From dreams to reality: How to turn innovative ideas into real-world applications.

Supply chain innovation is not just a matter of coming up with great ideas; you also have to convert them to sustainable, practical applications. Following a disciplined process such as the one outlined in this article will result in less wasted effort and more frequent success.

Two of the key constants impacting supply chains today are change and the pace of that change. To illustrate, consider the Internet of Things (IoT). An estimated 5.5 million new devices are being connected to the Internet every day,1bringing with them the potential to eliminate supply chain waste and drive new efficiencies. To be prepared for opportunities with this level of urgency, and to avoid being left behind, companies must innovate.

Although we often think of innovation as the "Eureka!" moment when a new idea is born, innovation does not necessarily imply the development of an all-new product or service. "Reinventing the wheel"—in other words, developing something entirely new—can be costly and is often unnecessary. In the logistics sector, for example, innovation is the implementation of ideas to create new business value. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we may simply add to something that already exists to make it better and/or run more efficiently. Nor does innovation mean adoption of the latest trend. We all know that today's hot topic can be the forgotten fad of tomorrow.

Regardless of whether an innovation is entirely new or an improvement on an existing product or practice, the goal is to make it sustainable and repeatable. This is something that happens at the intersection of those "Aha!" moments and a process that takes the idea to full solution stage. This article describes one such process, a four-stage approach that companies and their third-party logistics providers can effectively deploy to manage the innovation of services and rapidly move ideas to one of two fates—implementation or rejection. The four stages are:

1 Governance provides a defined structure from which all stakeholders can understand the opportunities, processes, priorities, and appropriate boundaries for supply chain innovation;

2 Education involves discovering the roots of your own organization's and/or your customer's challenges and pain points;

3 Research is guided by innovation goals and encourages ideation across the enterprise using design thinking, open innovation, and extensive collaboration, which together drive the most efficient prioritization and initial assessment of ideas;

4 Rapid prototyping establishes 90-day cycles using Agile methodology with clear scope limitations that allow projects to either "fail fast" and move on or, in the case of successes, to promptly transition to market implementation.

To be successful at translating ideas into action, a high level of discipline is necessary. Start by carefully and methodically defining and establishing innovation parameters in the governance stage, and follow through with education, research, and rapid prototyping. By following the process described in this article, logistics and supply chain services can be innovated quickly, at relatively low risk, and with a good likelihood of success.
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