News, with a verdict / Ways of working
What if the five-year plan is the thing holding you back?
The strongest operators we interview rarely followed a plan. They followed a short list of rules about what they would and would not do — and let the path assemble itself.
8 Aug · Editorial · 7 min
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View allPhotograph — an older customer on a landline phone at a kitchen table, a row of prescription bottles beside a notepadFailure / RetailKinney Drugs put AI on its pharmacy phones. It lasted three monthsA 95-store pharmacy chain made an AI voice the only way in for refill calls. Patients got wrong refills and delays. The keypad came back in August.5 Nov 2026 · FailureA pet owner on a sofa checking an order-status chat on a phone, a dog asleep beside themDeployment / RetailChewy's AI assistant settles 30% of chats. The savings are $50m a yearChewy says its in-app assistant Cai resolves about 30% of chats without a person, and expects AI to save about $50m a year by fiscal 2027.4 Nov 2026 · Customer servicePhotograph — a finance manager and an operations lead at a table going through a printed monthly software bill with one line highlightedNews, with a verdict / Ways of workingAnthropic's S-1 says AI prices and limits can change. Plan for itAnthropic's IPO filing tells investors its pricing, usage limits and models can all shift. A mid-sized firm's job is smaller: make its AI bill easy to move.2 Nov 2026 · VerdictPhotograph — an e-commerce manager at a desk comparing a product page on the shop's own website with the same product shown inside a large marketplace app on a phoneNews, with a verdict / RetailAmazon lists your products unless you opt out. Should you stay in?Amazon's Shop Direct and Buy for Me put other shops' products, and orders, on Amazon by default. For most mid-sized retailers the answer is: check, then decide.29 Oct 2026 · VerdictPhotograph — a small wireless sensor puck bolted to the housing of an electric motor on a packaging line, a maintenance technician checking a phone beside itDeployment / ManufacturingColgate's machine-health AI paid back in 4 months at six plantsColgate-Palmolive says machine-health AI covered its annual cost within four months at six Hill's plants. Its first try failed. What a smaller plant can copy.23 Oct 2026 · Quality controlPhotograph — an office manager at a desk with a laptop open on a web-hosting control panel and a printed list of company websitesNews, with a verdict / Ways of workingAI found a flaw in the PHP behind 69% of websites. Ask your host todayPHP2Shell lets an attacker take over a PHP web server with one request, and it is already being exploited. For most firms the fix is one email this week.22 Oct 2026 · VerdictA shopper paying by Pix inside a WhatsApp chat on a phone, a product card above the payment codeDeployment / RetailMagalu's WhatsApp AI agent converts 3x its app. It's 0.2% of salesBrazil's Magalu sells inside WhatsApp through an AI agent. Its Q2 2026 release: 18m chats, 3x app-search conversion, R$100m in sales since launch.21 Oct 2026 · Customer serviceA circuit-board assembly line in an electronics plant, with an inspection camera over the conveyorDeployment / ManufacturingSiemens' Erlangen plant: AI cut ramp-up engineering by up to 85%Siemens says AI on its own electronics line cuts ramp-up engineering by up to 85% and planning costs by up to 20%. What is measured, and what is a ceiling.20 Oct 2026 · Quality controlA store team member scanning a carton in a stockroom, deciding between shelf and backroomDeployment / RetailTarget ranked store chores by forecast. It saved 2m staff hours a yearTarget's myDay app orders shelf, backroom and pickup work by forecast. Target says it saves 2m+ staff hours a year and a $25m backroom call.16 Oct 2026 · Forecasting