ConnectedFutures Makes Future Uncertainties Part of Your Strategic Plan

In a world where markets are increasingly more volatile and uncertain, where consumers are increasingly more spoilt for choice, and where brand perceptions are created or destroyed overnight, today's organisations require a trained ability to anticipate future disruptions more than ever before.

ConnectedFutures combines the best of modern scenario planning techniques with classic strategic planning tools to make the task of navigating an uncertain future simpler, more accessible and more flexible than the singular linear forecast models still entrenched within many organisations today.

"Having previously worked as a business consultant and global strategist in large multi-national telecommunications organisations, I've experienced first-hand how easy it is for companies to become stuck in short-term cyclical planning, severely limiting the ability to spot innovation opportunities created by industry overlap," says Greg Cress, Director and Founder of ConnectedFutures.

Organisations that are able to extrapolate their existing plans and forecasts into multiple plausible futures can gain a competitive advantage in the market. Scenario planning forces the executive team of an organisation to stretch their collective mindset into unexplored areas created by the convergence points of industries in the future.

"When done right, scenario planning is limited only by the creativity and imagination of a company's leadership team. Often, the strategic dialogue and organisational learning that takes place as part of the process leads to strategic insights and "aha" moments that unlock the intrinsic potential within a company. The results can be astounding," says Cress.

ConnectedFutures has simplified the process of scenario planning into a set of four accessible service products, making it easy for organisations to adopt the principles of scenario planning into their strategic operations. Keynotes offers insights into future industry convergence points in the form of high-impact presentations. Futures enables organisations to explore the future of their own and adjacent industries. Planning provides future landscapes against which to test existing strategies. Finally, Framework is the flagship, comprehensive scenario planning toolset designed to help an organisation reach the pinnacle: "adaptive learning": the ability for a firm to learn and change from its own experience of the environment and from strategic dialogue about future uncertainties.

"A properly executed scenario plan project is like taking out an insurance policy against the future. By gaining an insight into how external forces might cause industries to converge and intersect, your company will be in a stronger position to implement more robust strategies resilient to the uncertainties and disruptions of tomorrow," says Cress.

About

Founded in 2012, ConnectedFutures is a strategy consulting firm focused on future scenario visualisation and strategy development. ConnectedFutures offers a set of service products in the form of consulting projects that enable organisations to integrate the principles of scenario planning and strategic planning into their strategic operations. The company is registered in South Africa and head-quartered in Pretoria.