IJsexpress digitises courtesy of MIT innovation broker
Today, companies have a huge mountain of data at their disposal. This is incredibly valuable, because if you use it intelligently, you can discover patterns and therefore make better decisions. This also applies to IJsExpress from Dordrecht. Thanks to an MIT grant, they were able to hire a data scientist, allowing them to respond even better to the needs and wants of their customers.
For more than 25 years, IJsExpress has been distributing the tastiest ice creams throughout the country. In doing so, their working method is different from what you are used to from a traditional wholesaler. Els Groeneveld, General Manager at IJsExpress, explains: "With a wholesaler, you order what you need. We do that differently. With us, customers do not order what they need. No, we go to the customer ourselves to see what is needed. We do that with our mobile shops. So we bring the ice cream from our freezer to your freezer, and we estimate ourselves when we need to visit again."
Challenges
This way of working is effective, but also brings challenges. Els: "For us, it is essential that we get to our customer at the right time. Not too early, because then there is insufficient demand, but also not too late because then the customer sometimes has to sell 'no'." There had to be a solution to this. Because if you have been around for so long, and have so much data, couldn't you just predict the perfect delivery time?
Data Scientist
"We had already thought about hiring a data scientist to help us with this, but because of the high costs, we put this idea back on the proverbial icebox," jokes Els. To move forward anyway, she knocked on the door of Entrepreneurs' Association Evofenedex. They pointed her to the MIT-Innovation Broker: a subsidy for innovation advisory services. A good tip, because with a grant worth €10,000, hiring a data scientist is half the cost in one fell swoop. Moreover, applying for the MIT Innovation Broker is very simple, Els says: "You have to submit a description of your project and send a form. That's all."
Future
The data scientist has already been able to make great strides, but when it comes to innovation, you're never done. They now know all about that at IJsExpress: "In the short term, we want to work with real-time scheduling for our drivers, tailored to traffic. This should ensure that they always drive the smartest routes. In the long term, we will have to respond to the tight labour market. That is why we need to automate and digitise even more, so that we only have people where they are indispensable. And then we recently launched our new concept ice-party.nl. So plenty to do...!"
A MIT innovation broker too?
Are you also an SME entrepreneur with an innovative idea? Then submit an application for an MIT Innovation Broker. The maximum grant per project is €7,500 per SME entrepreneur and the new scheme will start soon. For more information, feel free to contact Paul Huijbregts.
