Thirty years ago my parents built a house. At the same time, my future parents-in-law renovated a 1830 house, which was pretty much equivalent to building one (only the foundation and structure were kept).
Unlike my parents, whose house today feels almost new, my parents-in-law did a mediocre job: there aren’t enough power sockets, the plumbing is all but failing, and the sound proofing is ludicrous. Was it because my in-laws were tight on money? Quite the opposite. My in-laws went way overbudget and likely spent more than my parents. Why this difference then?
Simple: Unlike my in-laws, my parents were in the construction business. They knew which electrician and which plumber they could trust—and trust wasn’t that much necessary anyway, because they could judge for themselves.
You are a logistics company. You’re not an IT expert. You need to automate some part of your business. You are in a position similar to the one my in-laws were. In fact, your position may be worse. Having a house built is a commodity. It’s relatively easy to find alternative contractors, and assess them both on their price and their reputation. You likely have friends who built a house and can ask them. And this is why, despite its shortcomings, my in-laws’ house is still a great house. They went overbudget but they made it.
But automation can fail big. What can you do to avoid this failure?
I don’t have the answer, but I will explore it in a series of daily posts.
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