DECEMBER, 2020LOGISTICSTRANSPORTATIONREVIEW8 AI, Autonomous Delivery, EV, Drones, and COVID oh my!Take a moment, sit down, and list all the new ideas you have seen or been pitched. Hundreds of them, right? Drones, autonomous forklift trucks, AI inventory planners, you name it--I am sure you have seen it all. All the promises; 100% return in a year, 500% in 2 years, one after the other. If I had a dollar for every promise, I would be a rich man. At some level, you know you need to make improvements; the industry is moving forward, and if you don't, you will lose everything. But how?I thought I would put together an article not to tell you what to do but rather to give you a simple process to help you pick the right innovation projects that drive the margin and profit goals you have been chasing without wasting your time and money.First off, stop listening to pitches. The ads, articles, or talks are all focused on telling you what they do and how those things might work for someone, but that someone is probably not you. You are letting them tell you what is important and how to measure it. It's sort of like asking your barber if you need a haircut. Not exactly an unbiased opinion.Instead, start by picking three important things for you. Do you want a higher margin? More revenue? Do you want to enter a new market? Be sure these are things that you would invest time and money in to achieve. Write them down.Second, decide on the metric. How much is needed to succeed? Set a clear goal for what you want, including timeline, cost, effort, etc. It is best if you set the goal in relation to the cost/benefit involved to allow it to scale more easily (remember, you or your team might want solutions that are cheap, fast, and good, but you SMART INNOVATION IN A TIME OF TURMOIL By Robert Neivert, Venture Partner, 500 StartupsRobert NeivertOPINIONIN MY
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