach out to me on LinkedIn. The one request I made on our last podcast was please just include a message that you had watched this because it's hard to filter some of the messages sometimes and I try to pay more attention to those. If you want to learn a little bit more about the product, go to our website. We have a contact Us form. We monitor that constantly. We'll have somebody reach out to you immediately on that as well.

[Scott Lewton]

Outstanding. And I think in your responses there, Akhilesh and Will, you both gave advice for how Folks can reach out to you both as well. And Corinne, not sure if you had a chance to look at this yet, but I have. And this is not one of those white papers that is full of infographics and, and fluff and all that stuff. No, this is, this is a true white paper that offers up thought provoking perspective that you have to have on your radar for the quantum era. Have you checked it out yet, Corinne?

[Corinne Bursa]

I have, I have. You're right. I, I would suggest getting a cup of coffee and sitting down and kind of digging through it and if you're like me, bring a highlighter and something to jot a few notes down because it, it answers questions that will come up in your mind as you start reading the material. It's very good from, from that perspective.

[Will McNeil]

Well, thank you. I wanted to, I wanted to differentiate it because we are in a world of too many AI generated notes and content and I, I really wanted to put my stamp on it as a former research analyst. And then of course it's chock full of Akalesh's advice. So we had met together and co wrote it.

[Scott Lewton]

It's good stuff. It is good stuff. It is, it's part of the no fluff zone for sure folks. Go get your own copy and, and hey, reach out to us. Let, let us know what you think, what you agree with, what you disagree with. And if you do reach out to Akalesh and Will, as will mentioned, hey, put a little note into how you stumbled across their perspective or their thought leadership. It'll help them kind of process their communication channels a bit more. So beyond the white paper, there's also some good news here today. So congratulations to the Apex analytics team because Gartner named or they were named a leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant. Good old MQ for supplier risk management solutions. First Corinne, we should probably congratulate them for that recognition, huh?

[Corinne Bursa]

We should definitely congratulate them for that. It is a big effort to go through the steps to be considered for inclusion and it's a wonderful recognition to end up in the leaders quadrant. I guarantee you there are probably 100 other companies out there that didn't get included so didn't meet the criteria. So number one, it validates the importance of the topic that it's real, there's a value proposition associated with it and that Apex analytics as a provider in this area is not only serving customers well today. That's the height that's ability to execute but also thinking into the future with regards to Innovation. And that's what takes you to the right of the chart.

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

Thank you, Scott.

[Scott Lewton]

And all those companies out there that Crin's ref referencing, they're green with envy, AES and will agreeing with Envy. So one more thing before we wrap up here today. I want to make sure, Corinne, you get the toughest question. I thought we threw some tough ones at Akalash and Will, and we did. But you get an even tougher one because I think this was a very informative, intriguing and actionable conversation. And my favorite is that last one. But what is your patented key takeaway from the whole discussion here today, Corinne?

[Corinne Bursa]

You know, I, I've got to say, I know we started this conversation talking about sci Fi and space travel and whatnot, things that were in the future. My biggest takeaway is that this quantum readiness is not a science project or a sci Fi initiative to be kicked down the road for the future. It's something that we need to get started with today, that we need to start building our platform and our processes so that we're addressing this now and putting it in place so we are able to move quickly as quantum computing starts to unlock new power for us from a digital perspective. So my takeaway is this needs to be on our radar screen. We need to start addressing and building the building blocks for this so that we can have future ready security, trusted partners, the ability to scale our business. And clearly Apex analytics is doing that today and helping leaders really harness these opportunities.

[Scott Lewton]

Corinne, well said, well said. And you know, the interesting thing as we were talking on the front end about Star Trek and Star wars and some of the things they got right that we would see decades later. The crazy thing here in this, with the way Velocity is going today is, you know, when we, when we have these future looking conversations, we're not talking, you know, a decade from now, we're talking maybe what business may look like next week or next month. So all the more reason to act with urgency on any of the great expertise we heard here today. All right. What a great show. Big thanks. Akhilesh Agrawal, President, P2P Solutions and Technology with Apex Analytics. Akhilesh, wonderful stuff. Great, great to have you here today.

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

Same here, Scott. Thank you for having me.

[Scott Lewton]

You bet. Look forward to the next one already. Will McNeil, Vice President, Market Intelligence with Apex Analytics. Will, always a pleasure. Good stuff here today.

[Will McNeil]

Thank you so much. Really great questions and it was a lot of fun. Thanks.

[Scott Lewton]

It was, and I thought it was very approachable. Karen, you know, not just for the, the advanced mathematicians and technologists out there, which is not me. It was very approachable for even all the operators out there. Corinne Bursa, always a pleasure. It's great to have you and your perspective here too.

[Corinne Bursa]

Thank you. Thank you. I learned. I learned a few things today, so thanks so much, you guys.

[Akhilesh Agarwal]

Thank you.

[Scott Lewton]

So big thanks to Corinne, Will and Akles. Let us know what you think. What'd you take away? We'd love to hear from you. Your feedback is a blessing, but most importantly, your homework is a vital one. Take one thing you heard here from Akalash and Will and Corinne and do something with it. Right? Deeds, not words. We're staring into a new chapter which is exciting and invigorating and we're going to do some great things, but it comes with big risk and we've got to act on all of that. So take one thing from Akalash, Will and Corinne. And with that said, on behalf the whole supply Chain Now Team Scott Luden. Challenge you do good. Give forward. Be the change that's needed. We'll see you next time right back here on Supply Chain Now. Thanks for buying. Join the Supply Chain now community. For more supply chain perspectives, news and innovation, check out supply chain now dot com, subscribe to supply chain now on YouTube and follow and listen to Supply Chain now wherever you get your podcasts.