Mike laid the foundation that forecasts are now an essential part of any business. However, no matter how great a forecast is, it will always improve when it is being used and interpreted by an industry expert. Success is defined by how well an organization adopts this ‘human + machine learning’
To drive home the point that forecasting alone can’t bring success, Neal also explained that forecasts are often ignored or neglected even when they are accurate. People usually don’t know quite what to do with the information forecasts offer and as a result keep doing the same things that yield the same results rather than try to crack the forecast’s code. It’s a bias that strays leaders away from monetizing forecasts through decisions.
To avoid this frustrating phenomenon, Neal emphasized the importance of using a forecast to map out an action plan immediately. As soon as a forecast is mapped, it’s a good idea to sit down, go through it, and come up with a list of suggestions. Those suggestions might involve changing prices or making a certain marketing push at a certain time, but whatever they are, people are much more likely to take action when they have a clear list laid out in front of them rather than potentially overwhelming raw data.
Forecasting may seem like a catch-all solution for business problems, but it takes a solid knowledge base to use it to its full potential. For more information on how DecisionNext can be used to help stimulate markets and make decisions, listen to the podcast episode here.
