Tag: forecasting

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has moved quickly from pilot projects to boardroom discussions across South Africa. For mid-market businesses, the pressure is very real. Costs are rising. Teams are stretched. Operational efficiency is no longer optional. What is becoming clear is that most organisations do not need ambitious AI programmes to see value. Instead, they need practical applications that reduce friction in existing work.

In construction, return on investment (ROI) is not only measured on-site. It begins long before a tender is published, with the quality of the information your team uses to decide where to spend its time. I often meet contractors, suppliers and manufacturers who work very hard, chasing dozens of possibilities, yet still feel as if they are always a step behind.

The world in which we grew up is changing. The weather is no longer as predictable as we remember. We can no longer set our clocks by an afternoon Highveld storm. We also cannot reliably mark the transition of the seasons. Climate change is real. It brings unpredictable weather patterns and uncertainties that extend beyond the environment and into our financial security.

Forecasting economic and market variables is inherently difficult. Forecasting is tough. Research suggests that only 23% of professional forecasts prove accurate. Add in US policy uncertainty - President Trump signed a flurry of executive orders on his first day in office. As a result, predicting the outlook for the global economy becomes even more challenging than usual.

The current pace and flux of geopolitics continue to disrupt markets, keeping investors worldwide on tenterhooks. The US/China relationship, in particular, is the most consequential bilateral relationship in the world. In a way, it is the axis around which other global events are turning.

As technology accelerates and sustainability gains global attention, supply chain management is becoming a crucial driver of business success. In South Africa, unique challenges such as rising costs and resource constraints are inspiring innovation through digitisation and sustainability.

Black Friday is almost here, raising stress levels for everyone involved. Shoppers rush to find valuable deals. Retailers need to achieve sales targets to satisfy shareholders. To succeed this year, organisations must maximise their retail technology investments and offer real value and superior customer experiences.

It is no secret to everyday consumers and industry professionals that South Africa’s retail industry has faced many obstacles throughout the years. Between the rise in load shedding hours, the extended economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, poor infrastructure, inflation, constrained consumer spending and unemployment, SA’s retail giants have certainly had to overcome some tough challenges.

A new study by our Institute for Business Value found that the surveyed CEOs are facing workforce, culture and regulation challenges as they act quickly to implement and scale generative AI across their organisations.

In Sci-Fi, the Grandfather Paradox hypothesises that if one should travel into the past and change certain key events, the future will also be changed or even become unrecognisable. But what if we turn this hypothesis on its head, defining a desirable future and then reverse engineer the requisite actions to achieve this future? Unlike the Grandfather Paradox which, as far as we know, only lives in Sci-Fi movies and novels, backcasting is completely possible.