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It’s all just history repeating itself, but did you plan it?

14.04.2022

If there is one thing we have learned from history, it is that certain events repeat themselves to some degree over time. Over the years, both local and global crises have occurred that have had a major impact on the economy and businesses, both directly and indirectly. All of them had similar characteristics such as the COVID -19 crisis, the 1997 currency crisis, SARS, 9/11 in 2001 and the 2008 global financial crisis, as well as various local crises caused by wars and natural disasters such as floods, fires and earthquakes.

When the global financial crisis erupted in 2008, a group of people was brave enough to open a business and decided to tackle the crisis on their own. Those were our very own beginnings. It was a time of uncertainty, both for us and for all the companies we started working with. But at the same time, it was also a time of opportunity. We all found ourselves outside of our everyday boundaries, outside of the comfort zone and we absolutely needed to navigate through and survive. And we survived.

In every crisis, the same phrase keeps popping up: “This event could not have been predicted because it is unique.” Perhaps such an event is truly unique and perhaps unpredictable, but the question is whether there is a way to respond to such an event properly and quickly.

Regardless of the expected and unexpected events caused by volatility and market turmoil, we keep finding that not much has changed in the last decade. There are still many companies that are unaware of such events, let alone know that they could be better prepared for them, and it is no wonder that they are unable to cushion them and respond appropriately.

One of the key approaches successful companies use to respond to such events is a fast and agile planning approach that allows for the preparation of different possible scenarios, forecasts based on different impacts, and a planning process supported by key planning KPIs. Companies that want to mitigate the problems caused by crisis situations as much as possible and draw the most positive results from them must be able to:

  • Align financial resources with operational plans quickly and easily.
  • Create a range of different scenarios to facilitate adaptation to change and market response.
  • Assess the impact of plan changes on people, facilities, assets, and procedures when the plan is changed.
  • Providing trusted outcomes that bring plan changes for better decision making across the organisational level

One of the key factors in successfully deriving the above facts is the use of appropriate tools.

IBM Planning Analytics is a fast, flexible, and complete planning and analytics solution. It can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise to help businesses large and small become more efficient in their processes and provide the foresight they need to effectively manage business performance. The solution has been praised by customers and analysts alike for its ease of use. It not only automates manual tasks but goes beyond automation to help you gain new insights directly from your data. IBM Planning Analytics helps organizations enter the cognitive age by enabling Hybrid Cloud Data Sheet 2 users to forecast outcomes based on evolving trends and perform in-depth what-if scenario analysis to test alternative assumptions. Users can create timely, reliable plans, put insights into action, and communicate with compelling visualizations. IBM Planning Analytics accelerates decision-making and improves decision quality.