Amuse, an e-commerce cannabis delivery business, was faced with the challenge of serving an underserved retail cannabis marketplace in California. The company's main strategy was to focus on delivery as a key channel and to provide a robust online product offering. However, as the company began to add more drivers and customers, they realized that they needed to invest in a platform that could handle an increasingly complex logistics operation. They were managing a massive volume of drivers and customers daily and expected this number to more than double by the end of the year. The challenge was to scale not necessarily with headcount, but with improved efficiency.

Flowers for Dreams, a flower delivery company with a philanthropic business model, faced significant challenges in routing and logistics. The company, which operates in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit, and ships across the Midwest, had been using rudimentary software for its delivery operations. However, the software broke down on Valentine’s Day, their busiest holiday, leaving hundreds of bouquets undelivered. This incident highlighted the need for a more robust and reliable solution for their software and logistics, prompting the company to seek a specialized solution to improve their operations and scale their business.

Mountain Remedy, a delivery-only cannabis operator in California, was looking to grow its market share after achieving its customer growth goals. The company had successfully used The Flower Agency's digital marketing strategies to attract existing cannabis users away from the competition, resulting in an 11.6x return on ad spend. However, this success led to a significant increase in delivery volume, which brought with it operational complexities. The company was faced with the challenge of scaling its business while simplifying operations. They needed a solution that would not only help them manage the increased delivery volume but also improve efficiency and profitability.

Plants Delivered Chicago, an online plant shop, faced a significant challenge when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. As non-essential businesses began to close, the company decided to keep plant delivery alive to meet the massive demand for plants. However, the logistics and administrative side of the business quickly became overwhelming. The company struggled to organize and optimize delivery routes, and the founder, Andy Robledo, found himself shuffling through five different apps on his phone, none of which were satisfactory. The company also faced financial strain as it tried to grow and scale the business by hiring employees, with the cost of administrative assistants ranging from $55k-$65k a year per individual.

Rockery, a company that provides on-demand access to heavy building materials, was facing a significant challenge in managing its delivery process. The company's business model involves sending a truck to the source of the building material, typically a rock quarry, and delivering the material to the contractor’s job site. For the first few years, Rockery managed its dispatching using Slack channels. However, by March of 2019, the company realized that this ad hoc method was not sustainable for their growing business. They needed a solution that would allow them to rapidly scale their operations without compromising on efficiency or customer service.

Sendik’s Food Market, located in Franklin, Wisconsin, was facing a significant challenge in managing the high demand for on-demand floral and grocery delivery orders, especially during holidays like Mother’s Day. The floral department alone would go through over 600 dozen roses in just 2 or 3 days. The popularity of online express grocery orders, a trend that has persisted due to pandemic-led behavioral changes, added to the daily delivery load. The challenge was not just about managing the high volume of orders but also ensuring that the orders were accurately fulfilled and delivered on time. The team had to work a day or two ahead to stay on top of orders and account for the last-minute orders that would pour in the day before and day of the holiday.

TOOLBX, a leading construction material procurement platform, faced the challenge of ensuring timely delivery of materials to job sites. With 60% of their orders being placed the night before, the company needed an efficient system for automatic routing and route optimization. The challenge was further intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a surge in demand as contractors turned to TOOLBX to keep their projects running smoothly despite material waits. The company also faced the challenge of reducing wait times for customers even as restrictions on big box stores were lifted in Canada. The need for a solution that could provide real-time tracking and GPS support for express deliveries was paramount.

United Supermarkets, a Texas-based grocery chain, began offering delivery services in 2016 in response to customer requests. Initially, the service was manual and only available in Lubbock, Texas. Customers would place an order by calling the store, and a manager would deliver it. The company later expanded the service to include online ordering and curbside pickup, which led to a significant increase in demand. However, the company was cautious about marketing the service heavily as they wanted to ensure a consistent customer experience and overall efficiency. The delivery operations teams used Google Maps to manually plan routes and scheduled only two deliveries per hour to ensure timely delivery. The vehicles, although refrigerated, were typically stocked with only a few deliveries at a time, leading to frequent trips back to the store for reloading. The company believed they could handle more orders per hour and make fewer reloading trips with better planning tools.

UrbanStems, a flower delivery company operating in NYC and Washington, DC, faced a significant challenge when they transitioned from a third-party bike courier company to an in-house team of bike and car couriers in 2015. The company, which offers same-day delivery of farm-fresh flowers, needed a robust technology infrastructure to manage logistics and ensure on-time delivery for hundreds of orders a day. This challenge was further amplified during big holidays such as Valentine’s Day when the volume of orders could increase tenfold. The company required a solution that could efficiently handle routing and delivery of these orders, and also integrate seamlessly with their other in-house systems.

3PL, a company providing warehousing, distribution, and carrier management for over 40 different retail businesses, was facing several challenges. They had been using the same delivery management platform for nearly a decade, which offered a single carrier delivery and required manual processes. This resulted in limited IT resources for carrier integration and customer frustration. As an ambitious business, 3PL needed to gear up for growth and futureproof their operations. They required a carrier and delivery management software that could fully enable expansion. The existing system was not only inefficient but also lacked a relationship with the supplier, leading to stagnation and acceptance of the status quo.

Party Delights, the UK's leading partyware retailer, faced several operational challenges. Despite having a delivery management system in place, the company was heavily reliant on a single supplier for shipping. This posed a significant risk as even a short period of downtime could result in a backlog of hundreds of orders, leaving the warehouse team idle. The company was also seeking to future-proof its operations and improve account management and support. The need for diversification of tech and mitigation of single points of failure, especially in business-critical operations like shipping, was paramount. The company's growth and the increase in online shopping meant more shipping, and the existing system was not equipped to handle the surge efficiently.

The retailer, a premier ethical brand in the UK's health, beauty, and cosmetics sector, was grappling with several challenges. Firstly, they were dissatisfied with their existing delivery management supplier due to long support times and frustrating communications, which strained their relationship. Secondly, the retailer was keen on realizing operational efficiencies and wanted to be agile enough to act on any improvement and optimization opportunities that arose. However, these opportunities remained unexplored due to the limitations of their delivery operations. Lastly, the retailer was striving to meet and exceed rising customer expectations in a world of constant change. They aimed to provide a flawless delivery experience, which was a challenge given the constant need to innovate and improve in the final mile of delivery.

AFP Marketing GmbH, a successful e-commerce company, was facing a significant challenge in managing its enormous photo archive. The company, which operates various online shops with diverse product ranges, uses photos extensively for product presentation across print and digital channels. This resulted in a massive photo database of around 200,000 images, which were used in web shops and print publications. The company needed utmost efficiency to manage and distribute these assets. Furthermore, AFP Marketing aimed to supply customers with data, text, and images through its media database, which forms the basis for selling goods in the web shops. The challenge was to optimize the archiving of images and graphics to ensure they could be easily found in the future.

Lake Michigan Credit Union was faced with the challenge of improving compliance with security protocols in line with federal regulations such as those set by the FDIC. A key requirement was to maintain a comprehensive record of changes made to Active Directory. The credit union also needed to detect and prevent malicious activity across critical systems to avoid security breaches or business downtime. The process of providing auditors with the necessary information was time-consuming, often taking several hours to locate the requested data.

Landspitali University Hospital was faced with the challenge of improving the security of patients’ and employees’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Protected Health Information (PHI) to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Icelandic Data Protection Act. This included ensuring that only authorized staff could access this data. The hospital also needed to secure other sensitive information, such as contracts, medical devices, and research documents, which was crucial for retaining the hospital’s research licenses and ensuring uninterrupted patient care. The hospital had to control 8,500 user objects daily, and the auditing process was time-consuming, taking up to 59 hours per audit.

Mission Capital Advisors, a boutique investment bank, faced a significant challenge in proving its reliability to clients by successfully passing at least two audits per month. The company needed to secure personally identifiable information (PII) and financial data of its customers, which was a critical requirement given the sensitive nature of the financial services industry. Additionally, the company sought to gain a better understanding of how users interacted with sensitive data and monitor their activity to prevent misuse. The challenge was not only to secure the data but also to ensure that the access permissions of employees did not exceed their job functions, thereby reducing the risk of data being overexposed or mishandled.

Progress Residential®, one of the largest providers of high-quality, single-family rental homes in the U.S., faced several challenges related to the security and availability of Exchange Online. The company needed to detect rogue actors before a data breach could occur and ensure readiness for Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) audits in a timely manner. The challenge was to maintain the security of their Exchange Online system, detect any suspicious activities, and prepare for audits faster. The company needed a solution that could provide clear insights into activity across Exchange Online, such as changes to user properties, group permissions, server rules, and mailbox access attempts.

Carter’s, a leading children’s clothing brand in America, was facing a significant challenge in managing and analyzing vast amounts of performance marketing data from various sources, including Google SA 360 and Facebook. The team was overwhelmed with the manual task of collecting data using spreadsheets, a process that was not only laborious but also considered low-value. The need for a more efficient approach to manage and process data was evident, as the team sought to understand customer interactions with their campaigns and improve future performance. The goal was to examine specific data points to gain insights into potential and existing customers' behavior.