Innovation is a common goal for most companies, especially in the digital economy.

According the IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Digital Transformation 2021 Predictions, "at least 30% of organizations will accelerate innovation to... future-proof their businesses" and “60% of G2000 companies will build their own business innovation platform to support innovation and growth in the new normal.”

The problem? Innovation is hard – and moving from proof-of-concept to an actual product for many organizations is often little more than a lofty goal.

“While I wouldn’t say we've totally cracked the code, you get the best results when the initial focus is on establishing cross functional buy-in. You cannot map everything out, but you can have some idea of what the value is, what good looks like, how you would bring it to the market before -- all before going down the rabbit hole of building out a prototype concept,” Andrew Cron, 84.51°’s senior vice president and chief science officer tells IndustryWeek. Owned by Kroger, 84.51° is tasked with developing data-based innovations for the retailer, its expansive supply chain as well as partner CPGs.

“Sometimes you go through that exercise and find out, this may not be the best thing to do, which gives you more resource to go after more exciting opportunities,” says Cron. “It also helps as you're going through that proof of concept to deliver something exciting to the business because the stakeholders have been there the whole time. And, if that root cause is successful, you've got the business ready to activate.”

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