360° Planning: The Roles of Hindsight, Insight, & Foresight in Business Strategy

Published on October 16, 2020 |

Driving a vehicle involves continuously assessing what’s behind you, where you are, and where you’re going. Similarly, operating a successful business requires clear hindsight, insight, and foresight. Learn how data analytics can generate key business insights.

Data analytics, particularly from a variety of viewpoints, is a valuable strategy-planning tool, often revealing ways to streamline operations, learn customer behavior patterns, or reduce labor costs.

Hindsight

Through descriptive analytics, historical data tell a story about what has happened in your company’s past and how previous performance and trends are impacting current operations, customers, and growth.

EXAMPLES: revenue per subscriber, monthly sales growth

Insight

Using current operations data over shorter periods of time (sometimes using real-time dashboards), predictive analytics result in actionable insights and predictions.

EXAMPLES: buying pattern forecasts, market likelihoods

Foresight

While predictive models estimate what might happen using current and historical data, prescriptive analytics uses the same data to recommend a specific course of action to achieve your desired outcomes.

EXAMPLES: simulations, recommendation engines

While there are myriad analytics models, a blend of these approaches, sometimes called optimized analytics, offers the most holistic view.

Assessing your business from every angle?

Your financial data could provide key insights for planning. Contact your Webster Bank relationship manager at 855.274.2800 to learn more.