Introduction

Today, you can use a wide range of tools and solutions to forecast your business tasks and streamline the workflow. The key is to review forecasted performance using forecasting methods and data analytics. Ultimately, it has become crucial for businesses to implement and evaluate their own business forecasting.

Business forecasting ties together with predictive analytics. While predictive analytics is still relatively new, it can transform business forecasting. Business forecasting paired with analytics is a perfect combination, allowing companies to take advantage of big data and drive unprecedented growth.

A comprehensive report shows that the business analytics market is set to grow at 7.8% for the next 5 years. What’s interesting is that increased digitalization has paved the way for the business analytics market to thrive and evolve. In fact, business forecasting via analytics continues to help businesses form a clear understanding of their customers.

What Constitutes Business Forecasting?

Business forecasting involves a combination of techniques and tools to analytically predict business development. With business forecasting, you can shed light on sales, profits, and expenditures. The foundational core of business forecasting is to help companies develop and implement more effective strategies to make smart decisions.

You collect and analyze historical data and run it through qualitative and quantitative models to spot patterns that predict the effectiveness of future production, marketing operations, and financial operations.

Business Forecasting: Role of Big Data and Analytics

Big data acts as a growth driver and helps companies anticipate many foreseeable business opportunities and obstacles. Contrary to misguided perception, analytics doesn’t have to be complex. It is a matter of having robust models to extract the most accurate business insights and make strategic, calculated, and logical decisions.

You can perform forecasting to paint a clear picture of your business in 2023, and big data and analytics are at the center. Specifically, data analytics allows you to make sense of a multitude of elements and centralize information to make decision-making more effective.

In the digital and tech-driven age, organizations collect a lot of data from customers, employees, suppliers, and transactional processes. But often, companies don’t realize that analytics has the power to simplify big data and ensure accurate decision-making.

Process of Business Forecasting

Step #1
Identify relevant variables and figure out the best way to collect datasets.

Step #2
Identify the data points related to a problem and perform a systematic investigation.

Step #3
Predict future business operations using collected information through systematic investigation.

Step #4
Select a model that works well with the dataset, estimates, and variables. Use the selected model to perform data analysis and make forecasts.  

Step #5
Consider possible deviations between the forecast and the actual performance.

Step #6
Using this information, refine business processes to anticipate and improve the accuracy of forecasts in the foreseeable future.

Business Analytics and Its Benefits

• Business analytics refers to statistical analysis application that uses technologies to predict business outcomes and anticipate trends.
• When analytics comes into the picture, you can use different analysis models to better understand realities, predict future scenarios, and even create new scenarios.
• Business analytics revolves around operational analysis, data visualization, and quantitative analysis. Your goal should be to use gained insights to improve the business decision-making process.
• One of the hallmark perks of business analytics is that it improves your operational efficiency and helps you better understand your future outcomes and customers.
• It also helps you measure performance, support strategic decision-making, discover new trends, scale up business operations, generate more leads, and drive long-term business growth.

Don’t Confuse Business Analytics with Data Analytics

Business analytics is part of data analytics. And companies now use data analytics for different purposes to find patterns and trends to address specific problems. Data analytics uses data transformation, data cleansing, and data modeling to help companies find these patterns and trends.

Companies need to use essential business analytics methods. Primarily, business analytics comes down to predictive modeling, statistical analysis, and data mining to drive focused and accurate business decisions.

Predictive analytics, descriptive analytics, and prescriptive analytics are the main business analytics types. There is also diagnostic analytics that utilizes analytics to unearth new reasons and factors for current or past performance.

How to Get Started with Business Forecasting

First, get familiar with key business forecasting approaches. Second, find out which method is most suitable for your business. Instead of generalizing, opt for the forecasting technique that caters to your business needs.

Focus on your data and what you’ve achieved in the past to dive into business forecasting. Business forecasting is a matter of asking the right questions. After that, use these answers to navigate your business decisions.

Once you establish a data point or a problem that deserves the focus of attention, take into account available historical data to create an accurate prediction. You can perform business forecasting using qualitative methods if you’re a new startup.

Next, ask yourself how far you intend to forecast. The farther you decide to forecast, the more market changes you will have to consider. Ideally, opt for short-term business forecasting to focus on the most accurate quantitative methods and current company data.

While the timeframe of short-term business forecasting is three months, long-term business forecasting can be for more than a year. It also reveals more pattern and trend changes and requires more expertise to analyze data using qualitative methods and demographics.

Final Thoughts

With the integration of modern technologies within business analytics, there is bound to be more growth in the market. While business forecasting is far from perfect, analytics solutions allow businesses to understand their company’s financial situation and maintain an agile position in the ever-evolving and competitive market. In retrospect, business forecasting propels you to get to know your company and collect valuable insights to make smarter and more informed business decisions.

• https://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-theory/11/basics-business-forcasting.asp
• https://hbr.org/1971/07/how-to-choose-the-right-forecasting-technique
• https://www.upwork.com/resources/business-forecasting
• https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/business-forecasting
• https://www.wrike.com/blog/what-is-business-forecasting/
• https://learn.g2.com/business-forecasting
• https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/16007-financial-forecasting.html