Eight years ago, I took a sharp left turn in my career.
One could call it a full 180-degree U-turn. I flipped it around and headed back in a direction I thought I’d left behind.
Winemaking was my professional foundation, but I’d pursued a new direction in technology. I didn’t see a way for these worlds to mold together or traverse back into the world of winemaking until the idea for InnoVint naturally revealed itself.
Reflecting on this past year, I am reminded of this founding story and that, ironically, sometimes we have to turn around to move forward. I can think of many times when significant events ended up being quite defining. At the moment, the heaviness of the situation felt too much to bear, but after it passed and reflecting on it, it all felt meaningful and almost intentional at times, allowing us to be stronger and smarter for it.
As winegrowers, we have to let go enough to embrace whatever Mother Nature will dish up each year, but this year required a different release. The pandemic has forced us all to become comfortable with the uncomfortable and transition to a work environment many thought would never be possible.
Who would have guessed that Zoom would have been such a smart investment? Or that the wedding industry would completely crash? Or that the world of cloud-based software (SaaS, or software-as-a-Service) would experience a “covid boost” due to the global transition to remote work?
Who would have thought that remote winemaking would become a necessity?
To bring the subject of this blog full circle, nope, turns out I wasn’t out of my mind, despite the numerous “Are you crazy? No one would ever let a winery employee bring a mobile device into a dirty wet cellar!” comments years ago. I wasn’t crazy to start a software company that allows winemakers to work remotely, execute and validate work in real-time, and manage from anywhere. To be fair, I didn’t anticipate this environment. Still, I did predict a new age of working where the information followed winemakers, rather than winemakers having to lock themselves to a computer to deal with any aspect of record-keeping.
What do winery owners care about most today?
Today, given all that’s transpired, InnoVint is now looking at winery management through an updated lens. What do winery owners care about most today? It’s not just about easing the burden of winery management and lowering compliance risk. How do we solve the greatest issues to keep wineries protected and healthy?
We’re deeply exploring how to address answers to these important questions our customers are asking:
- Is every product profitable? Not just analyzing general costing.
- Am I selling into the right channels? To maintain a healthy diversified DTC and 3-tier balance.
- Am I building a reliable consumer base of brand champions? To make sure I’m better prepared for the future.
- Am I spending the right amount on production? Compared to my peers of similar size and scale.
- Am I making the best wine within my means? Fully analyzing all the variables.
These are the core, fundamental questions that InnoVint looks forward to addressing by expanding on our current offerings and into new areas.
In the spirit of embracing the unknown, here at InnoVint, we remain incredibly optimistic about the future. We have confidence we, the wine industry, will endure whatever the world throws at us. As a service provider, we’ll continue to roll with the punches to keep our winery clients in the best position possible.
