TigerTalk

T3 TigerTech Partners with the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) via Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA)

April 6, 2017 by Michael Nelson

RESTON, VA, 06 April, 2017 – T3 TigerTech, LLC today announced it has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. This CRADA is focused on “Predicting and Responding to Trends Impacting Future Logistics Operations and Their Workforces” and it directly supports a command priority of General Darren McDew, USTRANSCOM Commander, to “Champion an Innovative, Diverse and Agile Workforce.” A project kick-off meeting was held at T3 TigerTech headquarters in Reston, Virginia on 1 March 2017.

T3 TigerTech’s subject matter experts (SMEs) will aid USTRANSCOM in identifying and predicting the effects of future logistics trends – and strategizing how to build the future workforce to embrace those future trends efficiently and effectively. Of particular note, this newly-established CRADA will focus on researching emerging logistics trends and unique challenges faced by third- and fourth-party logistics providers (3PLs / 4PLs) as they seek to construct, manage and adapt their workforces to embrace evolving logistics trends to satisfy customer demands.

Under the partnership, T3, USTRANSCOM will jointly identify and analyze the trends in today’s logistics industry – an industry experiencing significant labor shortages and an ever- increasing wave of disruptive technologies. The intent is to develop perceptive business intelligence to peer into the future – allowing USTRANSCOM (and commercial 3PLs and 4PLs) to develop their workforces by hiring and training their talent “ahead of the curve”.

Among the trends to be studied are: Big Data, Disruptive Technologies, Labor Shortages, Risk Transfer, and Mergers and Acquisitions.

“We are delighted to have been picked for this collaborative research partnership. Our close collaboration with USTRANSCOM will enable us to advance the science of 3PL and 4PL logistics providers. This CRADA is a natural next step in advancing the core competencies of logistics, data analytics, and supply chain management,” said Don Zacherl, T3 TigerTech CEO.

For more information on T3 TigerTech, please visit us at www.t3-tigertech.com.

2015 New Year’s TigerTalk

January 6, 2015 by Don Baker

I hope everyone had a great New Year’s! And the same goes for Christmas and all other December celebrations! Yay! I spent some time in NY at the beach house (definitely not beach weather!), so it was a great time to recover from the Great T4NG Work-a-thon Extravaganza, and do a little reading. I got a great book on Lincoln, sort of a political continuity theme, tracing the influence of the founders on his own development as a leader, as a thinker, and as a political philosopher on the questions of liberty and inalienable right. Just to keep in practice, also worked on two proposals that are due in a few days; one in VA Capital Planning, and the other VA/DoD/HHS Data Interoperability management and support. It was very sunny in NY, so when I wasn’t eating, sleeping, reading, or writing, I was walking on the winter beach and boardwalk. They were short walks, as you can imagine, and the brutal weather had the benefit of focused thinking; like how quickly can I get from here to the fireplace! J Here are a few of my other thoughts, for your consideration.

Without reviewing the year in detail (you were there!) it was a great year. We met and exceeded every goal we set. Pretty amazing, actually. For the record, we doubled in revenue, kept everyone working, had zero turnover, won significant new contracts in Data Management, Acquisition Support, IT Governance, Lean Six Sigma (winning over 44% or our bids), and extended and expanded almost half of our existing contracts. We also upgraded our accounting, financial management, recruiting, professional development and IT infrastructure, deployed a new website (www.t3-tigertech.com), set up the initial VICI Lab web presence (http://www.vici-labs.com/) and landed a probe on a comet! OK, that last one was the European Space Agency, but still pretty cool; maybe we launch our own space program once VICI Labs gets Cold Fusion worked out.

So what’s next? Our principles and strengths remain the same: willingness to risk and to dare greatly; investment in talent, in our company and in our partners; technical and process innovations; continual transformation, insight and improvement. Always being better, always trusted, talented and tireless, all the stuff that got us here. But where are we going, and how will we get there? I am not sure I have all the answers; in fact, I am sure that better answers will evolve and will come from you; but here are some of the big questions, in my view.

Sustaining and building on what is great about our company while making improvements. How do we keep our principles and add to our capabilities? We are a great company; how do we get better?
Developing an organic, agile, self-propagating professional path for new T3 Tigers. As much as we might want to work forever, we need to find, select, grow and transform the new folks that are our coming leaders and innovators. How do we set them up to win, to be better than we are, to think and do the things we can’t think and do?
Maintaining the ever shifting balance between choosing what opportunities to exploit, and managing the influence of those opportunities on our company. Significant contract awards add significant capabilities, talents, and opportunities, and nothing succeeds like success. Are we in charge of our contracts, or are our contracts in charge of us? How do we balance building and growing, and which comes first?

We had a rump meeting on strategy in October and developed an outline of some of our new challenges. Some have already been initiated, and some are still under development. I will be briefing the company in more detail later in January on our plan and timeline, but here are some of them:

Embedding and documenting our coaching, training, and professional development process to answer two questions:
1. What can you do better?
2. What can our company to better?
Expanding our internal analytical and modelling capabilities, both in terms of professional skills and tools.
Developing our budgeting, forecasting and investment process
Establishing VICI labs as a stand-alone organization
Building our external ‘up and out’ communication plan to customer, partners and influencers, and our internal ‘down and in’ communication to sustain and expand our cultural expectations.
Increasing our company credentials and visibility; ISO 9001 certification, visibility with key customers, and industry influencers, attending critical conferences
Improving our continuity and authorities’ process and capabilities; handling leadership deficits, disaster recovery, rapid response to opportunities and challenges.

I look forward to discussing these topics with you. As Nancy says, ‘Everyone brings their stick to the fire’, and as Ted has notes ‘What got us here will not get us there’. I am fully confident, however, no matter what the future holds for us over the next few years, that we will meet those challenges together, and will surprise ourselves, again, with our mastery and resilience. To paraphrase Steven Covey; we may not always chose our circumstances, but we always chose the way we respond to them.

Happy New Year!

Talk to you soon!

Don

Greatness that Endures

October 12, 2014 by Don Baker

Success in all areas of life is not determined by talent alone, but by resilience, adaptability, courage, and character, in the face of adversity. We might be better enlightened by evaluating our failures for these produce the resilience necessary to succeed. This resilience is rooted in a tenacity of spirit—a determination to embrace all that makes life worth living even in the face of overwhelming odds.

The deep and biting winter of adverse circumstances surrounds all souls from time to time, but resilience, courage, and character will always see us through the storms. At T3 TigerTech, we have learned that through great trials come great rewards. We invite you to join us during the next year in exemplifying the type of personal and national character that this country was founded on.

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Talent Propels Us

November 30, 2012 by Don Baker

As the holiday season rolls around once again, many of us, me included, take time to review the things in our lives that we are most thankful for. The talents that each of us has been blessed with are most definitely something to be grateful for. Everyone has their own diverse set of talents and unique capabilities. But what is talent without the courage to use it? What is talent without the hard work and dedication it takes to see it bear fruit? There are many people out there who are greatly talented, in one area or another, but if they sit back and don’t pursue the use of that talent to the fullness of their capability, then it is all for nothing, a precious treasure that is unmined and untapped.

At T3 TigerTech, the courageous pursuit of our talents is integral to our entire business philosophy. We combine our talents with dedication and hard work. We may be talented in business reengineering and process improvement, but it is our drive to succeed, to find a solution, to make life better, which propels us to success. We take our talents and those of our clients and maximize them to their highest potential, soaring to unimaginable heights. So rally your courage and come soar with us!

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