Are you operating in the hindsight zone?

You've got reports coming out of your eyeballs, can pull them ad hoc and even have alerts set up so that you can jump on any issues sooner – does this mean you’re already operating in the valuable foresight zone?

Hindsight check: how you access and react to data

Answer the questions below to find out.

1. Do you have access to standard and ad hoc reports?

Standard and ad hoc reports are good, but they’re not great. Typically, they’ll help you make sense of what has already happened – once the data has been input, that is.

2. Do you have alerts set up so you can jump on issues sooner?

The ability to react quickly to an issue is good. However, it does mean you’re forever jumping into damage control mode. Pre‑empting an issue and mitigating potential risks is where you should spend your time.

3. Can your drill down into data to get to the root of an issue?

It may take a week and involve a few stakeholders across the business, but if you can pinpoint exactly where things went pear‑shaped, you can get to the root of the issue faster. Time is a valuable commodity when addressing business issues. Once again, you’re in damage control rather than proactive mode, which won’t help move your business forward.

Moving into the foresight zone

If you answered ‘no’ to any of these, you need to do more to move past the hindsight zone and into foresight.

To gain a competitive edge, your business needs to be scenario‑modelling and using real‑time data to analyse and predict the future.

Do you know what’s happening in your business right now?

Rather than saying, “if only”, you can catch unfolding events as they happen to maximise opportunity and prevent issues from snowballing.

Can you forecast potential outcomes in a few trend continuities?

For example, do you know what it would look like if this current purchasing trend continued? In the foresight zone, you can peer into the future – and take action to prevent problems.

Can you accurately predict the future?

By operating with a future view, you’re no longer making decisions based on what has already happened. You’re operating firmly in the foresight zone – where the magic happens.

Can you compare multiple scenarios to decide the best way forward?

What happens if you take road A, B or C? To answer that, you need to model different scenarios simultaneously. What will your P&L look like if that pending contract isn’t signed off? How will late delivery penalties affect your bottom‑line revenue over 5, 10 and 30 days?

If you answered "no" to any of these, you haven't quite reached the foresight zone.

Checklist: how does your business stack up?

Hindsight Zone	Foresight Zone
We can produce standard reports to understand what has happened. We can produce reports ad-hoc when we need them to understand what happened. We can drill down into the data to get to the root of the issue. We have alerts set up so we can jump on issues sooner.	We can analyse our business in real-time to understand unfolding events. We can forecast potential outcomes if a new trend continues. We can make accurate predictions based on real-time information. We can model and compare multiple scenarios to help determine the best course of action.